1863. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



69 



For a side walk or garden path, a foot or so in 

 depth of stones covered with broken stone or 

 gravel will give always a firm dry path at all sea- 

 sons of the year. 



Team roads across farms, where much used, 

 should be run out with the plow, the stones 

 stumps and roots removed, and lasting bridges 

 thrown across the runs or brooks. It will be 

 well to throw down bundles of faggots in swampy 

 places, over which cart on gravel or soil. Such 

 a road once made will last for a generation, and 

 prevent much trouble. — Journal ^Agriculture. 



THE INNER CALM. 



Calm me, my God, and keep me calm ; 



While these hot breezes blow, 

 Be like the night-dew's cooling balm 



Upon earth's fevered brow. 



Calm me, my God, and keep me calm ; 



Soft resting on Thy breast. 

 Soothe me with holy hymn and psalm, 



And bid my spirit rest. 



Calm me, my God, and keep me calm j 



Let thine outstretching ^^ng 

 Be like the shade of Elim's palm, 



Beside her desert spring. 



Yes, keep me calm, though loud and rude 



The sounds my ear that greet. 

 Calm in the closet's solitude. 



Calm in the bustling street. 



Calm in the hour of buoyant health, 



Calm in the hour of pain. 

 Calm in my poverty or wealth. 



Calm in my loss or gain. 



Calm in the sufferance of wrong. 



Like Him who bore my shame ; 

 Calm mid the threatening, taunting throng 



Who hate Thy Holy Xame. 



Calm when the great world's newa with power 



My listening spirit stir ! 

 Let not the tidings of the hour 



E'er find too fond an ear. 



Calm as the ray of sun or star, 



Which storms assail in vain. 

 Moving unruffled through earth's war, 



Th' eternal calm to gain. 



Judge French, — On another page may be 

 found an article from our esteemed friend, and, 

 for many years, our Associate Editor of the Farm- 

 er. In the midst of his practice as a lawyer, and 

 of the valuable aid he was supplying to our col- 

 umns, he was selected by the Executive of the 

 State to discharge the duties of an important of- 

 fice, in the line of his profession, and promptly ac- 

 cepted its trusts. Under this new demand upon 

 his time and energies, he declines to bear the 

 yoke and title of Editor with us longer. But we 

 rejoice that he will still bear us in remembrance, 

 and continue to illumine our pages with his sensi- 

 ble, and always reliable and practical thoughts, 

 whenever the duties of his profession will permit. 



May there be many New Years of pleasant life 

 and usefidness left to him and his. 



MAPLE SUOAB. 



We have annually given some account of the 

 modes of making maple sugar for several years 

 past, and have incurred considerable expense for 

 engravings to illustrate the fixtures and manner 

 of evaporating the sap. An article in the N. II. 

 Journal of Agriculture, from the pen of Geo. W. 

 Hammond, of Gilsum, in that State, recalls the 

 subject, and prompts us to ask attention to it at 

 this early day, so that our friends may bear it in 

 mind and make preparations for their work in sea- 

 son. 



Nothing that we eat is more acceptable to most 

 persons than good sugar. It is not merely pleas- 

 ant to the taste, but we have the gratification of 

 knowing that, while it pleases the taste, it affords 

 actual nourishment to the body. The present 

 high price of sugar should stimulate the farmer to 

 produce all he can the coming spring, as it will be 

 required by our people, and will afford him a 

 handsome profit. Mr. Hammond says : — 



When people once become familiar with the use 

 of maple sugar for cooking and table use, for tea, 

 coffee, &c., they prefer it to the best refined white 

 cane sugars. 



We have been in the practice of making annu- 

 ally, in our sugar establishment, from 25 to 3jOO 

 pounds of maple sugar ; and when we could ob- 

 tain from two to four cents per pound more than 

 the cost of the best loaf and granulated sugars, we 

 sometimes sold ourselves so short as to be obliged 

 to buy for home use a barrel or two of the best 

 granulated sugar. 



But much depends upon the manner in which 

 maple sugar is made. As we have sold our sugar 

 usually at the highest price — once as high as \o 

 cents per pound by the thousand pounds — per- 

 haps the readers of the Journal might be interest- 

 ed in an account of our process of manufacture. 



1st. Our buckets and holders are all thoroughly 

 scalded and rinsed previous to setting. Our 

 evaporating pans, of which we use eight, are 

 scraped, washed and made perfectly clean before 

 use. We then endeavor to gather and evaporate 

 the sap as speedily as ])ossible after it has left the 

 trees, to a consistency a little thinner than mo- 

 lasses. 



It is then strained and set aside until we are 

 ready to sugar it off. When we commence this 

 process, to syrup enough to make 40 pounds of 

 sugar, we add one pint of milk and one or two 

 eggs well beaten and mixed together. Stir well 

 together and place it over the fire, and when the 

 scum rises skim it off into a vessel for future use. 

 After the skimming is through, remove the .syrup 

 from the fire and strain it through ihuinel, to re- 

 move all little curds, which if suffered to remain, 

 would not only injure the quality, but by settling 

 to the bottom would endanger burning. Now we 

 wash our evaporating pan, return the s\Tup, and 

 place it over a brisk fire, and evaporate as quickly 

 as possible to the proper consistence. If it is to 

 be caked, it must be harder than for tub sugar, or 

 to stir off dry. Keep saleratus and all other 

 drugs out of your sugar, if you desire a pure ma- 

 ple taste, and a wholesome article. 



