MIDDLE STATES. 



217 



13. Dwellings. The manner of building varies much in the different States, and except in 

 cities, there is hardly any very general mode. In some of the older towns, there are many 

 ancient houses of the B'lemish model, tiled, with gables on the street, and huge iron weather- 

 cocks on the top. In the western part of New York, the villages are built in an exceedingly 

 neat manner, and the houses are much like a citizen's box near London, though ihey have 

 more freshness of appearance. They are of wood, and painted white, and they have green 

 window-bHnds, and often verandas. In many parts, the log-houses remain. They are rude 

 dwellings, in which the cracks are filled with mud, and the chimneys are on the outside. In 

 Maryland and Pennsylvania are many stone houses and barns ; the latter are often of vast size. 

 The smaller villages in these States are, many of them, poorly built of squared logs,* or with 

 wooden frames, filled in with brick or stone and mortar. Many of these are such as might be 

 met with in Ireland or Germany, the native countries of the inhabitants who occupy them. 

 The cities and large towns in the Middle States are in a good style of building. In New York, 

 the houses are chiefly of brick, and in a neat and substantial style ; in Philadelphia, and perhaps 

 in Baltimore, there is more elegance and greater simplicity. In Philadelphia, the individual 

 effect of a house is often lost, but the general effect of a street is admirable. The streets not 

 devoted to trade, have wide sidewalks of brick, and these, with the marble steps to the houses, 

 are washed every morning, and it is hardly saying too much to aflirm, that they are as "neat 

 as a parlor." The universal manner of building, in all the States, is. that one house shall 

 accommodate but one family ; and more than one family seldom live together, even among 

 those nearly connected by affinity. 



14. Food,f drink, t^c. Several of the common articles of food in the Middle States are 



* " Our buildings are made of hewn logs, on an aver- 

 age 24 feet long by 20 wide, sometimes a wall of stone, 

 about a foot above tlie level of the earth, being raised as a 

 foundation ; but in general four large stones are laid at 

 the corners, and tiie building is raised on them. The 

 house is covered sometimes witii shingles, and sometimes 

 with clapboards. The advantage of tlie latter kind of 

 roof IS, it requires no lathes nor rafters, and no nails, and 

 is put on in much less time. It has been called a poor 

 man's make-shift, and its use can only be justified by the 

 poverty and other circumstances of the country. The 

 ground-logs being laid, a saddle shaped on the upper edge, 

 IS cut with an axe at the ends, as long as the logs are 

 thick, then the end logs are raised and a notch cut to fit 

 the saddle. This is the only tie or binder they have ; a/>d 

 when the building is raised as many rounds as is intended, 

 the ribs are raised, on which a course of clapboards is laid, 

 the butts resting on a huttinrr-poh . A press-pole is laid 

 upon the clapboards immediately over the ribs, to keep 

 them from shifting by the wind, and the pole is kept to its 

 birth by stay-blocks, resting in tlie first course against the 

 butting-pole, and then against eacli preceding pole. The 

 logs are run up on the building on skids by the help of 

 wooden forks. The most experienced axe-nien aie placed 

 on the building as corner-men ; the rest of the company 

 are on the ground to carry the logs and run them up. In 

 this way a building is raised and covered in a day, 

 without a mason and without a pound of iron. The doors 

 and windows are afterwards cut out as the owner pleases. 

 As the country becomes rich and more densely settled, 

 these hastily constructed buildings will give way to more 

 durable and more comfortable ones ; but at present there 

 are very few buildings in the country, except on the turn- 

 pike, of any other material than logs." f}merican Farmer. 



t Maple sugar is extensively manufactured and used in 

 pome parts of Pennsylvania and New York ; the following 

 description of the manner of making it will not be unin- 

 teresting. 



" We raise no cotton or sugar-cane, but we manufacture 

 sugar from the sugar-maple, {acer saccharinum.) This 

 tree, which arrives at a size rivalling the largest white 

 oaks, flourishes in our sandv bottoms, spouty drafts, on the 

 sides of our mountains, and the summit of the Alleghany. 

 It is slow of growth, hard to kill, but when dead, soon 

 rots. The roots are numerous and strong, interlaced on or 

 near the surface of the ground, so that it is impossible to 

 plouirh near them. When the siiotir season becrins, which 



28. 



is generally about the 1st of March, the sugar-maker 

 repairs his camp, if it is out of order. The camp is a 

 small shed made of logs covered with slabs or clapboards, 

 and open at one side. Immediately befoje the opening, 

 four wooden forks are planted, on which is placed a strong 

 pole. From this are suspended as many wooden hooks aa 

 the sugar-boiler has kettles, usually four. Wood is hauled, 

 and it requires a large quantity to boil a season. The 

 troughs to receive the water are roughly hewn of cucum- 

 ber, white or yellow pine, or wild cherry, and contain 

 from one to three gallons. The trees are tapped with a 3-4 

 auger, about one inch or an inch and a half deep, in the 

 hole is placed a spile or spout 18 inches long, made of 

 sumach. Two spiles are put into a tree. A good camp 

 will contain 150 or 200 trees. When the troughs are full, 

 the boilers go round with a sled drawn by horses, on which 

 are placed two barrels to receive the water. Having filled 

 the barrels, they return to camp, and fill up the vessels, 

 which consist of their meat vessels, &c. well cleaned. 

 The water which is gathered in should be immediately 

 boiled, because it makes the best sugar. If left to stand a 

 few days it becomes sour and ropy. They fill up the 

 kettles, and as it boils down, the kettles are filled up again, 

 until all is boiled in. In order to ascertain when it is fit 

 to stir off, a little of the molasses is taken out in a spoon, 

 and dropped into a tin of cold water. If the molasses is 

 thick, it will form a thread in the water, and if this tliread 

 will break like glass, when struck with a knife, it must be 

 taken off the fire and is fit to stir off. The kettle is set on 

 the ground and occasionally stirred till it cools and granu- 

 lates. Great judgment is required, and the most exact 

 attention, to take it off at the very moment it is fit. If it 

 is taken off too soon, the sugar will be wet and tough ; if 

 it is left on too long, it will be burnt or be bitter, and 

 scarcely fit for use. Some boilers try it by taking a few 

 drops of the molasses between the thumb and finger, and 

 if it ropes like glue when it cools, it is said to be in sugar. 

 A tree is calculated to produce a season a barrel of water 

 of 30 gallons, and it requires six gallons to make a pound 

 of sugar. This estimate, however, appears too large. I 

 have never known a camp turn out, one tree with another, 

 more than three pounds. In Jamaica it is not unusual for 

 a gallon of raw cane liquor to yield a pound of sugar. It 

 is supposed there can be no doubt of the fact that our trees 

 do not produce as much as formerly. Many of the trees 

 have been injured by fire, but the fatal cause of their dete- 

 rioration is the auger. When a tree is cut down which 

 has been frequently tapped, there is a blacl; and rotten 



