Sap, Syrup & Sugar at Genesee Country Village & Museum Nature Center

© Genesee Country Village & Museum Mumford, New York March 2011 (Revised March 2020)

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ABOUT GENESEE COUNTRY VILLAGE AND MUSEUM

Founded in 1966 by John (“Jack”) L. Wehle, the Genesee Country Village & Museum opened to the public ten years later as an educational institution chartered by the State of New York. Mr. Wehle sought to create a “museum village” of selected examples of 19th-century Genesee Country architecture for two purposes: to save these remarkable structures from destruction and to create a context for learning about that period of our past that historians designate “The Century that Made America.” Today, sixty-eight historically important buildings have been furnished, staffed and arranged in a recreated Genesee Country village that enables all of us to forge connections with the past that defines who we are now and who we can become tomorrow.

Surrounding the village are more than a thousand acres of fields, grasslands, ponds and wetlands. The Genesee Country Nature Center, occupying 175 of these acres and traversed by five miles of themed trails, provides opportunities to contemplate the relationship between Western New York’s land – including its plants, animals, soils and waterways – and the people who have lived on it. Each has influenced the other and visitors can discover for themselves the evidence that abounds in this now tranquil setting.

Rounding out the village’s portrayal of daily life in 19th-century America and the nature center’s presentation of the story of people on the Western New York landscape, the John L. Wehle Art Gallery offers stunning examples of internationally recognized artists’ work. Each painting and sculpture represents one individual’s interpretation of natural history, perception of animals or perspective on the changing culture in North America, all leading to or deriving from the 19th century.

As an educational institution, the Genesee Country Village & Museum is committed to using these settings, buildings, objects and works of art to create an exciting place to be and to learn. We believe that children who interact with objects and exhibits remember, and in so doing they acquire perceptual and inductive skills that serve them well for the rest of their lives. To facilitate this kind of discovery for those who visit the museum is the aim of all our work.

ABOUT THIS GUIDE FOR EDUCATORS

This guide is arranged to assist you in customizing your use of our museum’s online learning resources. Included are suggestions for preparing a visit to the museum, followed by an outline of this Focused Field Study’s specific links to New York State Learning Standards. Next are statements of essential understandings your students will acquire and skills your students will use during the activities.

The historic context provides relevant background information. The timeline, vocabulary list and extension activities are for use in your classroom. There are descriptions of the structured activities and related visits that will be scheduled for your students’ field trip to Genesee Country Village & Museum. Additional resources, including examples of primary resources, are found at the end of this guide. We have provided a variety of materials to enable you to select activities that best suit your students and your curriculum plans.

Thank you!

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LINKS TO NEW YORK STATE LEARNING STANDARDS Sap, Syrup & Sugar has been specifically designed to support the New York State Learning Standards and Common Core Standards.

NY State Standards MST 1, 4, 6; SS 1

ELA Common Core Standards SL 1, 2, 3, 6

ESSENTIAL UNDERSTANDINGS

 Maple syrup, maple sugar, maple candy and maple cream are natural products made by collecting sap from the sugar maple tree and removing water.

 Maple production is unique to the Northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. Even though maple trees are found throughout the eastern United States and eastern Canada, sap collection is dependent on freezing nights and warm days that occur only in late winter and early spring in Canada and the Northeastern United States.

 The sap runs in late winter and early spring when farmers have less work to do. In the 19th century, groups of families left their farms and camped together in the sugarbush, working 24 hours per day for several weeks to make as much sugar as possible. The end of sugaring was celebrated with a sugaring-off party. In modern production, many farmers use this slow time in the agricultural calendar to make maple products.

 Modern equipment, such as plastic tubing and evaporators, has made maple production faster and easier. However, the basic process of removing water from the sap has remained the same since European settlers first wrote about it in the 1600s.

 Early Pioneers made maple sugar instead of syrup because sugar can be stored for long periods of time at room temperature and syrup requires refrigeration, which they did not have. Making and using maple sugar was also a way to protest against the use of white sugar which was expensive and produced through slavery in the south.

Use this online resource with your students to practice the following skills:

 Reading  Writing  Observing  Comparing/Contrasting  Interviewing (listening/speaking)  Interpreting and paraphrasing primary resources  Collaborating with classmates  Recognizing patterns and relationships

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HISTORICAL/SCIENTIFIC CONTEXT

In the early days of American colonization through the late nineteenth century, sugaring, the practice of harvesting sap from sugar maple trees and boiling it down into syrup or sugar, was a vitally important and considerably widespread practice in the Northeastern and Midwestern United States and eastern Canada. The techniques the early pioneers used were learned from the American Indians, and the tradition survived centuries; today, maple syrup producers use the same techniques as their predecessors, only altered by minor technological developments. Today, maple sugar has been eclipsed by its more popular alternative, white sugar, and is thus not an agricultural or culinary staple, but it had a significant presence in the lives of early American farmers.

