Maple syrup is made from the sap of the maple tree that has had all the water evaporated away by boiling. Native Americans used this food source for generations. European settlers in Canada and New England began collecting sap, too. Small quantities of sap are tapped by drilling a hole through the bark and inserting a spout which allows the sap to drip into a bucket. Large commercial operations now use extensive networks of plastic piping leading to central reservoirs. This scene was illustrated by Maud Petersham in the book, The Story Book of Things We Use. (HFHA Coll.)

The sweet sap is boiled down until most of the water evaporates,
leaving the rich maple syrup. Today this process frequently occurs
indoors in factory settings.

Holes are drilled into the tree's bark and a drip spout hammered
in. The spout can be attached to a bucket or plastic tubing can
connect the spout to a centralized container.  ( Booklet from the
Leader Evaporator Co., Burlington, VT, USA, 1949. HFCA)

The future President Calvin Coolidge dreaming of a career in
Washington as he carries syrup buckets. Accustomed to farm
chores like this, he probably expected to become a shopkeeper
and farmer like his Dad. (Drawing by Edward F. Paine, Jr., from
Calvin Coolidge's Plymouth, Vermont, by J.R. Greene.)

President Coolidge presents one of the family's old sap buckets
to Henry Ford for his museum of Americana. ( from Calvin
Coolidge's Plymouth, Vermont.)