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In grateful
appreciation to:
Bob Grigg
Curator:
Colebrook Historical
Society
Municipal Historian:
Town of Colebrook,
County of Litchfield,
State of Connecticut, USA
"The early colonists used metal spouts that
were fashioned out of worn-out scythe blades. The blacksmith would cut off
the heavy metal rim, from which he would fashion nails, for example, and
bend the thin part into spouts."
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Native Americans had been gathering maple
sap from time immemorial for sweetening
 purposes.
It was one of the many skills they taught the Europeans. Their method, and
the one used by the Whites initially, was to strike the bowl of the tree so
as to cause a wound and place a stick or piece of bark just under the slash
with its base resting in a birch bark container set on the ground.
The first improvement on this method, which
the colonists made, was the use of a tapping iron. A tapping iron
looks like a chisel, and was used the same way; it was driven into the tree
at right angles, then a steel sap spout was driven in.
The early blacksmiths couldn’t make an auger,
but they could make a tapping iron. As the colonial blacksmiths progressed
with their technology, T-shaped augers were made, usually having a ¾ inch
bit. Sap bits were made in Colebrook at least as early as the 1790s.
Colebrook historical records show that a blacksmith made one for which he
charged .50¢; at the same time he made a chisel for .40¢. One other
reference to making a sap bit occurs in 1805, when one cost .67¢, (about
what a man’s daily wage was at the time). Eventually the size decreased
until a 3/8 inch bit became commonplace. Currently, those who still tap the
sugar maples in February, use a T-shaped, hollow pin-like device on which is
fixed a long plastic tube, which is then tied to the next tree, etc. until
eventually it deposits it’s sap into a barrel, or some other central
container.
The early colonists used metal spouts that
were fashioned out of worn-out scythe blades. The blacksmith would cut off
the heavy metal rim, from which he would fashion nails, for example, and
bend the thin part into spouts.
There was an alternate method of tapping.
Wooden spouts, made from red sumac could be easily made at no cost. The
method was for a man to gather a quantity of young (usually two-year old)
sumac about the diameter of one of his fingers. These were then cut about
six inches long. A rod of iron 18” or so long and about 3/16 inch thick
would then be heated red hot and pushed through the pith center of the
sumac. This procedure produced a cauterized channel through which the sap
flowed without picking up any unwanted flavors. It was a job to be done
outdoors, as it created a prodigious amount of white smoke!
This tube was then split back about 2/3 of its
length, exposing the top of the channel. The end that was to be tapped into
the tree then had an incision cut around the bark about ¾ to 1’ from the
end. The bark was then stripped off and the wood tapered slightly so that it
would tap into the hole tightly just up to the remaining bark. At this
point, one more gentle tap was given, which sealed the drilled hole, thus
forcing the escaping sap to back up into the cavity and thus out the spout.
This method was resurrected, at least on a limited basis, during WWII when
sugar was rationed and maple sugar products were in great demand, and metal
spouts were not obtainable.
Eventually, metal spouts, which can still be
found here and there, replaced wooden and hand-forged ones. These were
dipped in zinc to prevent rusting and had a channel around their barrel into
which fit a heavy wire loop ending in a hook from which the pail was
suspended.
Currently (beginning of the 21st century),
most if not all commercial sugaring is accomplished by using plastic tubing.
Syrup weighs in at 11 pounds per gallon.
(Water weighs 8 pounds per gallon). To get 1 gallon of maple syrup, you have
to boil anywhere from 25-50 gallons of sap, with 27-30 as an average. The
reason for this is that sugar content varies greatly from tree to tree. Once
in a while you will find a tree whose sap is so sweet it would seem as
though it hardly needed to be boiled at all; others, (if you tap the same
trees year after year) you know are so low in sugar that you won’t bother to
tap them at all.
A maple tree having a diameter of 12 inches is
large enough to receive 1 tap; 16 inches, 2 taps; 24 inches, 3 taps; 30
inches, 4 taps; 36 inches or greater, 5 taps.
A great amount of know-how and hard work went
into the manufacture of maple products. In the old days, before
mechanization, neighborhood boys did much of the work. There was a great
deal of camaraderie as well as the prospect of staying up all night (if
there wasn’t school the next day) tending the fire, and the never-ending
task of skimming the foam of impurities that collected on the surface.
Payment wasn’t in money, but at the end of the season, each boy was given a
gallon of syrup and a block of maple sugar.
Let me tell you a true story that took place
on George Gray’s farm on Sandy Brook Road in Colebrook during the war years
of the 1940s.
The price of a gallon of syrup locally just
prior to the outbreak of war had been $5.00. A U. S. government agency
called the Office of Price Administration was established to maintain stable
prices on critical commodities such as food products. There were bound to be
shortages in wartime, and price gouging and inflation could thus be avoided.
One day a list of goods along with their newly established price caps was
unveiled. Maple syrup was listed having a top price of $3.00! George figured
that surely someone had made a mistake, but a few phone calls proved that
the price of $3.00 was indeed the ceiling for a gallon of maple syrup, and
anything higher than that carried a stiff penalty consisting of a fine as
well as a possible stretch in jail.
George said that if the government though he
was going to go to all the trouble of making syrup just so that he could
lose money, they were crazier than he thought they were. Our price remained
$5.00.
Now during the war, many items were either
rationed or simply not available at all; among these were automobiles and
automobile tires. Government agencies were among the very few having access
to new tires, for example. Additionally, gasoline was rationed and traveling
about was kept to an absolute minimum; frivolous trips became all but
extinct.
With this in mind, picture a group of men and
boys tending a sap house with billows of steam rising from a slot in the
roof, and wading around in mud up to mid-calf. Once, and only once, during
the sap season, a shiny black (all government vehicles in those days were
black) automobile with new tires would pull up as near to the sap house as
was possible (it was about 150 feet off the road). The driver, wearing
nicely shined shoes, would get out and as carefully as possible, would pick
his way from stone to stone through that sea of mud, up to George, who,
knowing what the story was, would go a few steps to meet our visitor. After
a few pleasantries, the inevitable question would be asked: could he buy one
gallon of syrup? George would ask if that was all he wanted, and the answer
was always the same: one would do. “How much do I owe you?” “Three dollars”,
George would say. The money and syrup would change hands, and our annual
visitor would carefully pick his way back to his shiny black car with its
new tires, and drive off in search of the next sap house. Our price went
immediately back to $5.00!
I don’t recall ever having heard of anyone
being “caught” by one of these government agents in these parts.
- Bob Grigg
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