Be in readiness to get the first run.
Have all utensils thoroughly cleansed and scalded.
Employ none but competent and experienced men to tap your trees.
Cut away the rough bark, only, before tapping, leaving bark
sufficiently thick to hold the spout firmly to prevent leaking.
The finest flavor and lightest color will be obtained by shallow
tapping.
Gather often, boil at once. Every delay in the process of evaporating
sap will injure more or less the _quality_ of the sugar.
Always strain your sap. Use felt strainers for syrup. Boil down to
11 pounds per gallon; test by a correct thermometer, and can hot to
prevent crystalizing in bottom of the can.
Give full gallon measure and ship only _standard_ goods to your best
trade.
Use a reliable thermometer. It is as indispensable in the sugar house
as in the dairy.
Use tin or painted buckets and the best improved metallic spout.
The bucket cover has come to stay. Use them, they will save their cost
in one season.
Join your State Maple Sugar Makers’ Association, and attend the
convention.
Do not think that you know it all, for maple sugar making is a science
about which you may learn something every season if you are observing.
[Illustration: LARGE MAPLE SUGAR CAMP IN NORTHERN VERMONT.]