Maple Sugaring, 1872
Lithograph entitled: American forest scene. Maple sugaring. This 1872 winter scene depicts the process of making maple syrup by tapping trees and boiling the sap in large kettles. In the early stages of European colonization in northeastern North America, indigenous peoples showed the arriving colonists how to tap the trunks of certain types of maples during the spring thaw to harvest the sap. Maple sugaring parties typically began to operate at the start of the spring thaw in regions of woodland with sufficiently large numbers of maples. Syrup makers first bored holes in the trunks, usually more than one hole per large tree; they then inserted wooden spouts into the holes and hung a wooden bucket from the protruding end of each spout to collect the sap
