53 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIiST. 
[February, 
Cross-pieces of plank three inches wide 
extend from front to rear for the sash to 
run upon ; in the center of each of these is 
nailed a strip an inch wide, to guide the sash as 
it slides. A cleat will be needed at each end of 
the frame, to keep the sash from running off. 
This is nailed on the outside of the upper edge 
Fig. 1.— CORNER SEPARATED. 
of each end-piece, and extends above it to a 
distance equal to the thickness of the sash. The 
front and rear edges of the frame will need to 
be leveled to allow the sash to run easily. The 
frame may be made of rough plank, securely 
nailed together, or it may be made with a view 
to greater durability. Unless the frame can be 
taken apart, it is an awkward thing to house 
when not in use, and if left constantly exposed, 
it soon warps and decays. The accompanying 
engravings show a plan for connecting the cor¬ 
ners of a frame, given in Thomas’ Annual Reg- 
Fig. 2.— CORNER UNITED. 
Ister. Fig. 1 shows a corner separated and Fig. 2 
the same put together. When a frame is made 
to take apart, this method will answer well to se¬ 
cure the corners. The portion of the frame 
which comes in contact with the earth, may have 
a coating of gas tar, and the rest be covered 
with some cheap paint. 
Maple Sugar Making. 
Our readers, who are interested in making 
maple syrup and maple sugar, look upon the 
subject from many different stand-points. With 
some it has been an important farm occupation 
at this season of the year, all their lives; with 
others, sap boiling on a larger scale than for 
a family supply of molasses, has been only 
undertaken now and then, when other work 
did not press; and with many, the whole subject 
is new. For the benefit of all, we would refer 
to articles which have appeared in previous 
years in the Agriculturist, particularly in the 
February number of last year, and to the Re¬ 
port of the Agricultural Department for 1862. 
Sugar making has received more thought and 
care in proportion as prices have advanced, and 
a good “sugar bush,” or even a few good 
sugar maple trees are much more highly valued 
now than they were a few years ago. During 
the growing season the maple stores in its 
wood substances which are converted by the 
j warmth of the spring, coming after the in- 
i fluences of the fall and winter, into a sweet sap. 
Tlie sugar is “ cane sugar,” identical with that 
of the southern cane, but mingled with so few 
impurities, which incite fermentation and other 
changes, that it is very easily obtained in condi¬ 
tion of considerable purity. The purer it is, the 
lighter colored; and tlie more rapidly evaporated, 
the more it retains the pleasant flavor peculiar 
to it. Artificial clarification removes this flavor, 
and the perfectly pure M'hitc loaf sugar, which 
may be made, cannot be distinguished from that 
of the same quality from other sources. 
It is always desirable to avoid injury to the 
trees by tapping; the incisions should therefor# 
be made where they 
will do no damage to 
the timber, that is, be¬ 
low the cylindrical 
part of the trunk, 
where the sap will 
flow quite as abun¬ 
dantly as at any place 
above. There is noth¬ 
ing gained by cutting 
such large gashes, as 
are sometimes made 
when trees are tap¬ 
ped. In fact, some 
the most thrifty trees 
when hacked in 
a manner, 
decaying, and con¬ 
tinue to rot until the ^ tapping. 
body is nothing but a shell. It is unnecessary also 
to make deep incisions either with centre-bits, 
gouges, or axes, as sap will flow as rapidly if one 
or two of the concentric layers of wood are cut 
through. The best way to tap a tree is, to hew 
off the dead bark with a sharp ax, making a 
smooth place about as large as a man’s hand. 
Then with a mallet and wide chisel cut two 
small convergent channels through the bark 
and into the wood in the form of the letter V, 
as shown by the illustration (Fig. 1). Then 
about two inches below the incision, make a 
gash with a 1 J-inch gouge, and insert a metallic 
spout made of stiff zinc or galvanized sheet- 
iron. The spouts may be ten or twelve inches 
long, and made of strips one and a half inches 
wide, with one end ground or filed to a sharp 
edge. Cut a small channel in the bark from the 
V-shaped gash down to the spout. It is not 
necessary to cut through the bark when making 
this channel. The lower edge of the cut should 
be beveled downwards and inwards, so as to 
conduct the sap down to the angle. There may 
be several taps made in large trees, and each 
yield as much as if there were but one. 
