38 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
confident that upon first trial it saved ftilly one- 
third of the fuel formerly required. This wall you 
will find under all steam boilers, and a man would 
be thought foolish to set a boiler without it; and 
what is good for a large fire is good also for a 
tmall one. 
In tapping I choose the north or west side of the 
tree, for this side will run when the south side will 
not.andwill not cease running so soon in the season 
and will give more sap; of this latter I am confi¬ 
dent. The trees should be tapped about four feet 
from the ground, with a i to I inch bit, and two 
to three inches deep according to the size of the 
tiee ; for it is only the sap part of the wood that 
yields sap, and perforating the heart of the wood 
is very injurious to the tree, causing decay. Four 
feet high will be found a very convenient hight 
(though the roots and limbs will yield liberally), 
for then in gathering, the bucket need not be re¬ 
moved from the wire, but merely tipped up and 
the contents collected very easily and rapidly. 
Also, if the buckets are set on the ground they 
catch many leaves blown by the wind, which is 
avoided by tapping high ; and notice the fact that 
white sugar or syrup cannot he made from sap in 
which dead leaves have soaked—there is scarce¬ 
ly anything more deleterious. 
Let “ boxing ” never be practiced. It is a bar- 
barous and suicidal method, and the man who 
would do it ought to be yoked tip with him who 
kills bees for their honey, and placed on the 
dunce’s seat along side the old woman who killed 
the goose to get at the fountain of golden ettgs. 
If your “ bush” is small and compact, the sap 
can be collected in pails with a “ yoke,” but if 
large or scattered, and upon inclined ground, you 
will save much hard labor by making long spouts 
or troughs, and lay them in a line, with a tub or 
barrel at the head, into which you can turn your 
collection and let it run gradually through a faucet 
and along the small troughs to the reservoir, while 
you are gathering more. In my orchard I used 
three lines of troughs whose aggregate length 
was about a quarter of a mile, and the amount of 
back-aches they saved is incalculable. These 
long troughs can be cheaply got by having a long 
log sawn into stuff two inches square, and then 
with a carpenter’s plough, a groove one inch 
wide, and 1£ deep is easily made; widen the 
groove at the upper end, and lay them in a line 
as described, and having once used them you will 
not soon part with them. 
When the sap is boiled to “ syrup” set it away 
in tall wooden or glazed earthen jars to “ settle ;” 
let it remain two or three days, according to the 
thickness, perfectly still and undisturbed; then 
turn it slowly off, leaving the dregs to be mixed 
with hot sap and again settled till the sweetness 
is extracted. The clean syrup is then put in a 
pan, and to every pailful of syrup add a half tea- 
cupfull of new milk, (a farrow cow’s milk will not 
answer,) stir it well together while cold, and 
when still, build a slow fire; as it grows hot, a 
black cloud of scum will rise through the entire 
mass, which must he removed the moment it 
boils. 
If for caftes or grained sugar, it is done when 
strings of it cooled on hard snow, or in cold wa¬ 
ter, will snap otf like glass ; then remove it from 
the fire and stir it incessantly till it begins to 
“ gram ” when the quicker it is in the plates, the 
better. 
If for “ grained” sugar keep on stirring till it 
is dry, when ft will look like* fine coflee, or brown 
sugar, accordirg to the care taken. 
For “ drained” sugar, take it from the fire, 
when it will “ flake” off largely and freely in 
dropping from a tin skimmer and set ii rwrv in 
tubs or glazed, pots, for use. The purest of this 
will settle or crystalize, leaving the rest in thin- 
nish molasses, containing nearly all the impuri¬ 
ties. In a few months you will find the sides of 
the tubs coated with these crystals of sugar, all 
shaped like an oblong house with one side of the 
roof longer than the other, hard as glass, and of 
exquisite and almost immaculate purity. These 
crystals when melted over and re-manufactured, 
possess a flavor peculiar to themselves, and quite 
distinct from ordinary maple sugar. Cakes made 
from these crystals are almost transparent, and 
are a rare curiosity, well worthy the young peo¬ 
ple’s efforts to make them. 
A pint of old cider in a hogshead of sap will 
prevent it from graining ; and sap so doctored can 
never be got beyond molasses. Also if syrup is 
allowed to “ sour” and become “ ropy,” it will 
never cake or gram, but can he made into candy, 
jireserving the true maple flavor. 
Excellent vinegar can be made from sap by boil¬ 
ing down one half, and putting it in a clean bar¬ 
rel with gauze or fine wire netting over the bung- 
hole to keep flies and insects out. It will soon 
ferment and turn to vinegar preferable for some 
uses to (lie best eider vinegar. Having written 
too much already, I will only repeat the injunc¬ 
tion that everything must be kept in perfect 
cleanliness if a nice and salable article is desired. 
W. G. Wright. 
Hornellsville, Steuben Co., N. Y., Jan. 1858. 
