214 



SIiaAB. 



account of its peculiar flavor, has not found its way into common use, for 

 s\reetening tea and coffee. It would appear Yv^orth while, then, to improve this 

 manufactiirej and to make the maple sugar equal to any now in use. This can 

 be readily accomplished, if the farmers in the hack country will study the 

 process of sugar-making, for cane and m.aple sugar are, when pure, ahsolutely 

 identical. It should be remarked, that forest maples do not produce so much 

 sugar as those grown in open fields or in groves, where they have more light, 

 the under-brush being cleared away. 



In Farmington, on the Sandy Eiver, in Maine, I have seen a very fine grove 

 of maples, but thirty years old, which produced a large yield of very good 

 sugar. A man and two boys made 1,500 lbs. of sugar from the sap of these 

 trees in a single season. The sap was boiled down in potash kettles, which 

 were scoured bright with vinegar and sand. The sugar was of a fine yellow 

 color, and well crystallised. It was drained of its molasses in casks, v»'ith a false 

 bottom perforated with small holes — the cask having a hole bored at the bottom, 

 wibh a tow plug placed loosely in it, to conduct off the molasses. This method 

 is a good one, but the sap ought to be limed in boiling, as I have described ; 

 then it will not attach to the iron or copper boilers. The latter metal must 

 not be used with acid syrup, for coppej salts are poisonous. 



There are several towns in the northern sections of Maine, jN'ew 

 Hampshire, and Yermont, that produce more than sufficient sugar 

 for the con-sumption of their inhabitants. A lot of good sugar 

 trees will average four pounds to the tree, in a favorable season. 

 Many farmers have orchards that will yield five hundred to a 

 thousand pounds of sugar in a yecr. As this is made at a season 

 interfering very little with the general business of the farm, the 

 sugar that the I'armer makes is so much clear gain. 



There is, on almost every hill-farm, some place favorable for 

 the growth of a maple orchard — some rocky spots yielding little 

 grass, and impervious for the plough. Such spots may be favor- 

 ably chosen for the growth of a maple orchard ; and whether the 

 increase be used for manufacturing sugar or molasses, or for timber 

 or fuel, the proprietor of the land will find a profit better than 

 money at interest in the growth of this beautiful tree, which will 

 spontaneously propagate itself in many positions. 



Its great excellence consists in yielding sap for the manufacture 

 of vast quantities of maple sugar in the country during the months 

 of spring. An open winter, constantly freezing and thawing, is a 

 forerunner of a bountiful crop of sugar. The orchard of maple 

 trees is almost equal to a field of sugar cane of the same area, 

 in the production of sugar. This tree reaches an age of 200 

 years. 



Yermont is the second sugar-producing State in the Union. 

 The amount of maple sugar produced there in 1840 was over 2,550 

 tons, being more than 17f pounds to each inhabitant, allowing a 

 population of 291,948. At five cents a poujid, this is worth 

 255,963 dels, 20 cents. 



The Statistics of the United States census for 1850, show that 

 about thirty-five millions of pounds (1 5,250 tons) of maple sugar 

 were manufactured in that year : — 



