MAPLE SYRUP AND SUGAR 375 



The " boiling down " or evaporation process in the early days was 

 also very crude. It was done in the open woods with no shelter from sun, 

 wind, rain or snow. The resultant impurities from this lack of pro- 

 tection meant a very inferior grade of product. Frequently a pole was 

 stretched between two forked posts and from this an old-fashioned potash 

 kettle was suspended over an open fire. Sometimes a long, heavy pole 

 supported by a post or the crotch of a tree and balanced at the other 

 end with weights was used. The latter method permitted the kettle 

 to be swung over or away from the fire. As the sap was boiled down 

 the impurities were skimmed off. When it was boiled down to the 



Photoyraph by U. S. Forest Service. 



FIG. 98. The old primitive and wasteful method of tapping sugar maples used by the Indians 

 and sometimes by the early settlers. The rough-hewn receptacle and wooden trough 

 have been replaced by the covered bucket and the iron spout. 



proper consistency, or to a thin syrup, it was stored in a vessel and the 

 process repeated with fresh sap. Very often the syrup resembled a 

 tarry mass; dark, heavy, and exceedingly inferior in quality in com- 

 parison to the modern product. 



The work of making the syrup into sugar is known as "sugaring 

 off." This was accomplished by continued boiling until the syrup 

 attained a waxy consistency when dropped in the snow. It was then 

 poured immediately into small moulds where it crystallized into sugar. 



