132 [Senate 



erastus bigelow. 



To the committee on maple sugar : 



Gentlemen — ^In manufacturing the sugar I present for your exami- 

 nation, the strictest attention was paid to cleanliness, from the be- 

 ginning to the end of the process. The sap was boiled to a syrup in 

 sheet iron pans, so set in an arch as to be exposed to the fire only 

 along the centre of their bottoms. The syrup was strained into a 

 wooden vessel, where it stood twenty-four hours to settle, after which 

 the vessel was tapped about three inches from the bottom, and the 

 syrup drawn off, leaving the sediment in the tubs. It was then, after 

 being cleansed with the white of eggs, boiled to a proper consistency 

 for graining. It was then subjected to the process of draining in a 

 tub provided with two bottoms, one about four inches above the other, 

 and minutely perforated, after which the sugar was again reduced to 

 syrup, and again subjected to the same process of boiling, cleansing 

 and draining, as before. 



The number of eggs used was at the rate of eight to the hundred 

 pounds of sugar. 



Sangerfieldy Oneida county, September 15, 1845. 



SIDNEY SPRING. 



This maple sugar was boiled in a pan set upon the top of an arch so 

 that no heat come in contact with the side of the pan. The sap was 

 strined and boiled immediately after it run from the trees, then the 

 syrup was clarified by putting in one ounce of pearlash, and one pint oi 

 skimmed milk to fifty pounds of sugar. 



Sidney Spring, Pratt's Hollow, Madison co. 



EXTRACT FROM CLINTON COUNTY REPORT. 

 JOHN L. HACKSTAFF. 



To the President of the Clinton County Agricultural Society, N. Y. 



First of all I commence my preparations for making Maple Sugar^ 

 by gathering my tubs the season previous, as early as practicable, and 

 see that they are well housed and secured from the weather. As soon 

 as tbe season commences, I scald my tubs, and commence operations 

 in the usual manner. I use caldron kettles for boiling, and generally 

 keep up boiling the sap as speedily as possible, after gathering, and 

 generally make my sugar in quantities of about forty pounds each. I 

 use milk and the white of an egg for cleansing ; the white of one egg 

 ard one gill of milk to thirty or forty pounds. I let my syrup remain 

 in my buckets from twelve to twenty-four hours, and settle before 

 straining. I boil my sugar carefully over a slow fire, and usually 

 make cake, or hard tub sugar. I have manufactured this year, about 

 four hundred pounds, and the expense of making about twelve dollars.. 



Peru, Sept. 15, 1845. 