Sugaring was, and continues to be, unique to the northeast because the climate supports sap collection, which requires at least two weeks of frosty nights followed by warm days. It was therefore most popular and viable in Pennsylvania, New England, New York, and eastern Canada, where the months of February, March, and April were ideal for sugaring, though it was also widely practiced in the Midwestern states of Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin, Illinois, and as far south as Virginia. The timing of the harvest was also convenient for Northeastern farmers; it took place after the fall harvest but before planting at the spring, a time when there were few other obligations for farmers and their families. The labor required for sugaring, though arduous, was nonetheless significantly less taxing than other agricultural tasks. Because of these traits, sugaring was appealing and encouraged, and became a fixture in the lives of Northeastern farmers, helping to shape the economy and especially the culture of the region.

Native American Origins Sugaring techniques were first learned from the American Indians, who had been collecting and boiling sugar for centuries before the arrival of the Europeans. In the early days of North American colonization, settlers in the New World encountered unfamiliar terrain, accompanied by equally unfamiliar plants, animals, and native groups and traditions. Though interactions with American Indians were plagued by tension and violence, colonists found in many cases that they could learn a great deal from the peoples who had long inhabited the land. Perhaps one of the more influential skills learned was that of sugaring: collecting and boiling sap from sugar maple trees to form useful products, most notably maple syrup and maple sugar. It is impossible to say how Native Americans came to discover that sap from certain trees could be used in the production of sugar and syrup, but there are many Native American stories that attempt to explain the phenomenon. One old Iroquois legend tells of the accidental discovery of the sugar-making process. According to the tale, a hunter returned to his dwelling and noticed a sweet smell hanging in the air around the kettle where his mate was boiling meat. He learned that there had been sap from a broken maple limb in the bottom of the kettle, and delighted in the delicious sweetness that remained. He and his fellow tribe members therefore began boiling sap on purpose. It is more likely, however, that the sweetness of maple sap was discovered by eating “sapsicles,” icicles made of frozen sap that hangs from broken limbs of sugar maple trees and makes a tasty treat.

Early Encounters with Sugaring Regardless of the origins of the practice, early settlers remarked upon and soon began to make use of it for their own purposes. White sugar, made from sugar cane, was a luxury in North America. It was expensive, and had to be imported from the West Indies and other parts of the world. Settlers therefore recognized the value of having an alternative that could be manufactured domestically. The first European records of sugaring appeared in the mid-sixteenth century. Jacques Cartier, during his

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explorations in what is now Quebec, recorded his observations of sugar maple trees in 1540, and Andre Thevet, a French scribe, wrote of the Indians using refined sap as sugar and syrup in 1557. In 1606, Marc Lescarbot created an account of the collection and boiling of maple sap by the Micmac Indians of eastern Canada, writing in his Histoire de la Nouvelle France that when the Indians were thirsty they used juice from trees and boiled it into “a sweet and very agreeable liquid.” Settlers adopted and adjusted the processes they observed. In the spring, Native Americans would move their families into areas of the forest that where sugar maple trees were plentiful, establishing “sugar camps” for about a month or so. A V-shaped notch would be cut into the trunk of the trees, and sap was collected in a vessel below. Since they did not have metal pots, Native Americans boiled the water from their sap by dropping hot rocks into the vessels holding the sap, which were usually made from hollowed out logs, birch bark, or clay. Once enough of the water had evaporated from the sap, it was ready for use or consumption.

The Sugaring Process Early colonial techniques did not stray far from Native American sugaring procedures. When the ideal “sugar weather” was upon them, farmers would move their families into the woods, in areas rife with sugar maple trees known as the sugarbush, for the season and establish a sugar camp. They began the process by “tapping out,” using an auger, or later a bit and brace, to bore a hole in the sugar maple trees about two-and-a-half to three feet off the ground. They would then fit a semi-circular spout, also known as a spile, into the hole and lead the sap into a trough or bucket that could hold approximately ten quarts of sap. Though some pioneers used the gashing method of the American Indians, the use of a spile was neater and more efficient. The spile, trough, and buckets, though not standardized early on, were all made of some type of wood.

