SUGAR. 279 



sap becomes too thin and poor for the pur- 

 pose of making sugar, they still continue to 

 catch it, as it is then capable of making mo- 

 lasses, from which they make a pleasant kind 

 of beer, or extract a spirit. 



The process of making sugar from maple 

 trees is mostly managed by women and chil- 

 dren, the men seldom doing more than to tap 

 the trees, which is done with a screw auger of 

 three-fourths of an inch in diameter, when a 

 spout made of elder tree is put into the hole 4 

 to conduct the juice into vessels below. A 

 moderate-sized tree will give from 20 to 30 

 gallons of sap, from which about six pounds 

 of good sugar is made ; but this varies accord- 

 ins to the richness of the trees : in some in- 

 stances upwards of twenty pounds of sugar 

 has been made from the sap of a single tree, 

 and it is observed that the saccharine quality 

 of the juice appears to be highly improved 

 by a careful cultivation of the tree. 



The farmers in the country reduce the sap 

 into sugar with a very simple apparatus. It is 

 usually clarified with lime and white of egg 

 or milk, and grained and clayed in the manner 

 of the cane sugar. It is sometimes reduced 

 into sugar by freezing; but boiling is the 

 most expeditious method. 



