262 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



Jtsaz 



For the New England Farmer. 



MAKING MAPLE SUGAR. 



Simon Brown, Esq.: — Dear Sir, — At the sugges- 

 tion of my friend, lion. F. IIoi.BftooK., I send you 

 licrcwith a Stimiile of Maple sugar, and accompa- 

 nying it a Bbiteinent of the process of luanu- 

 ufaoture which I have adopted after*n experience 

 of forty years in the bueiuess. The Siimple is not 

 sent as one of superior excellence, but is a, fair av- 

 erage of some half ton made annually, ■\vithout_any 

 refining, ia the manner described herein. 



TAPPING. 



This is performed with a half-inch bit, to the 

 depth of from 2^ to 3^ inches, according to the 

 size of the tree. A good, sound, thrifty part of 

 the wood is selected, without much regard to 

 the side of the tree. The buckets are made per- 

 fectly clean and sweet by scalding, both at the 

 commencement and close of the season, and are 

 attached to the ti-ee l)y a small nail driven up 

 close, so as to level the bucket. The spouts are 

 made of dark colored wood, with a small orifice, 

 so as not to attract the sun's rays, or dry up, and 

 sharpened in such a manner as only to crowd at 

 the surface of the tree. 



The sap is gixthered with a team, in holders 

 standing upright on the sled, and is drawn direct- 

 ly from them by means of a spout with the sti-ain- 

 er attached into the sugar house, which is built 

 on a side-hill to favor tliis operation, and so save 

 labor, and prevent waste. The sugar house is 

 well-ventilated by doors and windows, and suffi- 

 ciently capacious to hold all the fuel wanted, and 

 also all the sugaring apparatus. 



The boiling is performed in two sheet iron pans, 

 of the capacity of 1;^ bbls. each, set end to end in 

 a brick arch, 1 foot high in the door, with the 

 chimney in the roar, and a cast iron door at the 

 mouth, and another smaller one in the middle of 

 one side to put in wood and give a proper draft. 

 Such an establishment is capable of boiling away 

 one barrel per hour, and will require about one- 

 half cord of wood per 100 lbs. of sugar. 



When so far boiled down as to apron from a 

 tin dipper, it is removed to a smooth caldron ket- 

 tle, set in an independent arch on one side of the 

 chimney, and while still warm, about two quarts 

 of fkimmed milk per 100 lbs. of sugar is well 

 stirred in, and then it is raised to boiling heat, 

 and passed through the strainer frame. It is then 

 put immediately into a brass kettle, (set in anoth- 

 er arch on the opposite side of the chimney, in a 

 movable manner,) and boiled down rapidly, until, 

 when blown in bubbles from the sugar trier, it 

 will rattle distinctly on the boiling sugar, when it 

 it taken off, partially cooled in the kettle, stirred 

 a little, and ladled into the caking moulds to pre- 

 pare it for market. 



APPARATUS USED. 



A dipper made of liable tin, holding one gal- 

 lon. 



A strainer frame made of four upright pieces of 

 scantling (something similar to the frame of a table) 

 with strips of l)ouid nailed on the top, and at the 

 sides to hold them together. Nails are driven in- 

 to the legs to which three strainers are hung, one 

 above the other, by loops at the corners; the up 

 per, being a common milk strainer, the next thick- 

 er, and the bottom one a very thick flannel. Tiie 

 syrup passed through this apparatus will be so 



perfectly pure that no sediment will settle, if it 

 should stand ever so long, and there will be no need 

 of boys to hold strainers till the patience even of 

 a young "Job" would be exhausted. 



A sugar-trier is merely an elastic tM'ig, with a 

 knot so tied in the end so as to leave an orifice of 

 the size ofaninepenny bit. This is thrust into the 

 Iwiling sugar, and makes good fun for the children 

 to blow off the bubbles. If used as above recom- 

 mended, there is no need of failing in sugaring 

 ofFjust right once in a hundred. 



Caking moulds are made with a bottom of zjnc, 

 with strips of wood nailed on around the sides, 

 and legthwise, into which are put partitions of 

 zinc crosswise, making oblong cakes of any size 

 and number on a mould which the manufacturer 

 may fancy. 



KEMAUKS. 



By the above method the sap is never cooled 

 until the sugar is entirely done ; consequently a 

 saving of fuel, labor and syrup is made, and in my 

 opinion the quality of the sugar is better. 



A half-inch bore is better than a larger one, as 

 it docs not injure the tree so much, and it will af- 

 ford full as much sap, taking the season through 

 The flow of the saccharine fluid depends mainly 

 on the depth of bore, not on its size, as many im- 

 agine. 



A nicer and whiter sugar may be made by do- 

 ing it down slightly, and draining in a tub with 

 a wet cloth on the top ; but the flavor of the arti- 

 cle is not so good as that of the cake sugar un- 

 drained. I come now to a point on which I have 

 the misfortune to differ from most writers for the 

 agricultural papers. The prevailing opinion seems 

 to be, "that all sap will make, equally white sug- 

 ar with the same care and attention. ' ' I am satisfied 

 both from analogy and observation, that this is a 

 mistake. My opinion is that the nature of the soil 

 has as much to do with the quality of maple sug- 

 ar as it has with thatof wheat or any other vegetable 

 production. No two things in the vegetable king- 

 dom are in every respect precisely the same. Their 

 character depends in a greater or less degree upon 

 the mineral and other substances in the soil. The 

 sugar maple groAving in a limestone soil takes up 

 lime, as any observing man can easily discover by 

 settling pure syrup strained as above described. L 

 have sugared off the bottom of such syrup, and 

 found it to be more than half pure lime, in a fine 

 state of solution. It is very white, but will not 

 adhere in a cake. Nearly all the very white sug- 

 ar which has fallen under my observation at our 

 fairs came from a limestone soil. The presence of 

 gypsum undoubted'y would have the same eftect, 

 while iron would have an opposile ono, and so of 

 otiier minerals, according to their character. In 

 selecting the ground for a mi gar orchard, therefore, 

 the preference should be given to such soils as have 

 for a base, mineral subst^inccs affording a light 

 color. 



Please excuse the length of this article, for the 

 subject is nearly inexhaustible, and for some of 

 tiie notions tlierein I feel somewhat of the partial- 

 ity of a father to his children. 



Yours tr\ily, Ira Goodhue. 



\Vesi?ninsicr West, Vt., AprillO, 1854. 



Remarks. — We are obliged to Mr. G.,not only 

 for the liberal samples of his excellent sugar, but 



