There were two different revolutionary technologies: wooden spouts with a round tip and tinplate buckets. With the spout there is no need to make an incision in the maple tree with an axe, it was pierced with a bit on a carpenter's brace. A small tap with a hammer would insert the spout. It swells on contact with the sap, which makes it leakproof.. Very early it was equipped with a small hook to hang the bucket. Tinsmiths riveled with their ingenuity for the shape and piling of the buckets. They corrected for the effect of the cold by giving them an oval shape and by making them narrower at the base. Around 1920 the spout was made out of metal. Then came the ones made of tin and the ones in aluminum, which were easier to insert into the tree, and were able to hold bigger buckets.

Harvest

The number of taps was not very important and the sugaring season was more a time to get sugar for the family.

On a spring morning they would leave for the maple grove, which could be many kilometers from the house. Upon arriving at the site they would construct a small fundamental shelter to protect themselves from the rain and the snow, they would install the reeds and buckets and then waited for the maple sap to flow.

Collecting the sap was done in a very rudimentary way: A yoke with two buckets, a sled with a barrel, pulled by a man or a dog towards the evaporator. If the number of taps increased, a barrel was placed on a bigger sled, which was pulled by one or two oxen.

From 1900 to 1940 the exploitations became bigger. The horse replaced the ox to pull the sled.. A small stable beside the sugar camp sheltered the horses. During the heavy flow, the maple sap had to be collected two or three times a day. Many solutions to avoid overflows were put into place: The use of bigger buckets, gathering the sap more often or in bigger barrels, replacing the horses by a tractor and even installing metal tubing in the maple grove.

Evaporation

After 1900, the heavy metal kettle was replaced by flat bottom pans that were placed on a stone baffle and a closed fire served to this effect. With the transverse siphon, the modern evaporator was born.. The Dominion & Grimm, Champion and other foundries produced a large number of them. In the beginning, the evaporators had a few flat bottom pans.

Those from the 1940's until the present day are better equipped: Many flat bottom pans, integrated thermometers, a floater controls the level of the admission of the sap, a syrup pan hood for the vapors to escape, oil burners slowly replaced wood as the heating source.