Sugaring off, or the process of boiling the sap into sugar, took place outdoors at the camp. Though there were a few different methods to choose from, including freezing the sap and removing the frozen water from it, and spontaneous evaporation, boiling the sap was the most popular and preferred method. They created a rudimental system to boil the sap by fitting two sturdy forked saplings with a crosspiece from which three to five kettles of sap might be suspended over the fire. The sap was transferred from the troughs under the trees to the kettles in large wooden buckets that hung on a shoulder yoke across the shoulders and strained through cheese cloth or a blanket to eliminate twigs, leaves, and other debris. It took a long time to boil all of the water from the sap, and families had to work diligently to gather enough dry wood to keep the fires going day and night. The sap was removed from the fire when it thickened, and then stirred until it became granular. To test that the thickness was correct, the pioneers used a method they called “aproning off.” A spoon was dipped into the sap, and sheet or “apron” of sap would form on the spoon if the sap were the correct consistency. It was then poured into molds, pails, or bowls where it would harden into sugar. When the run of sap was over, the holes in the trees were plugged with wood to avoid wasting any sap. Syrup was made by not boiling the sap for quite as long, but because syrup required refrigeration, which early Americans did not have, maple sugar was the product of choice.

The harvest was not always predictable. A particularly warm or unusually cold spring would mean that the weather did not promote sugaring. Very young trees could not produce a great deal of sap, and boring too many holes in a tree would damage it and decrease its production. Furthermore, there was no way of knowing which trees would yield the most sugar; two trees of the same size often produced very different amounts of sap. Conditions were therefore not always ideal for sugaring, and some

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harvests were inevitably disappointing. Nonetheless, sugaring remained an important part of the year for American farmers.

Technological Advancements in Sugaring By the mid-nineteenth century, the sugaring process was becoming more efficient and streamlined due to a number of technological advancements that were available to farmers. One important development occurred when farmers moved the sugaring off process from outdoors over open fires to indoor sugarhouses, outfitted with all the necessary equipment for boiling sap. A brick arch was built at the center of sugarhouse and a fire would be lit under it. Shallow iron boiler pans were filled with sap and placed on top of the arch for boiling. Specialized evaporating pans, which were first introduced in 1858, further advanced this system. They were outfitted with a number of compartments, separated except for a small opening. This design allowed for the optimal flow of sap, and it became first thicker and then thicker as the water was boiled off and it turned to syrup and then sugar. The product was then removed from the flame through a faucet on the other side of the pan. These evaporating pans allowed for more precise and efficient production of sugar products, and they were often rigged to the ceiling with a series of pulleys so they could be removed from the fire with ease. Finishing pans, which were smaller than the evaporators, could then be used to bring the sap to the correct thickness and temperature, especially when making syrup. Farmers also had hydrometers at their disposal, an instrument that was used to determine the density of either the sap or the syrup to ensure an accurate end product. With all these various advantages to open fire methods, sugarhouses and their related apparatuses became a fixture in the sugaring tradition.

A number of other developments also emerged in the nineteenth century, as inventors and trade catalogs began to capitalize on the sugaring industry. Sleds, drawn by oxen or horses, for hauling heavy buckets of sap were a welcome alternative to shoulder yokes. The technique of cutting a gash in the tree was entirely replaced by boring a hole into the tree and fitting it with a spile. Homemade spiles were commonly used at first, but over time they were standardized and could, like many other sugaring products, be purchased from a supplier. Metal spiles, another useful development, were first patented in 1859. Tin sap buckets were found to be a better alternative to their wooden counterparts. They were easier to clean, and did not shrink, leak, or sour the flavor of the sap. Metal sap buckets, designed particularly for collecting sap, were introduced in 1875. Covers for buckets also became commonplace, for they kept rain, snow, dirt, and insects from contaminating the harvest. Keeping the rain out of the sap was especially important, because the added rainfall meant more water to be boiled out of the sap, and was therefore a time consuming setback. The innovative use of covers prevented this problem. The twentieth century saw further advancement, including reverse osmosis technology that could concentrate the sugar content of sap before it was boiled, and permanent plastic tubing that can be left in a tree year round. Overall, though, the basic sugaring process is the same today as it was when the pioneers first adopted it as their own in the 1600s.

The Sugaring Culture Sugaring, though it required a significant amount of labor, was certainly not all work and no play for those who partook in the sugar harvest. Sugar camps became gathering places for family, friends and neighbors, and served as a social outlet for the pioneers. Because of the many different steps and types of labor involved in sugaring, women and children were able to participate in the harvest and production of maple sugar and syrup, and they joined their husbands and fathers at the camps. Women were typically charged with boiling the sap, and children helped gather wood to stoke the fires. Friends

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and neighbors provided companionship for families, and helped pass the time watching the sap boil. It was hard work, but not so demanding that it could not be completed in the company of others. Sugaring off parties, a favorite pastime for many, signaled the end of the harvest. Families would bring together their friends and neighbors for an evening of merriment. These parties featured a great abundance of food, corn popping over an open fire, dancing, and games. Perhaps the most unique aspect of this celebration was the maple candy that was made especially for sugaring off parties. The candy, also called “spotza,” was made by pouring hot maple syrup into pans packed with snow, where it would harden into a delicious, taffy-like treat. Early accounts clearly indicate that sugaring was a pleasant and greatly anticipated pursuit for farmers and their families, and one that shaped the agricultural and social calendar in the northeast.

