The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1925-03-26

ged oaks. Hardwood trees, they have
little in common with the soft naples
of Eastern roadsides. Here and there
between the maple grows a clump of
hemlocks, some tall and spreading,
but most of the size Of low shrubs
just large enough to fill the space in
the wide foreground with bright
masses of perennial green.
No second glance is needed to see
the buckets, or "keelers," some of
galvonized ware, some Of wood, hang
ing on the trunks of the naples,
some four feet from the ground, some
trifie lower. The height at which
keller is hung depends upon the tree.
If it branches low the keller may
be low and, in general, a wide tree
with branches near the ground is re-
garded as the best sort to tap, this
sort frequently supplying two keel
ers, Mr.. Yost's grove has LIPS
keelers, hung upon nearly as many
trees but these are not all visible
at once.
One must stand close to an indi-
vidual tree to observe the little device
resembling an improvised spigot of
tin stuck into the trunk and equip
ped with a hook at its base, on which
hangs the keller. This spigot is
known locally as the "spiler." With
an auger bit one-half inch in diameter
hole is bored into the tree two and
one-half to three inches deep, well
past the bark. The spiler is inserted,
the keller hung up and the action of
the sunlight is awaited
As the morning frosts recede one
may see falling from the spiler drop
after drop Of clear water, cold and
sil0ery in the shadows, warm and
golden in the sunshine. But the frost
must return at night if these drops
are to be of use. A few days and
nights of warm weather will send the
vital sap galloping through the trees
and, ssead of mild, sweetish water,
from the spiler will come a fluid
harsh and bitter.
Round, keeler-shaped cakes of ice,
deepening in color from snow white
at the surfact to mellow brown at
base, lie at the feet of the trees, both
as the offerings of the NAPLES on the
preceding day and as the sign that
more water is still to be available.
In the Maryland picture, also, the
pole with its dangling buckets is lack
ing. Its place is taken by a galva-
nized collecting vat, fashioned so as
to be capable of adjustment to sled
runners or wheels, as the state of the
ground demands, and drawn by two
or more horses. And instead of the
caldron seething in the open air there
is sugar camp" furnished with an
odd mixture of rustic and modern
apparatus and, perhaps, prosaically
supplied with heat from coal-for the
mines of West Virginia and Pennsyl-
vania are rarely more than three
miles away from one of these camps.
About the sugar camp seems to
center the owners sentiment for his
grove-and this sentiment is abund-
ant. Practically each tree is known
as an individual. Sale is resisted
tenaciously, although Mr.. Yost said
that among the naples were some of
bird-eye quality, which, because of
their size and rarity, would bring fabu-
lous prices as cabinet woods. FIRE.
quently, however, after his camp runs
down, the owner sells out to some
timber concern.
When the collecting vat is filled it
is backed up on a knoll near the
sugar camp, a valve is opened and
the maple water flows down a trough
two followed halves of tree trunks
placed end on end-into a galvanized
storage tank within the camp.
The storage tank feeds by a pipe
line into an deliberately constructed
SOiISSIlIl oIlIlS oppoI aus. 1Lllo COlI-
sists of four open pans with inter
communicating sluce gates, the pans
resting fiat over a shallow brick
hearth. AS the boiling evaporates
the water the thickening syrup col
lects in one of the central pans. The
sluices are closed.
Pure spring water is run into the
pans now empty to prevent their
scorching and the whole boiling is
continued until the syrup has reached
the desired consistency. The old
fashioned way of testing the progress
of the boiling used to be by dropping
a bit of the syrup into cold water
from time to time and making the So
called "tar balls" which the children
and visitors ate with such delight as
to invent reasons for frequent test
ing.
Now modern hydrometers and Their
mometers are used to get the syrup
to a point where it is not so concen-
trated as to turn rapidly to sugar nor
too thin as to Torment whom s11,,onoar