Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 49, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 December 1895 — MAPLE SYRUP INDUSTRY. [ARTICLE]

MAPLE SYRUP INDUSTRY.

Chiefly Confined to tho New Eng- | land States. This is the time of year when maple syrup takes its proper place as king of the condiments at the breakfast table. It comes in with buckwheat cakes and fried hominy. There is just a round million of dollars invested in this country in tire machinery which produces and purifies the syrup. The industry is confined almost entirely to the few States north of Massachusetts. That is because the maple tree refuses to flourish in any but a cold climate. It won’t grow in the Northwestern States, for the reason that it has to have plenty of moisture, and that is to be had only near the ocean. Fully 90 per cent, of the maple syrup and maple sugar produced in this country comes from Vermont. The annual yield of syrup and sugar of that state is valued at something like half a million dollars. Seventy-five per cent of the product is consumed in this country, and the rest is exported to Europe. But it is not in common use beyond the sea for the reason that it is very expensive because of the freight and duty. In England it is to be found in many of the homes of the nobility, where it is regarded in high favor, not only because it is delicate and sweet, but because it is a unique and costly product. There is a good deal of mystery about the origin of the production of maple sugar and syrup. By whom it was first discovered will probably never be kimwn. The maple tree is active in summer and passive in winter. The tree is extremely porous, there being, according to the highest authority, about 100,000,000 cells in every cubic inch of the wood. In summer the tree absorbs moisture into all these cells, which is condensed into water. This Water, mingling with the natural saccharine properties of the tree, becomes maple syrup in a crude form. The tree is also extremely sensitive to weather conditions. When in February and March the maple begins to “sweat.” as the New England farmer terms it. the tree wishes to quburden itself, and it does so, whether the farmer is on hand to get the benefit of tlie process or not. But the farmer is generally on hand.

Before machinery was invented for the purpose the farmer used to furrow the trunk of the tree by slashing the bark lengthwise with a knife. Then he cut deep furrows all around the tree near its base. A trough attached to the lowest, of these furrows carried the syrup from the tree to the dripping bucket, and that constituted the process of getting the product. i’lie farmer nowadays goes up to a tree that is “sweating,” casts his eye at the softest spot in the trunk and drives into it to a depth of several inches a metal tap, and this relieves the tree in splendid shape. The tree appears just as anxious to get rid of the sap as the farmer is to gather it.