. The natural history of the farm; a guide to the practical study of the sources of our living in wild nature. Natural history. MAPLE SAP AND SUGAR 171 The tapping of a maple tree, besides draining it of sap, leaves an open wound in its trunk. It is essential to the continued welfare of the tree that the tapping be done so as to expose the interior as little as need be to the attack of fungi and insects. A small hole, that will heal over completely in a single season, is usually no more injurious than are the perforations of the sapsuckers. Such a hole is nowadays bored in the trunk with a sha
. The natural history of the farm; a guide to the practical study of the sources of our living in wild nature. Natural history. MAPLE SAP AND SUGAR 171 The tapping of a maple tree, besides draining it of sap, leaves an open wound in its trunk. It is essential to the continued welfare of the tree that the tapping be done so as to expose the interior as little as need be to the attack of fungi and insects. A small hole, that will heal over completely in a single season, is usually no more injurious than are the perforations of the sapsuckers. Such a hole is nowadays bored in the trunk with a sharp bit. It is slanted slightly upward, for easy drainage. It is bored through the sap- wood only, since the sap-flow comes from the outer layers and not from the heartwood. A galvanized iron sap- spout, having a hook to carry a pail, is driven into the hole and left there during the sap-gathering season. The sap collected is freed of its water by evaporation, and freed of various undesirable products by skimming the surface as they are raised by boiliag. The owner of a "sugar bush" performs these operations in the great furnace- heated evaporating pans of his sugar house. The small boy does them on his mother's kitchen range; and if he knows the traditions of the sugar- camp, he is sure to try pouring some of his syrup, when it is thickening into sugar, out in little driblets upon the stirface of clean snow, where it will harden into that most deUcious con- fection known to the initiated as "maple ; We hve in a day of abundant sweets. Nature has always produced sugars in the juices of many plants, but we have only recently learned how to obtain them in quantity and how to purify them and prepare them for keeping and for use. New methods of manufacture and refining, and added. Pig. 67. Diagram to illus- trate proper tapping of a maple tree, c, sap spout or "spile," in an augur hole, and supporting a pail; b, bark. The sap wood is white, the hear
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