The tools needed for tapping trees in this way 
are, a mallet, a sharp two-inch“ firmer ” chisel, a 
li-inch joiner’s gouge, and a sharp ax, or ajjar- 
penter’s adze, for dressing ofi the rough bark. 
Insert the spouts as low as the top of the sap 
buckets, that the wind may not blow the liquid 
over the side of the vessel. When domestic ani¬ 
mals are permitted to roam in a sugar orchard, 
trees must be tapped several feet from the 
ground and the sap vessels suspended by hooks. 
(See page 72, March, 1865.) The better way, how¬ 
Fig. 2. —EVAPORATING PAN. 
ever, is to keep all such animals in their appropri¬ 
ate enclo3ures,especially at this time of the year. 
The best sugar makers all over the country 
are employing the sorghum evaporators, which. 
with some slight modifications perhaps, are 
found both economical and convenient. Which 
of the many kinds in use is best, we cannot say, 
but “ Cook’s,” one of the best known, is very 
highly commended. For those who cannot go 
to this expense, and would still pursue a much 
better plan than the old kettle swung on a pole, 
or set in a brick or stone fire-place, we describe a 
good home-made pan, or pair of pans (fig. 2), 
one being used as a heater and reservoir of hot 
sap, and the other as the evaporator. The sides 
and ends of the pans are made of Ij-inch planks 
of any kind of wood, (though maple, or beech 
is preferred,)and the bottoms of iron or zinc. The 
sides of the reservoir pan should be at least 
twelve inches, and of the other six inches high. 
As sheets of iron and zinc are usually made 
about twenty-six inches wide, the dimensions 
of the pans should be about one inch shorter 
and narrower tlian a sheet of the metal, so that 
the edges, after the bottom is nailed on, may 
be turned up with a mallet, and nailed to the 
outside as well as to the bottom of the wood, 
as seen in fig. 3. The pans rest at least three 
inches on brick walls, which are one foot high 
and eighteen inches apart. Bars of iron, or 
pieces of old wagon tire, support the bricks at 
the end. When every thing is made of the size 
here given, there will be ample room for the 
fire. The throat of the chimney should be 
about eighteen inches wide by four in bight. 
This size will correspond with the fire-place. 
The bight of the chimney should be sufficient 
to carry all smoke, atoms of charcoal and ashes 
beyond the pans and sap receptacles, as such 
substances falling into the syrup give it a dark 
color. A barrel or oth¬ 
er closed vessel may stand, 
supported upon blocks or 
horses, so that the sap, which 
is strained into it through 
straw, may either be drawn Fig. 3.— bottom of 
directly intp the pan; or 
several barrels or hogsheads being used and set 
back from the fire, the sap may be conducted in 
leaders at pleasure, into the large pan, from 
which it is dipped into the shallow one. Such 
an apparatus may be erected at a comparatively 
small expense where bricks and lumber are 
cheap. Metallic or wooden faucets may be in¬ 
serted in the ends of the pans for drawing off 
the syrup, or it may be dipped out, which is 
the usual practice. There should at least be a 
shed over the pans, but a more spacious and 
better built structure, with a tight roof and en¬ 
closed, so that the buckets etc., may be locked 
up in it the rest of the year, is much preferable. 
When the syrup is nearly as thick as molas¬ 
ses, take it from the fire, strain it through flan¬ 
nel and let it stand till cold. Then pour it off 
from the sediment which will separate, and 
place it in a kettle or deep pan over another 
fire. As soon as it becomes warm, but not near 
boiling hot, add a pint of milk or an egg well 
beaten with k pint of water to each pailful of 
syrup, and stir thoroughly. When it boils, re¬ 
move all the scum; keep the fire under control, 
and when sugar will granulate freely in smaW 
quantities of syrup (such as would adhere to a 
stick dipped into it), or when a little cooled on 
the snow is brittle, it may be removed from the 
fire, and as it thickens in cooling, dipped into 
molds, or well stirred until quite dry. “ Strained 
sugar ” is not boiled so long, and after it has 
cooled and granulated, being transferred into 
false bottomed tubs, and kept at a temperature 
of about 70°, more or less molasses is drained 
off from it, and a better quality of sugar obtained. 
