Show thanks for maple due indians has grown to industry valued at billions syracuse N 2 the american indian gave the white man the idea of how to make maple and maple sugar an annual product which has been valued in the united states between and says the new york state college of forestry syracuse university there are 13 species of maple trees in the united states from which maple sugar sap can be obtained alth although ough 80 to 00 per cent of and sugar comes from the sugar or hard bard maple which attains an age in some cases of 0 years the flow of sap Is caused by cold nights and warm warin days these chunges changes in temperature produce alternate expansion and contraction of the gases in the tree which it Is thought influence the low flow of sap the quantity of sap depends upon the amount of food luiu by the tree the previous year and tills this in turn depends upon the leaf area of the tree and the amount of sunshine that falls upon the foliage uses freezing method the indians made maple sugar by repeatedly letting the sap freeze and scraping off the frozen water on top after each freezing trees usually produce from five to forty gallons of sap each fine st stands finds of sugar maple have appeared on cut over areas in many localities these young maple trees are mixed with beech yellow birch hemlock and other less desirable species in most of these young stands maple trees are tall and slender because they have grown close together and have not had room to spread their crowns increase in the diameter of i a i tr tree Is dependent upon the leaf surface exposed to sunlight and consequent size of the tree crown the growth rates can he be increased by thinning the young stand to give the maple trees a chance to grow larger crowns if the purpose Is lumber production the trees should be kept in close position to to shade out tile the side limbs but for maple sugar production a tree with a large crown Is more desirable because it will produce more sap dense stands need thinning the sugar bush can be developed by opening up the dense young sapling stands leaving the well formed young maple trees room to grow wide crowns by the time the tree gets into good production it should have a crown SO 30 feet in width maple and maple sugar are considered by foresters as forest products and often prove to be the chief source of forest revenue the sugar bush should be given every care in order to produce the best results |