SUGAR. 



431 



is simply a cask five feet long and about two feet in diameter, fastened firmly to a &quot;boat 

 sled,&quot; large end behind, the front end a little the highest, so that when the sled stands level 

 the sap will all flow from a faucet in the rear, through a tin conductor with funnel-shaped 

 &quot;head,&quot; down the slope into the store-trough below. 



The sap need never be lifted but once, or dipped or rolled up skids in barrels at all. It 

 is poured down into the gathering-pail from the bucket, which hangs at the tree and is not 

 removed from the spout in emptying. It must be lifted a little and poured into the tunnel 

 of the gathering cask, and that is all. After that, by taking advantage of a slope, it will 

 run into store-trough and thence into boiler without further labor. 



Location of Sugar-House. The sugar maple seldom grows spontaneously, except 

 on ground that is somewhat rolling, and in almost every sugar-camp, can be found side-hill 

 advantages in a sufficiently central location. If the slope is not as steep as that represented 

 in the cut, a longer conducting tube must of course be used, so that the gathering cask can 

 stand far enough off up the slope to bring it to the required level. In hilly New England, 

 there is usually no trouble on this point, but even there I have seen sugar-houses on level 

 ground near a fine slope, of which they took no advantage. And in Ohio, until within a few 

 years ago, such was the common custom. The store-trough stood on a level with the &quot;arch,&quot; 



MAPLE-SUGAR-MAKING VIEW OF SUGAR-HOUSE. 



the barrels were laboriously rolled up two skids and emptied into the trough, and then the 

 sap was lifted, pailful after pailful, and poured into the kettles or pans. Men are strangely 

 slow in learning to take advantage of gravitation and the other forces of nature, even when 

 she seems daily to thrust them before our very eyes.&quot; 



The accompanying illustration represents the method of collecting the sap and conducting 

 it to the sugar-house, as previously described. 



Respecting the circumstances which affect the flow of sap from the sugar maple, care 

 ful experiment and observation, by daily weighing the sap from several trees, and a compari 

 son with the meteorological observations of the same period, have furnished sufficient proof 

 to establish the fact that while the general flow corresponds with the season, yet the daily and 

 hourly flow will vary with the weather; that the most favorable weather is that which is 

 either steadily or severely cold, or uniformly warm and foggy; while the best weather for 

 procuring sap are those days that are warm and bright at noon, but are preceded by freezing 

 nights. The variations of temperature most likely to affect the flow of maple sap are sup 

 posed to occur when the ground is covered with snow, since the heat of the sun during the 

 day cannot then moderate the cool temperature of the night. The explanation of the effect 

 of these alternations seems to be that the outer tissues of the tree are partially emptied of the 

 sap contained within them by the contracting influence of the cold, it being forced by this 



