222 AMERICAN AGRICULTURE. 



with syrup before it is scalding hot. I keep a moderate fire 

 directly under the caldron until the scum is all raised; then 

 skim it off clean, taking care not to let it boil so as to rise 

 in the kettle before I have done skimming it ; when it is 

 sugared off, leaving it so damp that it will drain a little. I 

 let it remain in the kettle until it is well granulated ; I then 

 put it into boxes, made smallest at the bottom, that will hold 

 from 50 to 70 Ibs., having a thin piece of board fitted in, two 

 or three inches above the bottom, which is bored full of 

 small holes to let the molasses drain through, which I keep 

 drawn off by a tap through the bottom. I put on the top of 

 the sugar in the box, two or three thicknesses of clean, damp 

 cloth, and over that a board well fitted in, so as to exclude 

 the air from the sugar. After it has nearly done draining, 

 I dissolve it, and sugar it off again, going through the same 

 process in clarifying and draining as before." 



When sap is not immediately boiled, a small quantity of 

 lime water should be added to check fermentation, which 

 prevents the granulation of the syrup. A single tree has 

 yielded 24 gallons of sap in one day, making over seven 

 pounds of sugar ; and in one season it made 33 Ibs. Trees 

 will give an average of two to six pounds annually. 



TOBACCO (Nicotiana, Fig. 47). 



This narcotic is a native of 

 North America, and has been an 

 object of extensive use and culti- 

 vation in this country since the" 

 first settlement of Virginia, in the 

 latter part of the 16th century. It 

 formed for a long time the princi- 

 pal export from that colony and 

 Maryland. It is still largely cul- 

 tivated there, and has since become 

 an object of considerable attention 

 in the middle and western States, 



- - - - - ~ an ^ to some extent in the northern. 



Fi<T. 47/ The soil may be a light, loamy 



sand or alluvial earth, well drained and fertile. New land, 

 free from weeds and full of saline matters, is best for it ; 

 and next to this, is a rich grass sod which has long remained 

 untilled. The seed should be sown in beds which must be 

 kept clean, as the plant is small and slow of growth in the 

 early stages of its existence, and easily smothered by weeds. 



