Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 293 



May 4, 1869. 



The regular session uf the (Uuh was held on Tuesday at one o'cloek 

 p. ]\r. Nathan (1 Ely, Esq., the president of tlie Cluh, called the 

 meeting to order; Mr. John W. Chainhers iiUing the post of perma- 

 nent secretary. 



Maple Suoak. 



Mr. N. T. Jackson, Spring Mills, Jiew York.— In the first place, 

 let nie tell how common or black sugar is made. Wooden huckets 

 are generally used, and if not new, they come in from tlic sugar 

 camp sour and dirty; they are stored away without washing till the 

 next spring, then a little cold water is thrown in, a i%v<i liourishes 

 made with an old hroom, then rolled a moment in a kettle of hot 

 water, the p)rocess being just slack enough to soak, the old sap into 

 the staves. A huge gash is made Avith an ax or l)it, an old wooden, 

 spile inserted, that perhaps never was washed, or an old rusty iroa 

 spile no better. The ai-ch, if any, is a })oor one, no grates to put 

 the wood on, no cast front to keej) the fire away from the pan. The 

 fire streams up at each end, burning on the sap. It foams up, takes 

 in the burned, and as it grows sweet, looks red and redder till sirup, 

 and then it is black. No wonder ; everything to make it so. Mj 

 plan is to use none but tin buckets, and galvanized pans and spiles. 

 Everything is carefully avoided that tends in any way to discolor. 

 The sap is all strained before it comes to the pans, and all the scum 

 that rises while boiling is skimmed away. The fire is not allowed to 

 come against any other part but the bottom of the pan. I have a 

 cast front to the arch, a cast strip between the two pans for them 

 to rest on. If wq have no rains in the sap I am sure of as nice sugar 

 as I send. It will be white if kept from being disc(dored by rain, 

 leaves, bark, oi- bni-ning. "White sugar cannot be made in a kettle. It 

 will burn on the sides in spite of any painstaking. I have been 

 accused with putting flour with my sugar to make it white. I 

 usually make several hundred pounds of vei-y light colored sugar; 

 this year 1,100 from 800 trees. We sugar off in a small pan on 

 the stove about twenty-live ])ounds at once. I do not cook awaj 

 ^■ery hard ; stir in a woikIcu bowl — cake in wooden boxes. 

 The sooner the sap is C(jnverteil to sugar the whiter it will 

 be. A hot sun will turn it red iu a day. I have a half-inch bit at 

 first, then freshen the bore with a rimmer, made the shape of a spoon, 

 only more pointed, and the sides straight. Freshen as often as once 