The Economics of Sugaring The social benefits of sugaring were not enough to sustain the tradition for hundreds of years; its many uses made it a worthwhile endeavor. At a time when white cane sugar had to be imported and was for the most part a luxury good, maple sugar was a popular alternative. It could be used for culinary purposes, as well as a sweetener for tea and coffee. Of course, sap could also be made into syrup or maple molasses for pancakes, hot-bread and biscuits. If it were further boiled and mixed with yeast it turned to beer, a “very pleasant drink, sufficiently spirituous,” and it could be used for vinegar if left to ferment more. In its early years, maple sugar and syrup was used to augment the family’s own diet, but it eventually gained a place in the consumer market. For the most part, products were sold directly from producer to consumer; individuals would place orders for pounds of sugar or gallons of syrup, and use it as needed. It might also be sold to the public market, often as candy.

In spite of its diverse uses and potential to replace the more expensive cane sugar, it never enjoyed major commercial success. In the colonial period, England’s sugar laws forbade the importation of maple sugar, and much of British trade was focused on the West Indies and did not benefit the colonies. After the Revolution, sugaring continued, but still failed to find a place outside its limited domestic market, due in part to unreliable harvests, farmers’ interest in staple crops, and the growing popularity of cane sugar. However, in the late eighteenth century, there were a few notable attempts to develop a maple industry, championed by idealists who dreamed of producing enough maple sugar to sell as sweetener worldwide. To these individuals, the sugar maple tree became an object of veneration, one that could possibly cure America of moral and social ills such as slavery. This belief, known as the “maple sugar bubble,” held that if the market and demand for maple sugar could be expanded, dependence on cane sugar from Caribbean and Southern plantations would be eliminated, and slavery would begin to crumble.

The Holland Land Company was founded upon these abolitionist ideals. In 1790, a group of Dutch capitalists organized the Holland Land Company and purchased 10,000 acres of land in western New York that were heavily populated by sugar maple trees in hopes of starting a maple sugar industry. The company’s experiment was, however, ill fated. The equipment and methods used were unsuccessful, and investors lost thousands of dollars. The experiment collapsed in 1794. Around the same time, Judge William Cooper of Cooperstown, New York, attempted to interest investors in Philadelphia in a similar project, claiming that sugaring could be extremely profitable. Cooper did manage to convince some, and become a rare entrepreneur of maple products.

One of Cooper’s followers was Dr. Benjamin Rush of Philadelphia. Rush was a leading abolitionist who hoped to turn maple sugar into a viable replacement for cane sugar from slave plantations in the West

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Indies. Dr. Rush went as far as to carry out an experiment to prove that maple sugar was just as sweet as cane sugar, and in 1791 presented a paper to the American Philosophical Society that told of a purportedly rosy future for maple sugar. He believed that America could develop a maple sugar industry that would not only supply the domestic market, but the world market as well, and in the process might export enough maple sugar to destroy plantations in the West Indies. Maple sugar could, in Rush’s eyes, “render the commerce and slavery of our African brethren in the sugar islands as unnecessary as it has always been inhuman and unjust.” Sadly, Dr. Rush’s dreams for maple sugar were never realized, and the maple sugar bubble was doomed to burst. In the same year as Rush’s speech, the first cane sugar was introduced to New Orleans, and the crop found a place in the southern colonies. This turn of events spelled not only the continuation of slavery, but also contributed the eventual downfall of sugaring in the United States.

The Decline of Sugaring By the time Benjamin Rush was preaching the warrants of maple sugar, many farmers throughout the northeast had already caught on to the trend. In spite of the increasing presence of cane sugar in America, sugaring was still a popular pursuit. In fact, in 1818, maple sugar was selling for half the price of cane sugar and therefore remained a decent alternative to its expensive cousin. It also maintained its reputation as a moral pursuit; it was prized because it inspired the highly touted trait of self-sufficiency, and epitomized the Protestant work ethic. It allowed families to be efficient and frugal, and also promoted independence from reliance on foreign trade. Maple sugar production peaked in 1860, with a reported 40 million pounds of sugar and 1.6 million gallons of syrup produced among 23 states. By the twentieth century, however, sugaring was in decline. More and more, farmers chose instead to put their energy in staple crops that brought in a profit. By 1880, white sugar equaled maple sugar in price, and in 1890, just a century after Benjamin Rush and the maple sugar bubble, the import tax on cane sugar was repealed and cane sugar outsold maple sugar. At the same time, industrialization was sweeping the nation. Urban centers were drawing in vast numbers of Americans, and the rural way of life that had so embraced sugaring was in decline. Maple sugar was no longer in demand, and the vibrant cultural practices that had surrounded it became distant, albeit fond, memories.

