THE FARMER'S MONTHLY VISITOR. 



61 



l-rom tlie Hampden Post. 

 Maple sugar. 



The spason thus far, we should jiuige, has been 

 lemaikably good for the production of this article, 

 and we have no doubt a'large quantity of it will 

 be n)ade. , 



Tli^re are several towns in Berkshire where 

 this article is produced in considerable quantities, 

 but Sandisfield has taken the lead in quantity 

 and probably in quality. 



The average annual product of this town is 

 about one hundred thousand pounds, as we learn 

 from a gentleman who has taken some pains for 

 facts upon which he makes his estimate. It has 

 liecome so much an object that the farmers deem 

 their farms wanting au essential requisite if lack- 

 ing an orchard of the sugar maple. 



The tree, which grows thriftily, is preserved 

 with great care by them. The season of sugar 

 making is one which does not interfere with the 

 agricultural pursuits of the farmer, occupying, 

 upon an average, some six weeks betvveen the 

 middle of February and the tenth of April. The 

 season rarely commences earlier than the mid- 

 dle of Februaiy, or continues past the tenth of 

 April. 



The process of manufiicture is a simple but 

 pleasant one, and there have been, within the 

 past few years, many labor- saving improvements, 

 in olden "times the farmer boxed his tVees, which 

 proved fatal to tliem in a few years : the sap he 

 gathered on his shoulders, with a neck-yoke and 

 buckets, carrying it oftentimes from a fourth to a 

 half a mile — a most slavish business. To boil it 

 he would roll two large logs near together, hang 

 his kettles between them on a pole running from 

 the crotch of one tree to the stump of another, 

 and build a fire under them with wood prepared 

 by the axe. If a farmer in those times produced 

 thirty or forty pounds of sugar and four or five 

 gallons of molasses from his six weeks labor and 

 the consumption of fifteen or twenty corrls of 

 wood, it was a feat to be boasted of The frugal 

 dame had sweetening for the jear, and perhaps a 

 little to spare. 



Now, instead of boxing, the farmer bores his 

 trees with a small bit to the depth of two or 

 three inches and from the smnach makes a spile 

 which conducts the sap into tubs. This process 

 injures the tree very slightly, if at all. Instead of 

 carrying the sap in buckets on his shoulders, lie 

 does it with cattle and sled, driving near his tree: 

 and filling his large gathering tub on bis sled at 

 his leisure. Instead of rolling logs together and 

 boiling his sap under the open canopy of heaven, 

 he builds him a large house, sets his caldrons in 

 a furnace, and is protected fi-om the wind, and 



and smoke. Instead of boasting in the 

 product of thirty or forty pounds, he deems the 

 season an inauspicious one, if, from a conimoti 

 sized orchard, he does not produce as many 

 hundred. Some of the larger orchards yield from 

 seven to twelve thousand pounds yearly. 



One man with a team will gather from thirty to 

 fifty barrels of sap in a day. In some of these 

 establishments, depending on the size and struc- 

 ture of their caldrons, they will in twenty-four 

 hours reduce from twenty to thirty barrels of the 

 liquid in its raw state, to one of syrup. But the 

 sport lies in what they call "sugaring-ofl'," boil- 

 ing the syrup into sugar, which is a nice process, 

 requiring care, and is generally done at the dwel- 

 ling houses of the farmers. It is at these " su- 

 gai-ings-ofF," that the frolick.s are had. 



It is some years since we have mingled in 

 these rustic sports, but we presume there is not 

 a great change in the jirocess of manufacture, 

 or in the fashion of the frolicks incident to it. 

 If there have been any improvements in the manu- 

 facture, we .should be willing to spend a little 

 time in a critical examination of any specimens 

 the farmers may choose to submit to us. 



REMARKS. 



Memory carries the editor of the Visitor back 

 to the year 1798, as the first when he had any 

 knowledge of the sugar tree and its product. 

