MAPLE SUGAR. 221 



evenly with the bark, which thus soon grows over the 

 wound. If carefully managed, several holes may be made 

 in a thrifty tree without any apparent injury to it. The 

 barbarous, slovenly mode of half girdling the trunk with an 

 axe, soon destroys the tree. 



The sap is collected daily with buckets, which are carried 

 to the boilers on the neck, by a milk-man's yoke. If the quan 

 tity be great and remote from the sugar fires, a hogshead may 

 be used for this purpose. This is placed on a sled, with a 

 large hole at the top, covered with a cloth strainer, or a 

 tunnel similarly guarded, is inserted in the bunghole. The 

 primitive mode of arranging the sugary, is with large re- 

 ceiving troughs placed near or partially within the cabin, 

 and capable of holding several hundred gallons of sap. The 

 boiling kettles are suspended over the fires, on long poles 

 supported by crotches. 



The process of sugar making I give from the statement 

 of Mr. Wood worth, of Watertown, Nr Y., who obtained the 

 premium from the State Agricultural Society, for the best 

 sample of maple sugar, exhibited at the annual fair of 1844. 

 The committee, who awarded the premium, say " they have 

 never seen so fine a sample, either in the perfection of the 

 granulation, or in the extent to which the refining process 

 has been carried ; the whole coloring matter is extracted, 

 and the peculiar flavor of maple sugar is completely eradi- 

 cated, leaving the sugar fully equal to the double refined 

 cane loaf sugar. The statement says : " In the first place, 

 I make my buckets, tubs and kettles all perfectly clean. I 

 boil the sap in a potash kettle, set in an arch in such a man- 

 ner that the edge of the kettle is defended all around from 

 the fire. This is continued through the day, taking care not 

 to have anything in the kettle that will give color to the 

 sap, and to keep it well skimmed. At night I leave fire 

 enough under the kettle to boil- the sap nearly, or quite to 

 syrup, by the next morning. I then take it out of the kettle, 

 and strain it through a flannel cloth into a tub, if it is sweet 

 enough ; if not, I put it in a caldron kettle, which I have 

 hung on a pole in such a manner that I can swing it on and 

 off the fire at pleasure, and finish boiling, then strain it into 

 the tub, and let it stand till the next morning. I then take 

 this, and the syrup in the kettle, and put it altogether in the 

 caldron, and sugar it off. To clarify 100 Ibs. of sugar, I use 

 the whites of five or six eggs, well beaten, about one quart 

 of new milk, and a spoonful of saleratus, all well mixed 