How to Clarify Maple Sugar, 
To the Editor of the. American AgricuLturist: 
In the first place, the buckets should be made 
of good white pine or some other good clean ma¬ 
terial, and at the commencement of every sugar 
season, they should be carefully brushed out, to 
remove any dust or cobwebs that may have col¬ 
lected, then immersed in boiling water, washed 
thoroughly with a cloth, and rinsed with cold wa¬ 
ter. Storage and boiling apparatus should go 
through a similar operation. 
The sap should he strained through woolen 
cloth and evaporated in sheet iron pans set in 
such a manner that the tire can only reach the hoU 
tom of the pan, and the chimney carried up out¬ 
side the building so that no smoke or ashes can 
fall into the sap while boiling. The evapora¬ 
tion must be as soon after gathering as possible. 
The syrup must be passed through a woolen strain¬ 
er when as thick as it can be made to run through 
when cold. “ Sugar ofF’ in a pan made for the 
purpose. I use one made of the best Russia 
iron, three feet long, a little over two feet wide, 
and nine inches deep. A little sweet cream may 
he dropped in occasionally to keep it from boiling 
over. 
When dry enough to retain its form well when 
taken from the moulds, (which may be known by 
stirring a little in a saucer till cold,) pour it into 
an iron or brass kettle and stir till it begins to 
thicken considerably, and pour it in oblong moulds 
made of tin, and holding, say five pounds each. 
When cold, take out of moulds and lay the 
glased surface downward, which will prevent 
draining until you are ready for this operation. 
As the weather grows warm, or when ready, 
place the cakes of sugar on their edges in some 
convenient vessel to catch and retain the. molas¬ 
ses, and If you do not have as nice sugar as can 
he made by any ordinary process, then I am no 
judge of the article. 
I have tried clarifying with various substances, 
skimmed milk, saleratus and whites of eggs 
beaten togetner, &,c., and I am satisfied, that 
tviior® ornpre ihm* ir Inknp to Ur sip everything 
sweet and clean, the sugar is clearer, pleasantei 
and every way better without than with any such 
additions. 
Nearly all the impurities contained in common 
majile sugar, are either foreign matters which 
get in after the sap runs from the tree, or are 
caused by burning. 
I ought, perhaps, to state that the buckets should 
be taken in immediately at the close of the sugar 
season, and go through a thorough washing and 
scalding process again, to remove every particle 
of sourness, and every other vessel used in the 
manufacture, should be cleansed immediately and 
laid away very carefully. 
Now Mr. Agriculturist , perhaps some of your 
readers may think there is too much trouble in 
all this. Well, if they prefer to boil down a solu¬ 
tion of ashes, smoke, snow, flies, and sour sap, 
and then partly remove the foreign matter by the 
use of some clarifier, all I have to say is, their 
taste differs from mine.... Inclosed is a small 
specimen of the sugar I manufactured hy the above 
process last Spring. [The samjile is as white and 
fine as the usual “ Stuart’s refined” sold in the 
market. Ed.] 
Wm. F. Bassett. 
Ashfield, Franklin Co., Mass., Jan. 4th 1858. 
Domestic Pigeons. 
Now, in mid-Winter, if you have not already 
got them, is the best time to commence your 
pigeon stock. They breed less at this time than 
in the other seasons of the year, and are more 
easily wonted to a new home. If you get old ones, 
clip one of their wings slightly—not so that they 
cannot fly from the ground to their boxes—but so 
that they cannot take a high, nor a long flight Do 
not get them too young. They should he fully 
grown, and able to fly well, and pick up their own 
food ; otherwise, they will droop and die. A 
single pair will do ; for if they have good accom¬ 
modations, and enough to eat, you will have a 
score of them hy next Fall ; and nexl year you 
may count them hy the hundred, provided no ac¬ 
cident befalls them. Nor, do not be too financial, 
or nice, about your pigeon-house. Yon may have 
a fancy one if you like—merely for the. look of the 
thing—but the pigeons don’t care a copper about 
it. All they want is to he safe, and cosey. 
The best (dace for pigeons is a loft in the gable 
end of a barn, stable, wagon, or carriage house, 
or wood shed. Let the floor be tight, with nothing 
under it ; warm, and rat-proof—for rats, minks, 
and weazels, make sad havoek among them when 
they can get where they are. Let there be few 
entrances for the birds—one to half a dozen is 
quite enough—and only large enough for a pigeon 
to enter, with a shelf both outside, and inside, to 
light upon, and that on the outside where no cat, 
or quadrujied of any kind can reach it. Let the 
room inside be altogether ; large enough for a 
man to walk into, through a hinged door, and the 
sides made up with tiers of boxes six inches inside, 
by eight inches long, and four to six inches deep. 
Each pair will select their own, and there lay, and 
habit, and bring up their young They are quite 
as well as in sejiarale close hoxes, and ii is much 
more convenient to go in and take the squabs 
as you want them for the table. Ten or fifteep 
feet from the ground is high enough for the jjigeim 
house. 
We are going to give the plan and drawings ol 
one sometime this vear. in our series of farm 
buildings, and erections, and shall then have more 
to say about their treatment—pari iciilarly as oui 
young friends, the boys, like to :tave them abow' 
the prmnicer 
