Proceedings of the Farmers' Club. 629 



DiEECTIONS FOE THE SuGAK HoUSE. 



Mr. G. W. Caiieton, Brunswick, Maine.— Last JSTovember one of 

 yonr correspondents made inquiry about maple sugar, I will attempt 

 to tell liim what his trouble arises from, and the reward of "as hand- 

 some a cake of sugar as can be made in the State " he may pass to 

 you to be shared by the club. He boils his sugar so high that it 

 retained, no moisture after being granulated, or he keeps it in some 

 tub, keg or firkin which allows all the richness to filter out of it. 

 Boil it slacker ; don't let it filter ; seal it up like canned fruit, and it 

 will never lose its peculiar rich flavor. If he or any one else has any 

 maple sugar which has become inferior by age, and. if the crop is 

 short this spring and. you have any left over, and you want to avail 

 yourself of a quick market and good paying prices, remelt your old 

 sugar to a syrup, then reboil it to a granulating pitch, which is easily 

 known by taking out a little with a spoon, and dropping it into a 

 cup of cold water ; if just right to grain, it wdll form readily into a 

 soft ball in the bottom of the cup. Grain the sugar by stirring- 

 while hot. If too hot, the sugar will be in fine, close grains. Have 

 it boiled just right, and just as hot as a finger thrust into it can be 

 borne, and if the sap or syrup has been kept sioeet, not kept so long 

 or so carelessly, or so thin as to become 'sour, the sugar will be in 

 coarse grains, and of far richer flavor, and by stirring into it a small 

 quantity. of sugar that has been pounded fine, it will gi-ain in half 

 the time, and be as good as he can wish for. If maple sugar is 

 wanted by some of our pioneer families, '■'■vMy Ijacli^'' beautifully 

 white, for " comjxiny,^^ take a common earthen pot, and watli a drill, 

 or nail, make several small holes in the bottom of it. Lay over these 

 a small piece of coarse cotton or muslin. ISTow fill the pot with 

 newly granulated sugar to the top, crowd the sugar down so as to 

 settle it sufiicient for a cake of clean clay, made soft as putty, which, 

 after covering the top of the sugar with a piece of thin white paper, 

 or wet cotton cloth, lay on the cake of clay and press it down upon 

 the sugar, so as to fill the pot. ISTow cover the pot with a plate to 

 keep the clay clean and moist, set this pot of sugar on the top of 

 an empty one, and set the whole away in a' cool cupboard. The 

 drippings, which will fall into the under pot, will be most deliciously 

 rich, and the sugar in the pot from which they were drained wdll be 

 white and nice enough foi' the "company," if it does not come too 

 early, but its peculiar maple flavor will be greatly departed, for in 

 proportion as the sugar contained this moisture it is rich or otherwise. 



Adjourned. 



