430 



MAPLE-SUGAR 



«f lime — by filtration or sedimentation) it is sealed, 

 usually hot, in tin cans. 



The sugaring process. 



Sugaring used to be conducted in the open, and 

 it still is in the more southern maple regions. But 

 in the North the sugar-house is always in evidence. 

 It is commonly a small, rather rough shanty-like 

 affair, large enough to house the evaporator, and 

 perhaps the " sugaring-off " outfit, and to roof over 

 the wood-supply. It is placed usually at the edge 

 of the bush, at such a point as is most convenient 

 for the delivery of the sap. ' 



The " sugaring-off" process is an interesting one. 

 The thin syrup from the evaporator is boiled to a 

 much greater density in the concentrating pan 

 used in syrup-making. Marketable syrup carries 

 60 to 65 per cent of sugar ; marketable sugar, 80 

 to 90 per cent. The former boils at about 219°, the 

 latter at 234° to 245°, or more. The boiling fluid 

 foams and bubbles furiously over the quick fire and, 

 now and then, is on the point of boiling over, when 

 by a dash of a few drops of cream, skim-milk, water 

 even at times, lard, a bit of salt pork, — anything to 

 break the surface tension of the foam, — instantly 

 it ceases and is gone. Care needs to be exercised 

 here to prevent this loss as well as to obviate 

 scorching. The fluid is adjudged done by the ther- 

 mometer's testimony, or by the way the stuff "hairs," 

 or "aprons," or simply by the dictates of experience 

 and judgment. The pan is then swung from the fire 

 and the quiescent, brownish, viscid fluid stirred vig- 

 orously until graining begins, when the semi-solid 

 mass is poured into molds, tubs or boxes to harden. 



The output. 



The annual crop in this country approaches fifty 

 millions pounds, valued at over four millions of 

 dollars. Six states — Vermont, New York, Ohio, 

 Michigan, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire — furnish 

 over 90 per cent of the output. Much is made in 

 Canada, but none south of Tennessee, west of the 

 Missouri river, or in any European country. It is 

 the product of limited areas of territorially a very 

 small part of the world, and the foreigner who has 

 seen or tasted it is rare indeed. 



Many car-loads, particularly of the last run goods, 

 the dark and inferior sugar, — the blacker and 

 stronger the better, — are picked up by sugar buy- 

 ers and shipped, mostly west, to the mixers or 

 blenders. Hundreds of tons of such material are 

 used in the manufacture of chewing tobacco, a 

 trade which is said to be eager for all the maple- 

 sugar that it can get. 



Statistics are rather unreliable, but it is probably 

 not far from the fact to say that half the total 

 crop is made into syrup and half into sugar, the 

 proportion of syrup to sugar rapidly increasing. 

 Syrup properly put up and stored keeps well, but 

 sugar keeps better. The former sells at retail at 

 ninety cents to |1.50 a gallon, the latter at seven 

 to twenty cents a pound, according to quality and 

 quantity, time of year, size of crop, and other fac- 

 tors. Early or first run sugar, light in color, fine in 

 flavor, in small cakes, sells at fancy prices early in 



MAPLE-SUGAR 



the season ; but the main crop, good, bad and indif- 

 ferent, is likely to bring a low price, which at 

 times has been below the cost of production. The 

 tobacco men and the sophisticators sometimes pay 

 high prices for the strong-tasting goods of more or 

 less uncleanly antecedents ; but except for these 

 special purposes, speaking broadly, the light-hued 

 goods of mild and delicate aroma are preferred to 

 the darker ones of more decided flavor, and com- 

 mand better prices. 



Centralization in maple-sugar-inaking. 



The latest step in the evolution of the maple- 

 sugar industry is the inevitable one toward which 

 all forms of human endeavor seem destined, — that 

 of centralization. The making of the thin syrup 

 at the individual plants still continues, but buyers 

 contract for the entire supply to be shipped to some 

 central point for grading, reworking, concentration 

 and sale. These central plants are sometimes co- 

 partnerships of private individuals, sometimes sup- 

 ply houses for individual wholesale grocery firms, 

 and sometimes associations of sugar-makers, such 

 as the Vermont Sugar Makers' Market at Randolph. 

 The manifest advantages of such centralization are 

 a greater uniformity of product and better control 

 of sales. They doubtless afford a desirable sales 

 market for many small makers ; but the well- 

 informed, well-equipped owner of a considerable 

 sugar-bush can generally do better to complete and 

 to sell his own products. 



Literature. 



W. S. Clark, Circulation of Sap in Plants, Report 

 Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, 21 (1873); 

 Same, Observations on Phenomena of Plant-life, 

 Report Massachusetts Board of Agriculture, 22 

 (1874) ; C. S. Sargent, The Sylva of North America, 

 Vol. H, (1890) ; W. W. Cooke and J. L. Hills, 

 Maple-Sugar, Vermont Experiment Station, Bulletin 

 No. 26 (1890) ; C. H. Jones, A. W. Edson and W. J. 

 Morse, The Maple-Sap Flow, Vermont Experiment 

 Station, Bulletin No. 103 (1904), from which the 

 logs in Fig. 650 are adapted ; J. L. Hills, The 

 Maple-Sap Flow, Vermont Experiment Station, Bul- 

 letin No. 105 (1904) (Popular Edition of 103) ; Wil- 

 liam F. Fox and William P. Hubbard, The Maple- 

 Sugar Industry, United States Department of Agri- 

 culture, Bureau of Forestry, Bulletin No. 59 (1905); 

 A. J. Cook, Maple Sugar and the Sugar Bush; 

 Wiley, The Sugar Industry of the United States, 

 Part IV, Bulletin No. 5, United States Department 

 of Agriculture (1885). 



Maple-syrup-making from Ohio Experience. 



By W. I. Chamberlain. 



There is no better way of setting forth the 

 principles involved and the methods employed in 

 the making of maple-syrup and maple-sugar than 

 by describing the practice in one of the foremost 

 maple -sugar -producing sections in the country. 

 The discussion that follows is based on sixty years 

 of observation and personal experience, chiefly in 

 northern Ohio, 



