740 Trans ACTioxs of the American Institute. 



fill of dung or bone, and get nothing just when they ought to get 

 most. At the first lioeing let him top dress with a compost of equal 

 parts dry and fine hen-droppings and plaster, a small handful to the 

 hill. But as a general tiling corn finds any manure you put on a 

 field, no matter where you put it. But the more mixed in the better. 



Maple Sugar. 

 Mr. John H. Curtis, Cherry Creek, N. Y., gave some account of 

 his practice. He recommends tin buckets as preferable to wood, 

 but urges tlie necessity, if these last are used, of keeping them 

 scrupulously clean, which requires more trouble than is the case 

 with tin. He prefers a five-eighths-inch bit to a larger size for 

 tapping, as doing less injury to the tree, and hangs the buckets upon 

 spikes driven into the tree, the buckets each having a lateral ear 

 provided for catching over the spike. Buckets thifs suspended do 

 not tip over, are not filled with leaves, and the tree may be tapped 

 at any convenient part, or at any height from the ground, which is 

 not the case when the bucket has to be bolstered upon the ground. 

 He places the sap, as fast as collected, in a reservoir arranged some- 

 what above the level of tlie evaporating pan, so that the sap may be 

 readily run into the pan as fast as needed. Tlie reservoir is fitted 

 witli a kind of wooden funnel or straining device, having a perforated 

 bottom that separates the leaves and refuse. He uses for sugaring 

 off a sheet-iron pan two feet square and six inches deep. The sirup 

 from the evaporator is suflf'ered to cool so that the settlings will sink to 

 the bottom, whereupon the sirup is turned ofi^ clear. In this con- 

 dition it is placed in the pan, and to each panful is added a teacup- 

 ful of milk to clarify it. In order to know when it is boiled enough 

 to crystallize into sugar when cool, a few drops of the sirup is poured 

 upon a tin dish. If it can be pulled from the tin without a tendency 

 to stick when cold, it is boiled enough, and may be poured out 

 fnto the molds. Mr. Curtis lays much stress npon the necessity ot 

 l3eing forehanded in the work. The bucket should be laid by the 

 trees in anticipation of the first run of the sap, so that they may be 

 put in place the very first day of the run. "When the sugar-making 

 season is over they should be nicely washed and stored in a clean 

 room, and not, as is often done, in some out-building for the hens 

 and turkeys to roost in. Mr. Curtis's letter is abbreviated somewhat, 

 but the Club is much obliged to him for his common sense suggestions, 

 and the practical and thrifty character of his remarks. 



