386 MINNESOTA. STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 



SUaAR AND SYRUP. 



MAKING MAPLE SYRUP. 



E. A. LANE, CHOWEN. 



Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen : 



It is not my purpose, neither is it expected of me, to give to this honora. 

 ble body scientific facts or a method resulting from a scientific study of 

 the subject assigned, but, merely, to give you one method of making 

 maple syrup. 



After having tapped the bush, which in my experience I have found 

 hardly practicable to do before the first of April, I use for storage and 

 boiling purposes a sorgum outfit, arranged, as most of them are, on a side 

 hill, giving an excellent opportunity for settling sap and straining from 

 one tank into another. I have on this incline, or side-hill, three tanks 

 and a barrel, which the sap passes through before entering the boiling 

 pan, and is strained from each as it passes from the one into the other. 

 A tank holding three barrels is placed on the side-hill just above the 

 level of the top of the boiling pan, with two others on top of this, 

 holding one and one-half barrels each; and from these, up the hill, 

 just above the level of the top tank and twenty-five feet away, connected 

 with inch pipe, is a large barrel into which the sap is first strained. Thus it 

 is that the sap finds its way into the boiling pan, which is a Stubbs No. 4 

 Evaporator. As the sap passes through these different apartments for 

 storage, it is strained from each and allowed to settle as long as circum- 

 stances will permit. 



We have found that the more sediment we can take from the sap before 

 boiling the better it is for the syrup; have also found that by boiling 

 batches of from five to eight barrels at a time, the syrup is much clearer 

 and lighter colored than by boiling larger quantities. In boiling in a 

 pan which has so much surface one has to be very careful. We can, 

 with the utmost care, boil five, eight or twelve barrels down to eighteen 

 or twenty gallons; when we either run our fire very low or draw it out. 

 After the pan begins to cool so that there is no danger of burning, we 

 draw off the semi-syrup into a barrel which has a faucet up on the side 

 about two and one-half inches from the bottom; this gives the sediment 

 room to settle below the place of drawing off. It is then taken to the 

 house, allowed to settle twelve hours, if possible, and then drawn off into 

 a finishing pan made of galvanized iron, two feet square and nine inches 

 deep, and then boiled down to syrup thickness. It is then taken and 

 allowed to settle again, when it is poured into large tin cans. What we 

 wish to keep through the year, and perhaps longer, is put up cold into 

 glass cans or bottles. In putting into bottles or cans, you are sure to 

 make little bubbles of air. The cans before sealing must be free from 

 these, which is accomplished by leaving open from three to six hours. 

 This method we have found in our experience more satisfactory than 

 any other. 



