316 PHYSIOLOGY AT THE FARM. 



which drains from raw sugar, when placed in hogsheads, is 

 properly molasses, and it is used in the preparation of the 

 finer kind of brown sugar termed bastard. Treacle is the 

 viscid dark brown uncrystallisable syrup which drains from 

 the moulds in which refined sugar concretes. Both result 

 from an alteration on the crystallisable sugar, and do not exist 

 in the sugar-cane. Each contains free acid. 



Maple Sugar. The sugar obtained from the sugar-maple 

 (A cer saccharinum) and that from the beet (Beta vulgaris alba) 

 have the same chemical constitution as the cane-sugar. The 

 maple-sugar is collected by some tribes of American Indians. 

 Perforations are made which penetrate the bark, and extend 

 from a quarter to half an inch into the wood. Two perfora- 

 tions are commonly made in each tree on the side facing the 

 south, and at a height from sixteen to twenty inches above 

 the surface of the ground. The juice is conveyed from these 

 apertures into appropriate vessels. The season for tapping is 

 in March, April, and May, or preferably from the vernal equi- 

 nox to the middle of April. Sometimes a second tapping is 

 made in the same tree in autumn, but this tapping is more 

 injurious to the tree than the spring tapping. The juice which 

 flows in autumn is twice as strong as that of spring, but the 

 running does not continue so long. The average quantity of 

 sugar from each tree is about three pounds. If properly 

 treated, the same tree may be tapped annually for twenty or 

 thirty years. The maple-sugar is simply this juice concentrated 

 into blocks. 



Beet Sugar. Beetroot-sugar is extracted from the roots of 

 the white beet gathered in October. The expressed juice con- 

 tains about ten per cent of sugar. This juice is first mingled 

 with a small proportion of lime and boiled ; a large portion of 

 albumen and azotised matters rises to the top in the form of a 

 scum, which is to be carefully removed. The remaining stages 



