60 



GENESEE FARMER. 



Mar 



Maple Sugar. 



The season has arrived when every one blest 



have the merit of evaporating fast. In our bush 

 we always had a stream of cold sap just equal to 

 the water given off in steam constantly running 



with a Sugar Orchard, should have all things in into each kettle or pan. This arrangement us 

 readiness tor the skillful manuflicture of this de- ] effected by having the kettles and arches low, 

 licious sweet. Old buckets should be new hoop- land wastes no time nor sap in filling kettles, 

 ed if needed, cleansed and soaked, so as not to | Great pains should be taken to keep leaves 

 leak. Spiles must be overhauled, repaired to fit : and dirt of every kind out of the sap. After all 

 exactly the size of the auger, or bit used to bore | your care, the syrup should be well settled before 

 the trees, that no sap, or "sugar water" as the; it gets too thick, and the clear liquid poured off 

 Kentuckians call it, be wasted. Whatever your [ for making into granulated sugar. The sedi- 

 ^^torage apparatus may be, see that it is clean, merit should be diluted and settled again or strain- 

 sweet, and water tight. ed. In some cases sti-aining as well as settling 

 Don't be over anxious to begiii operations, and is necessary to remove all foreign matter. Wood 

 lap too early, nor so dilatory as to lose the iirst for boiling should all be prepared before hand. 



good run of your trees. When to tap is a mat- 

 ter that depends on all the uncertainties of the 

 ■weather. The place to bore into the tree is to 

 be selected, first, not too high, if the sap is to 

 fall through the air, into a bucket standing on, 

 or near to the ground, as the wind will occasion- 

 ally blow the falling sap out of its perpen 



housed, or set on end, dry and close at hand. 



Foe " sugaring ofiV' large brass, copper, or 

 common five jiail kettles are used. Care should 

 be taken not to have too hot, nor an unsteady fire 

 in this process ; nor should the evaporation be car- 

 ried too far. A little experienc3 soon informs one 

 of the proper time to pour the warm or hot su- 



dicular descent on to the ground. Tap low, or I gar into the vessel for caking it. Some have all 



suspend the bucket on the spiles, or a nail driven 

 into the tree. Benches of a cheap structure can 

 be made and used to bring the bucket up to the 

 spile, and avoid their upsetting by the melting of 

 snow, and other causes. 



For making the proper incision into the trunk 

 'ii' the tree, we prefer a bit, or a half inch or | 

 auger fitted to a bit stalk, as the operation of tap- 

 ping can be neatly and rapidly executed bv such 

 an instrument. That side of, the tree which 

 shows the largest, and most vigorous growth of 

 top and root, will yield the most sap, and should 

 bo selected unless too much cut already by pre- 

 vious incisions. Trees yield sap the earliest 

 on their south sides, and latest on their northern 

 exposure. Three inches are deep enough to bore 

 into the tree — some penetrate less than two. 



In our sugar making days, the custom of the 

 bush was to gather the sap either with oxen or 

 horses hauling a hogshead with two heads in, 

 and fastened to a sled. This had a wooden fun- 

 nel made of a sap bucket or trough. By driving 

 (he load of sap on to an elevated spot, either nat- 

 ural or artificial, and turning a faucet all the sap 

 in the hogshead on the sled ran into the reser- 

 voir, near the boiling pans or kettles. In small 

 establishments most men gather sap with a wood- 

 en neck-yoke, carrying two large 16 quart pails 

 uv buckets at a time. This is pretty hard work 

 in a widely distributed bush, when the snow is 2 

 feet deep, and not quite hard enough to bear up 

 a man, or a boy that hopes soon to be one. 



their sugar for family use quite liquid, like mo- 

 lasses ; others stir it off quite dry. 



Sugar trees vary greatly, both in the quantity 

 and quality of their saccharine juice. As a gen- 

 eral rule a bush that the sun can come in well, 

 will yield less sap, but a good deal more sugar, 

 than one in a dense, native forest. A bush 

 should be well underbruslied, and all cattle and 

 sheep kept out, if you wish young maples to 

 spring up and gi-ow. They can be transplanted, 

 with little labor and great pi'ofit. 



We have a specimen of maple sugar equal to 

 double refined loaf from cane, made by Moses 

 Eames, Esq., of Rutland, Jefferson county, 

 whose admirably conducted farm and dairy es- 

 tablishment we visited while giving lectures for 

 the State Agricultural Society. 



Of our numerous young readers, how many 

 can tell where the sugar comes from, which is 

 dissolved in water, and circulates as sap through 

 the alburnum of the maple ? What advances 

 have you made the past winter in studying veg- 

 etable physiology ? Where are the elements 

 elaborated that form the large, and most beauti- 

 ful developement of thousands of leaves on a sin- 

 gle sugar tree ? Does Organic Chemistry re- 

 veal any new light by which the quantity of su- 

 gar can be augmented that any 100 trees will 

 yield in a state of nature ? 



Young friends, we have a story to tell about 

 what it is that nature uses to form sugar in the 

 trunk of a leafless tree, and- how to increase the 

 sugar. 



Do not begin farming by building an extensive 



For boiling, the kettles should be well set in a 

 stone or brick arch, in all permanent orchards. — 



Furnace men are making cauldrons that will hold I house, nor a spacious bara till you have something 

 some 16 gallons set in a stove, for ten, twelve or jto store in it. 



fifteen dollars, according to size, that look as Avoid a low and damp site for a dwelling house, 

 though they would answer an excellent purpose | Build sufficiently distant from your barn and stock 

 for sugar making. Sheet iron and copper pans ivard to avoid accidents by fire. 