Today, though maple sugar is for the most part obsolete, the pioneers’ sugaring methods live on in the maple syrup industry. In 1893, the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers Association was formed and developed industry-wide standards for sugaring. As one of the first agricultural organizations in the country, the VMSMA maintains high standards for the production and quality of maple sugar products and continues to educate producers and ensure quality for consumers. Though technological advancements have improved the sap collection process and help to protect sugar maple trees, the methods used by early American pioneers have remained mostly intact. Every morning, when Americans everywhere enjoy pancakes or waffles slathered in warm maple syrup, they are participating in century old tradition that was cherished by their ancestors and still survives in the twenty-first century.

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TIMELINE1

1540: First written observation of North American sugar maple trees, by Jacques Cartier, French explorer traveling up St. Lawrence River. 1557: First written record of maples in North America yielding a sweet sap, by French scribe Andre Thevet. 1606: Marc Lescarbot describes collection and 'distillation' of maple sap by Micmac Indians of eastern Canada. (Histoire de la Nouvelle France) 1788: Quakers promote manufacture and use of maple sugar as an alternative to West Indian cane sugar production with slave labor. 1790: "Maple Sugar Bubble" grows, with high hopes among national leaders that a home grown alternative to slave-produced cane sugar from the British Caribbean had been found. Key advocates include Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Benjamin Rush and Judge James Fenimore Cooper. 1791: Thomas Jefferson and George Washington discuss plans to start "maple orchards" on their Virginia plantations. Most trees die or fail to thrive; Jefferson remains a maple booster. 1810: Augers coming into popular use to drill holes for wooden spouts or sap spiles and crude gashing or "boxing" techniques becoming obsolete. 1818: Maple sugar selling for half the price of imported cane sugar. 1858: Early patent for evaporating pan to D.M. Cook of Ohio. 1859: Eli Mosher patents first metal sap spouts. 1860: Peak maple production: 40 million pounds of sugar and 1.6 million gallons of syrup, from 23 states reporting to USDA. 1872: Early evaporator design work is described by Vermont inventor H. Allen Soule. 1875: Introduction of metal sap buckets. 1880: Cane sugar and maple sugar approximately equal in price. 1884: Early patent for sugar evaporator, G.H. Grimm, Hudson, Ohio. 1893: Vermont Maple Sugar Makers' Association formed; instrumental in setting industry-wide standards. 1959: Plastic sap-gathering pipeline system patented by Nelson Griggs, Montpelier, Vermont. 1965: Maple leaf, a unifying symbol for both English and French Canada since 1800, becomes central image on new national flag of Canada. Late 1970s: Reverse-osmosis technology introduced to concentrate sugar content of sap before boiling. 1988: North American Maple Project begins studying health of maple trees to determine progression, if any, of maple decline. 1997: Changes in sap tubing technology offer "permanent" tubing which can be left in the woods year- round without stretching. 1999: Introduction of the "health spout", using a smaller hole in the tree, which can be drilled by cordless drills. A smaller hole heals faster.

