58 



MAPLE SUGAR. 



called a siigar-camp. Its object is to shelter from the 

 weather the caldrons in which the operation is carried 

 on, and the persons who direct it. One or more augers, 

 of about three quarters of an inch diameter ; some small 

 spouts to receive the sap, tubes of alder or sumac of 

 eight or ten inches, open on two thirds their length, 

 and proportioned to the size of the augers ; buckets to 

 empty the spouts and carry the sap to the camp ; cal- 

 drons of the content of fifteen or sixteen gallons ; 

 moulds proper to receive the sirup, when thickened to 

 the point suitable to be transformed into loaf ; finally, 

 axes to cut and prepare the combustibles, — are the 

 principal utensils necessary to this work. 



The trees are perforated obliquely from below up- 

 ward, at eighteen or twenty inches from the ground, 

 with two or three parallel holes at four or five inches 

 distance one from the other. It is necessary to take 

 care that the auger does not penetrate more thaji a half 

 inch into the wood, observation having proved that 

 there is a greater flow of sap at this depth than at a 

 greater or less. It is recommended, also, and it is the 

 custom, to pierce them in the part of the trunk facing 

 south. This practice, though well known to be pref- 

 erable, is not always followed. 



The spouts, of the content of two or three gallons, 

 are most commonly made, in the Northern States, of 

 white pine, white or black ash, or maple. The chestnut, 

 the oak, and especially the black walnut and butternut, 

 must not be employed for this use, because the sap is 

 easily charged with the coloring part, and even with a 

 degree of bitterness with which these woods are im- 

 pregnated. A spout is placed on the ground at the foot 

 of each tree, to receive the sap that flows by the two 

 tubes introduced into the holes made with the auger. 

 It is collected daily and carried to the camp, where it 

 is deposited temporarily in casks, from which it is 

 drawn to fill the caldrons. It r^ust always be boiled 

 in course of the two or three first days after it is drawn 



