General Overview--Maple sugaring, like any other business, should begin with a business plan.  This plan should include the main resources available to the future producers.  These resources include time (and hopefully alot of it), knowledge and finances.  Setting up a small sugaring operation will be expensive.  Reasonable expectations of income and cost should be taken into consideration.  Costs of equipment (which are long-term investments and pretty much fixed costs) should be projected several years into the future.  A five or ten year period is reasonable.  Income will very greatly between years.  Some years will have tremendous production and other years will be much less productive.  While income should be expected every year, profits beyond the initial investment will not be realized for several years.  In addition, few producers will be able to survive off of the sugaring season alone.  Sugaring is better as a part of a diverisifed farming operation or a supplimental income for seasonally employed tradesmen (i.e. construction etc.).

The Sugarbush--
You should assess the number of tappable trees and overall stand condition when developing your business plan.  This factor may sound simple, but prior to considering a sugaring operation, most people know very little about their woodlots.  A professional forester or a Cooperative Extension Agent may be able to help you with stand evaluation for use as a sugarbush.  Determination of sap sugar content will be helpful at this stage.  You should drill a small diameter hole (in spring or fall) and extracting a sap sample.  The sugar content of this sap can be measured most easily with a sap refractometer.  While this step is not essential, it will allow you to determine which of your trees are the sweetest or the converse, which are the least sweet.  Furthermore, this will increase both your efficiency and profitability.  These trees should be semi-permanently marked (e.g. with a painted number or aluminum tag) and a record should be kept. 

Walking the stand after leafout will allow you to assess the stocking (number of trees relative to site capacity) of the stand.  Considerations of stand thinning can be easily made at this stage.  If a tubing system is to be used, low vigor trees and those to be involved in thinning may be avoided in a tapping operation.  These trees usually produce sap with lower sugar content.  Low sugar content sap is less profitable or even unprofitable.  Wood resulting from these thinning can be sold or used as fuel wood for the evaporator.