1 http://students.umf.maine.edu/

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VOCABULARY LIST

Aproning Off – an initial test by the sugarmaker to see if the sap has reached a thickness of syrup. A spoon is dipped into syrup in the boiling pan, the spoon is taken out and the syrup drips off the spoon. A sheet or “apron” will form along the bottom of the spoon when the liquid is at the right thickness of maple syrup. Auger – a tool used in earlier times for tapping trees: a bit with a long wooden handle on the end for turning and boring into the wood. Bit – a sharp screw-type tool used in tapping machines to bore holes for sap spouts. Brace – a hand-powered tool into which a bit is placed for hand-tapping trees by rotating a handle. Crystallize – To form into crystals. When some solutions (such as salt or sugar) reach a certain density, crystals are formed. Density – a determining factor of thickness for maple syrup. Evaporator – sugaring equipment made of stainless steel, English tin or copper, consisting of open pans divided into sections. Sap is boiled in the evaporator which sits on top of the firebox. Filter – a device incorporating special papers and/or cloths used to remove sugar sand and other impurities from maple syrup. Finishing Pan – heating equipment, smaller than an evaporator, used to bring syrup to the correct thickness and temperature. Firkin – a round wood container, similar to a bucket, but wider at the bottom and narrower at the top; made by the cooper. Grade – the color standards for maple syrup as specified by law; the darker the grade, the more intense the flavor. Hydrometer – an instrument used for determining the density of a liquid; there are sap hydrometers and syrup hydrometers. Hydrometer Cup – an elongated, deep, narrow metal container that is filled with sap or syrup to measure density. Maple Syrup – a sweet thick liquid made by boiling water out of the sap of the sugar maple tree (Acer Saccharum). Maple Sugar Molds – forms made out of rubber, wood or metal (often in shapes of maple leaves, flowers, log cabins, men and women, stars and animals) into which soft hot maple sugar is poured to cool and harden. Mortar and Pestle – the mortar is shaped like a heavy bowl; the pestle is a club-shaped hand tool for pounding or grinding a substance in the mortar. Sap – the colorless, clear liquid found in all trees. The sap of the sugar maple is slightly sweet with an average sugar content of about 2%. Spout or Spile – a tapered hollow tube made of wood, metal or plastic tapped into a hole drilled into a maple tree. The sap drips out of the spout or spile and into a container.

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Sugar Sand – minerals found in sap that are concentrated through the boiling process and removed by filtering. Sugarbush – a grove of sugar maple trees. Sugarhouse – the building where sap is made into maple syrup. Sugaring –making maple syrup. Tapping – the process of drilling holes about two inches into the white layer of the tree where the sap flows. Tubing – a network of flexible pipes in various sizes that transfers sap from trees to storage tanks. Yoke – a wood frame placed across a person’s shoulders and used for carrying suspended firkins or buckets usually filled with liquid.

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EXTENSION ACTIVITIES

Below are suggested classroom activities - that may be used before or after your visit - intended to enhance your students’ experience and learning to make the most of their visit to the Museum.

Have students:

Explore the Museum website at https://www.gcv.org

Become familiar with the vocabulary list and timeline included in this curriculum guide.

Read a story about making maple syrup (see resource section below) and have students identify the steps in the process of making maple syrup.

Look at product labels from various brands of store-bought syrup to compare pure maple syrup with ingredients found in other syrup blends.

Review the names and functions of the main parts of the maple tree: roots, trunk, branches, and crown. Learn the names and functions of a cross-section of a tree trunk: outer bark, inner bark, cambium, sapwood and heartwood.

Work in groups to produce a large mural of a maple syrup operation. Each group may illustrate a phase of the process. Add captions to accompany the illustrations. Identify the many jobs involved.

Learn how to use, and practice using, a field guide.

Use observation skills and compare leaves of different kinds of maple trees.

Draw pictures and/or write brief summaries of their field trip activities.

Draw pictures and/or write letters to Genesee Country Museum describing their favorite activity of the day.

Identify on a map the state of the United States and the provinces of Canada that produce maple syrup. Explain why maple products can only be made in those areas and not farther south. Find out how much maple syrup was produced in each of the states and provinces during the last maple season.

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FURTHER RESOURCES

TEACHERS’ RESOURCES

Carney, Margaret and Wilson, Janet. (1999). At Grandpa's Sugar Bush. Toronto, ON: Kids Can Press, Limited. Wilson Chall, Marsha. (2000). Sugarbush Spring. New York: HarperCollins Haas, Jessie. (1996). Sugaring. New York: Greenwillow Books Beale, Irene. (1986). Genesee Valley Events. New York: Chestnut Hill Press. Sandler, Martin W. (1994). Pioneers. New York: Harper Collins Publishers.

WEB SOURCES FOR NEW YORK STATE HISTORY

Rochester History Journal is available in pdf format at the Monroe County Public Library: http://www3.libraryweb.org/home2.aspx

New York History: http://www.nyhistory.com/

The New York State Historical Survey: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/research_collections/collections/history/general/hiscollect.html

WEB SOURCES FOR PRIMARY DOCUMENTS:

Primary sources organized by American eras: http://www.historycentral.com/documents/

New York State Archives: http://www.archives.nysed.gov/aindex.shtml The American Memory Project of the Library of Congress has materials on the Genesee Country and Rochester-area historical figures: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/index.html

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PRIMARY RESOURCES

The following documents can be found in this section:

. Various sources describing the price of Maple Sugar before and after the opening of the Erie Canal in the 1800s.

. Sugar-Maple Tree, and Sugar Making from The Family Magazine, Published in 1836.

