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have a small, one-roomed house with a woodshed. In this room the 

 small evaporator and sugaring-off kettle may be placed, and the work 

 carried on satisfactorily. It is always well to put the sugarhouse 

 on sloping ground, and, of course, in the most convenient place in 

 the grove. If the ground rises above the house, the storage tank 

 can be readily filled from the gathering tanks, and at the same time 

 fed by gravity into the evaporator. If the grove be on level ground, 

 it will generally pay to make an artificial elevation upon which to 

 place the storage tank, with room for the sledges to pass and discharge 

 sap into it. (See fig. 7.) 



The house, whether large or small, is best when built thoroughly 

 tight and shingled. The space overhead should be left open to the 

 roof, in which a ventilator should be built over the evaporator to 

 permit the free escape of steam, but with the slats so arranged that 

 no rain or snow can enter. 



If 1,500 trees or more are to be tapped, it will pay to have a house 

 with two compartments and a woodshed, something after the gen- 

 eral plan shown in figure 7. The evaporator room should form the 

 middle compartment; the room for sugaring-off should adjoin it at 

 one end, and the woodshed at the other. For the evaporating room 

 12 by 20 feet will be a convenient size, with the sugaring-off room 

 of 12 by 12 feet and the woodshed slightly smaller. The latter 

 should be open in front, with a wide sliding door opening into the 

 evaporating room directly in front of the fire arch. With such an 

 arrangement there will be no dust or dirt blown in from the wood 

 pile. The sugaring-off room should be lined with stout shelves, 

 which will be convenient in handling and storing the maple products. 

 If the storage tank is heavily cased in wood and not likely to freeze, 

 its best position is outside of the sugarhouse on that side where the 

 ground is highest, but if it is in danger from extremes of tempera- 

 ture, it should be placed within the house, even at the cost of a little 

 room. Such a sugarhouse can be kept clean and airy, and will prove 

 comfortable and convenient. The cost should not exceed $125. 



THE PROCESS. 



What has been said of the perfect appointment of the sugarhouse, 

 be it on ever so small a scale, is true also of the appliances, imple- 

 ments, and actual process of sugar making. The best models of 

 evaporators can be bought in all sizes, and a good one will pay for 

 itself, even in the smallest undertaking (fig. 8). In boiling down sap 

 to sirup, the following points are to be observed: 



The best modern evaporators are made so that the sap feeds auto- 

 matically into the pans, running fast or slow according to the heat 

 under the pan. Although the pans are about 6 inches deep, the sap in 



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