 His father that year removed from a sea-board 

 town to one of the highest, newest hill towns of 

 Worcester county in Massachusetts; and among 

 the rural advantages promised in the new loca- 

 tion was that of manufacturing the annual supply 

 of sugar on the little farm which had been pur- 

 chased. At this time the rock maple and the 

 mode and progress of the sugar manufacture 



were entirely new to him and to us. Before the 

 deep snow of that region had disappeared in 

 March, the attention of man and boys was turned 

 the sugar preparation. From the straight- 

 rifted white ash split directly into two parts the 

 trough for catching the sap was dug out; and 

 from the sumach wliich had stolen its growth in 

 the hedges springing up around the decaying 

 log fences, the spouts were first split, and the 

 pith perforated as the channel through which 

 the sap was to be conducted from the tree to the 

 destined receptacle. The land recently cleared, 

 the fairest maples had been lef\ standing scatter- 

 ed in all directions over the mowing and pasture 

 fields. Some few farmers were so fortunate as 

 to have " sugar lots" where the trees stood in a 

 cluster, in \vhich the sugar material was easily 

 collected, and near which there was abundance 

 of fuel to boil down in large potash kettles 

 the sap which was at hand. There were at 

 that time large trees one of which would run 

 sufficient saccharine juice in a single day to make 

 a pound of sugar. In gathering sap in the sea- 

 son of deep snows there was a difficulty of sud- 

 denly sinking deep and spilling the liquid from 

 the pails : the shoulder yoke to which the pails 

 were attached was a great convenience to the 

 sap-gatherer, and the rackets made in the shape 

 of a balloon kite, interwoven sometimes with 

 thongs of leather and sometimes with rifted ash 

 basket stuff, enabled the well trained sap-gather- 

 er to put the deep snow at defiance. 



Young as was the editor at that time (ten 

 years of age and upwards) he saw with regret 

 from year to year the valued sugar trees prostra- 

 ted before the high winds. Until the first clear- 

 ing, their protection had been in the surrounding 

 forest. Generally these trees had grown up tall 

 and straight and thrifty like the sons of the forest 

 ere their abodes had been invaded by the tread 

 of the white man from a far country. To them 

 the civilization which cut down the original 

 growth around them was as unnatural as were 

 the settlements, the barns and houses and the 

 cultivation of the whites to tlio Indian. In less 

 than twenty years after the land \'i'as cleared the 

 original noble rock-maples left standing as ex 

 einpts from the woodman's axe had disappeared ; 

 and never in our day did we expect to see their 

 place supplied by another growth. 



But it is believed to be a fact that for almost 

 the entire amount of present sugar maple pro 

 duction — and the State ofNew York, as is shown 

 by the late census, produces in maple sugar with 

 in a tithe of the quantity of the sugar from cane 

 in the State of Louisiana — we are indebted to 

 the second growth sugar maples which have 

 spontaneously sprung out of the ground within 

 the last forty years. It is a fact that sugar or- 

 chards may be made to grow upon the suitable 

 ground on the sides of our mountains almost as 

 soon as the bearing afiple tree. They will grow 

 among the hollows of clefted rocks in pastures 

 where very little feed will grow for cattle : they 

 make in pasture grounds beautiful groves for the 

 retreat of the looing herds either in a storm or 

 under a sultry sun. They grow readily upon the 

 sides of roads answering at the same time as a 

 shade, a protection and an ornament, while they 

 give an annual income from their rich saccharine 

 Juice equal to the lawful interest of ten and fif- 

 teen dollars as the value of a single tree. 



Sandisfield in Massachusetts, according to 

 Hayward's Gazetteer, is an elevated township at 

 the south-east corner of Berkshire county, on the 

 line of Litchfield county in Connecticut, 124 

 miles west by soutii from Boston. Although far- 

 ther south, the land and the season there do not 

 much differ from those of the elevated towns 

 producing the rock maple through the whole line 

 of New Hampshire. Sandisfield has a popula- 

 tion by the late census of something veiy near 

 1500 souls. It is what is generally denominated 

 a grazing town, the soil being very fine for pas- 

 turage and good for hay. This town is the resi- 

 dence of the Lieutenant Governor (Hull) of Mas- 

 sachusetts, who unites the occupations of far- 

 mer, lawyer, magistrate and postmaster. From 

 Gov. Hull we have per.sonally derived the infor- 

 mation that this little country" town produces an- 

 nually its hundred thousand pounds of maple bU' 

 gar. ' We understood from him that one of his 

 neighbor farmers made each year between seven 

 and eight thou.sand pounds on his own premises. 