SUMMARY OF PRICE INFO ON MAPLE SUGAR BEFORE AND AFTER THE ERIE CANAL OPENED

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Maple costs half the price of cane sugar from the West Indies (about 1818).

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From: Niles' weekly register v. 16, By Hezekiah Niles, April 24, 1819

“pay their subscriptions in maple sugar”

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From: A Geographical, Historical, Commercial, and Agricultural View of the United States of America: Forming a Complete Emigrant's Directory Through Every Part of the Republic: ...By Daniel Blowe, 1820

“ maple sugar thirteen dollars cwt.” (.13 cents per pound)

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ERIE CANAL OPEN (1825)

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From: Niles' Weekly Register, by Hezekiah Niles, November 1, 1828 edition

“Upwards of 300 barrels maple sugar have been received at New York by the canal, which has been sold at 5 cents per lb. Last season a parcel of about 70 bbls. was received.”

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From: A System of Universal Geography, Popular and Scientific: Comprising a Physical, Political, and Statistical Account of the World and Its Various Divisions...by Samuel Griswold Goodrich, 1832

“The average price of maple sugar is from 6 to 10 cents per pound.’

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From: The Family Magazine, v.8, Published by Redfield & Lindsay, 1836

“In the country, it is to be bought frequently as low as six cents per pound; but the price in the city varies from twelve to twenty-five cents. Maple molasses is seldom found in market.”

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From: A Cyclopedia of Commerce and Commercial Navigation, by Isaac Smith Homans, 1860

“If the falling off in price from 1850 to 1855 ...... the present increased price has doubled the production of 1850, and we accordingly estimate the maple sugar crop of the present year in New York State at 20,000,000 pounds. It is worth not less than 12½ cents per pound, making its total value $2,500,000!

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From: Annual Report of the American Institute of the City of New York, 1864

By American Institute of the City of New York

"I have made this year 4,500 pounds of maple sugar from 750 trees, which has sold at an average price of sixteen cents per pound net, (in Mass.).... The sample sent was of excellent quality, and true maple flavor. It would sell at the present time at 25 cents a pound.” (In NYC)

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From: Garden and Forest, v. 6, by Charles Sprague Sargent, 1893

“...cane-sugar is to be had at five cents a pound.” “In the case of the maple, this flavor is good; it is what has given maple-sugar its value over cane-sugar.” “ If sugar is wanted that is simply sweet, we can get it much cheaper from cane or beets. “

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From: The Louisiana Planter and Sugar Manufacturer, v. 34, by Louisiana Sugar Planters' Association, Lousiana Sugar Chemists' Association, American Cane Growers' Association

Published: 1905

“New maple sugar is reported from Hornellsville as bringing 12 cents per pound on the market. Binghampton, New York, ...... at Binghampton the farmers believe that more profit can be obtained by selling the syrup than in making the maple sugar for sale. “

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From: The Family Magazine, v.8, Published by Redfield & Lindsay, 1836

Note: The following article original published in The Family Magazine. The typed text has been transcribed from the original article so that it is easier to read. When documents are transcribed they are written exactly as the original, including misspellings, grammatical errors, and formatting.

SUGAR-MAPLE TREE, AND SUGAR MAKING.

The acer genus of plants, includes about thirty-four species, of which the common name is maple. Eleven of these species belong to North America, welve to Europe, six of great beauty to Japan, and the rest to different parts of Asia. The species commonly known in North America, are the red or soft-maple, the white or silver-maple, hairy-maple, the sugar-rock or hard-maple, the sweet-tree or black- maple, the striped-maple, also called false dogwood and moosewood, the mountain-maple bush, the ash- maple, or box-elder, and some southern varieties. Two only of the whole (acer saccharinum, the sugar- maple, and acer nigrum the sweet-tree or black-maple) produce sap, from which good sugar may be obtained. The timber, however, is of beautiful texture, and peculiarly adapted for ornamental purposes, though, it is not remarkable for durability and strength.. The variety called bird's-eye and curled-maple, is held in great esteem. It is capable of being highly polished, and is frequently employed with good effect in inlaying. It is also considerably used in the manufacture of chairs and other pieces of furniture ; fowling-pieces, musical instruments, ornamental work-boxes, &c. Indeed, the maple is not surpassed by many trees in the variety of purposes in which it may be usefully employed. The sugar-maple is found on this continent, principally between the 42d and 48th parallels of latitude. It is abundant in New England, New York, the north of Pennsylvania, the Canadas, and the northwestern states and territories. The black-maple flourishes in more southern and warmer climates, and is found on the banks of the Ohio and Mississippi, and in nearly all the southern and western states and territories.

