3 i8 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



is necessary in keeping all the utensils clean if a first-class product is to be made. 

 'All the pails, tubs, dippers and other implements must be washed often in 

 boiling water. 



The modern evaporator is also constructed with a portable iron or steel arch, 

 which can be set up quickly in a sugar house without waiting to lay brick walls or 

 other masonry. Before using it a lining of fire brick is inserted which protects the 

 iron framework and sides from warping or burning out. There are no return flues, 

 and the sheet-iron smokestack rises from the end opposite the fire box. A twelve- 

 foot pan with these improved appliances will evaporate one gallon per minute, and, if 

 necessary, one hundred gallons per hour. After the first hour or so the sap is in the 

 pan not over thirty minutes when it is drawn off. The product of 1,200 trees can be 

 manufactured without working nights. 



There is also a great saving in fuel. With an air-tight iron arch, one cord of 

 wood will make about 325 pounds of sugar, which represents a fair day's work of ten 



MOULDS FOR MAPLE SUGAR.* 



hours. The cost of a galvanized iron portable evaporator, at the factory, varies from 

 $60 to $120, according to the size; if made of tin, from $65 to $130 ; and if copper, 

 from $85 to $195. 



It may be interesting to note here that maple sap may be reduced to sugar by 

 freezing. Dr. Rush, in his letter, states that " this method has been tried for many 

 years by Mr. Obadiah Scott, a farmer in Luzerne county, in this State (Pa.), with 

 great success." The Indians gathered sap, allowed it to freeze and melt repeatedly, 

 whereupon, after throwing away the ice each time, a residuum of syrup and sugar 

 was obtained. When the cold is not intense enough to reduce the sap to the point of 

 granulation, the process can still be completed by boiling. 



Sugar can also be obtained from sap by spontaneous evaporation. The hollow 

 stump of a maple tree, cut down in the spring, will often fill with sap which, when 

 evaporated in the sun, will leave a deposit of sugar. 



Improved methods have resulted in an improved product which, in turn, has 

 created an increased demand and higher prices. For the better grades the sugar 

 makers receive about ten cents per pound, and about ninety cents per gallon for the 



* Made by the Vermont Farm Machine Company, Bellows Falls, Vt. 