 The item of maple sugar is surely one which 



deserves more general attention than it has hith- 

 erto i-eceived : it may be produced with much 

 less expense and parade than have hitherto been 

 bestowed upon the cultivation and manufacture 

 . of sugar froiTi the beet. 



In a few years, by rearing maple trees in land 

 natural to that growth, New England may pro- 

 duce sufficient brown sugar for its own consump- 

 tion without at all lessening other productions ; 

 and here will be one item in our domestic econ- 

 omy tending to the real independence of her 



rg.—Ed. Monthly Visitor. 



Vrom tlie Lancaster (Pa.) Intelligencer. 

 THE MOUNTAIN FARM. 



BV WIS.S JANE H. WILLIAMS. 



In tlie primeval forest 



There's a farm both broad and wide, 

 And the farmer's cabin stands 



Upon the mountain's side ; 

 And in the green yard by the door 



There's a group' of shady trees, 

 Where, when tired of toil as it is fit, 

 The larmer and his wife can sit 



And rest them when they please ; 

 There is an orchard trim and neat 



Upon the woodland lea, 

 And a bee hive sheltered from the heat 



Stands 'neath the old ash tree. 



The modest blue-bell flower, 



Creeps o'er the cabin wall, 

 .\nd o'er the little window 



lis graceful tendrils fall ; 

 While from its nest among the thatch, 



The swallow chirpeth low ; 

 And the clustering woodbine twineth, 

 And the honey-suckle shineth 



In the garden plot below. 

 There is a meadow smooth and sheen, 



Where the brooldet runneth clear, 

 And the farmer's children oft are seen 



To gather cresses here. 



The hemlock's leafy boughs 



Their deepest shadows fling. 

 And the chestnut spreads its arms 



Around the mountain spingj 

 And there's a little rivulet 



The willow decks its brink 

 O'er the pebbles it doth rattle 

 And the farmer brings bis cattle, 



Here at morn and eve to drink. 

 The yellow violet bloweth, 



And the long spear grass so green, 

 ,\nd the feathery fern it groweth 



Beside the mountain spring. 



.\nd there's a narrow way 



To the village on the plain, 

 And the mountain farmer findeth there 



A buyer for his grain ; 

 The sycamore with silvery stems 



Shades the old winding road, 

 Here with his good gray horses threo 

 The farmer hies so merrily, \ 



To market with his load ; 

 Then good luck to the farmer 



And the farmer's wife. 

 And ever may they live as now 



Afar from storm and strife. 



Greatest Farm in England. 



nOLKHAM HALL, NORFOLK. 



This place is renowned throughout England at 

 last, and especially as the farm of old Mr. Coke, 

 the father of the farmers of Norfolk, and I am 

 happy, therefore, to have enjoyed an excellent 

 opportunity of seeing the estate. I shall not 

 probably find in Great Britain a better specimen 

 either of the style of life of a good old country 

 gentleman of tliis realm and of the ancient school 

 or of the management of a first rate practical 

 proprietor's estate. Let me begin by giving you 

 some idea of the latter; premising that this is the 

 same Mr. Coke who moved in the House of 

 Commons the discontinuance of the American 

 war of '70; and who having carried it in the 

 great and excited body by a majority of one, was 

 himself, at the suggestion of his friend, Mr. Fox, 

 at the head of the committee to take up an ad- 

 dress to his Majestv, George III, in pursuance of 

 the vote. This he'did in his farmer's dress, with 

 his white top boots and frock on — for that was 

 the custom. Every American must respect the 

 old man for his achievement, and they will not 

 like him less to know that, every day at his table, 

 during that barbarous war, he was accustomed, 

 as he declares now, to drink the health of Gen. 

 Washington, as the greatest man in existence^— 

 This liberal spirit has always distinguished Mr. 

 Coke ; and he begun his career in Parliament, 

 with the war itself, and remained in it nearly six 

 years. Were he still a member, which his age 