Were it practicable, maple sugar could doubtless be manufactured in this country, in sufficient quantities to supply the consumption of the United States. But so long as brown sugar, the common sugar of commerce, can be produced with so much facility and cheapness, it can never be practicable or economical to manufacture maple sugar for general consumption. Indeed, it cannot now be manufactured, unless as an article of luxury, or in some remote parts of the country where labour is cheap, and fuel abundant, with any view to economy. As society advances, it is obvious that the practicability of manufacturing it will grow less and less, and soon its manufacture will become totally impracticable, unless as an article of luxury.

In very many parts of the northern states, there are fine maple orchards, and quite extensive suga- ries. Many persons manufacture the sugar for the use of their families, and the surplus over a year's supply, is sent to market. The Indians also make considerable quantities, and carry it to market in little baskets made of birch-bark, fancifully wrought with porcupine-quills of various colours. In the country, it is to be bought frequently as low as six cents per pound; but the price in the city varies from twelve to twenty- five cents. Maple molasses is seldom found in market.

The sugar season commences usually about the middle of March, though not unfrequently a favourable

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time arrives towards the latter part of February It should be commenced before the frost is out ? the ground, or at least, before the sap begins to return to the branches and buds, for the development of the leaves. The most favourable season is when the nights are frosty, and the day moderately warm, with sun just sufficient to thaw the sap.

The first thing necessary to be done when the season arrives, is to prepare the spouts, and troughs or tubs. The first may be split from a block of pine or white wood with a gouge, so that they may be gouge- shaped at one end, in case a gouge is to be used in tapping, or they may be made of elder or any other pithy wood, if the trees are to be bored. It is possible that more sap may be obtained by cutting a notch in the tree with an axe, and inserting a gouge below it, than by boring into the tree with an auger; though the tree is not so much injured by the latter course as by the former. The vessels employed for catching the sap may be either small tubs or pails, or troughs hewn out of small pine or bass- wood timber. One man, with an axe and addice, may make two dozen troughs in a day. At old sugaries, however, the tubs and spouts are usually carefully boused and preserved from year to year, so that when the sugar season arrives they are always ready.

One or two of the tubs or troughs being placed at each tree, a small sloping incision, about two or three inches long and half an inch deep, is made into the tree, the under side of the cut being sloping, so that the sap may run down to its lowest point: if the tree be fit to tap, the sap oozes from the cut immediately. About an inch below the cut, the gouge is driven in, and the spout inserted, through which the sap is conveyed to the tub. If an auger be used, no incision is made with the axe, and a spout, round at the upper end, and a hole through the centre, is driven in. One man may tap two hundred trees or more in a day. One tapping generally answers for the season, and the trees, if not hacked too much, may be tapped for several years in succession.

The sap is collected daily, sometimes twice a day, in pails, and carried to the boiling-place and put into barrels, a cistern, or some other large vessel or vessels. One tree will furnish six, twelve, and sometimes twenty-four quarts in a day.

The sugar is produced by “boiling down" the sap. For that purpose, two stout crotches are fixed upright in the ground, eight or ten feet apart, and on them is placed a cross-stick from which pots or kettles are hung; a hook to hang them by being made of a small crooked branch of wood. Two large logs are rolled up on each side, and the fire is made underneath the kettles of split or small wood. There is usually one large kettle, which is supplied as the sap boils away from the smaller ones, so that it is kept constantly boiling, while the smaller ones are supplied with fresh sap. The kettles are thus kept boiling, till the contents of the larger one, arrive at the consistency of a thick sirup or molasses. The sirup is then taken out and strained into a barrel. Eggs, milk, or something else, is afterwards thrown in, to precipitate all its impurities to the bottom. It is then strained again, and put back into the kettle to be “sugared off." A piece of pork or butter is thrown in to keep it from boiling over. When it reaches that state, in which it candies, by pouring it on the snow, it is quite delicious to the palate. It is at this stage of the process, that gentlemen and ladies, who frequently happen in at the “sugaring off," enjoy themselves most. When it is finished, and that is known by its “graining," it is poured into a barrel or other vessel provided

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for the purpose. To produce a fine grain it is stirred with a stick or ladle. Unless stirred in this manner the grain is quite coarse, and, indeed, the whole may become a solid cake or mass. To make a dry article, a hole may be bored in the bottom of the vessel, and the molasses thus drained off. Several hundred pounds arc thus made, according to the number of trees tapped, in the course of the season, which continues until near leafing-time. One good tree will perhaps produce five or six pounds or more.”

Sap, Syrup & Sugar at Genesee Country Village & Museum Nature Center – www.gcv.org