1849 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
123 
(Efje .farmer’0 Note-Book. 
The Manufacture of Maple Sugar. 
Eds. Cultivator— As maple sugar is becoming an 
important article in the product of our farms, it is im¬ 
portant that every farmer, having a sugar-orchard, 
should know how to make such sugar as will command 
the highest price in the market, and also be the best to 
use at home. 
Some of the sugar, made for exhibition at our fairs, 
though very white and nice to look at, is not very 
sweet ; it has been not only drained, but bleached, by 
having water passed through it—a process which takes 
out not only the sweetness, but a large share of that 
peculiar maple flavor, which constitutes its excellence. 
If sugar is black and dirty, it may be improved by 
draining, but if rightly made, there will be no dirt in 
it, and very little color, so that it will need no drain¬ 
ing. 
To make good sugar, the manufacturer must take 
for his motto— cleanliness— and stick to it from first to 
last. The buckets, store tubs, and every thing the sap 
or sirup passes through, should be perfectly clean and 
sweet , so that the sap or sirup, when put into the pans 
for boiling, may be as clean as milk for the cheese-tub, 
or cream for the churn. 
In tapping trees a | or f inch bit is preferable to a 
larger one; a small wound being much the least injuri¬ 
ous to the tree. Nails for hanging up buckets, are ge¬ 
nerally made much too large and too long. The best 
that I have used, are made of wire, of suitable size, 
oat off about 1| inch long, then drawn out a little at 
one end, and headed at the other. The sap is most ea¬ 
sily carried to the sugar-house in spouts, where the 
sugar-orchard is so situated that it can be done; but 
when a team is used, the sap is gathered most conve¬ 
niently, in tubs made largest at the bottom, the upper 
head being three or four inches from the end of the 
staves, and having a hole sawed in it, large enough to 
admit a pail for pouring in the sap; over this should be 
fastened a cloth strainer, to separate the leaves and 
pieces of bark that may have blown into the sap. 
Sheet-iron pans are generally used for boiling, and 
where the saving of fuel is an object, two may be heat¬ 
ed by the same fire—a large one in front, and a smaller 
one between that and the chimney. The old method of 
boiling in kettles, as still practiced by some farmers, is 
hard business; requiring much more time and fuel, be¬ 
sides making sugar of an inferior quality. 
When the sap is boiled to a sirup, it should be strained 
through a woolen strainer, and left to settle one or two 
days. It should then be poured back into the pan, 
(leaving the settlings, if any there are) and sugared 
off. If the sap has been kept clear and free from rain¬ 
water, the sirup will be as clear as honey, and will 
need no cleansing; but if by an}^ means, the sirup has 
got much dirt or color in it, it should be cleansed. If 
after cleansing there remains any of the curd or other 
impurities, the sirup should again be strained through 
a flannel strainer, always giving it time to run through 
without squeezing, but as there is considerable work in 
cleansing, besides a shrinkage in the sirup, it will be 
found much cheaper to keep the dirt out than to cleanse 
it out. The nicest sugar I have ever seen, was boiled 
in bright tin pans, from the sap directly to sugar. 
As sugar sells best in small cakes, of from 2 to 8 oz. 
weight, it should be run in moulds of this size. Moulds 
of tin and wood are used, but wood is much the cheap¬ 
est and most convenient. They are easily made by 
nailing strips of wood, at equal distances, upon a board 
made perfectly smooth and level—the strips to be a lit¬ 
tle the thickest at the bottom, that the sugar may ea¬ 
sily be taken out. Cross strips are put in, by sawing 
spaces in the ones already nailed down, which last strips 
will of course need no fastening, being taken out with 
the sugar. The cakes may be of any size, according 
to the thickness of the strips and their distance from 
each other. When the sugar is done, the pan is taken 
off and the sugar stirred until it begins to grain—then 
dipped upon the moulds, and the top levelled by passing 
over it a straight piece of board, as fast as the sugar 
is poured on. Nice sugar, made in this manner, will 
always sell well, without reference to the price of com¬ 
mon sugars, being sold as an article of luxury. 
For home consumption, many think stirred sugar al¬ 
together the best, and most convenient. To make this 
the sugar is done about the same as to cake, then 
taken out and stirred rapidly till dry—afterward occa¬ 
sionally stirring it to keep it light. Though stirred su¬ 
gar may not be quite so white as that not done as much 
and then drained, yet, when the trouble of draining, 
the loss of sweetness and flavor is considered, we think 
the stirred sugar altogether preferable to use in cook¬ 
ing- . 
It is a common, but mistaken opinion, that good su¬ 
gar cannot be made the last of the season. Two years 
ago, when the sugaring was about over, and the buck¬ 
ets sour, I brought them to the sugar-house and scald¬ 
ed them over, after which there was a run of sap, which 
was made into stirred sugar, which drew a premium at 
our next fair. As I took no extra pains, it was not so 
white and nice as some lots of drained sugar, w T hich 
were equal in appearance to the best double-refined 
loaf; yet, it was so nearly white, that those unacquaint¬ 
ed with the manufacture of maple sugar, could hardly 
be convinced it was not drained. Though the last runs 
may not generally make so good sugar as the first, yet 
there can be no doubt sour buckets are more at fault 
than the lateness of the season, or the swelling of the 
buds. 
Those who make maple sugar, know there is hard 
work in it, and though there may be extra labor in ma¬ 
king nice sugar, yet when we consider that one pound 
of first-rate sugar, is worth more than two of the black 
stuff that sometimes passes, or is offered for sugar, it 
is easy to see, that those who make the best article, re¬ 
ceive the best reward for their labor. John Tufts. 
Wardsboro,’ Windham Co., Vt., March, 1849. 
National Meteorological Observations. 
Eds. Cultivator —We have noticed with much 
pleasure, a circular issued by Profs. Henry, of the 
Smithsonian Institute, and Espy, of the navy, on the 
subject of observations on the meteorology of our coun¬ 
try, especially with reference to American storms. 
The movement is one which we may well suppose 
in the present age will not receive universal approba¬ 
tion. Yet, although many may decry and say it is of 
no importance, a mere throwing away of money, we 
conceive the project to be one of vast importance to 
advancement in science, and of a practical utility which 
can be appreciated only when much better understood, 
than it is at present. 
There is probably no class that will receive greater 
benefit from these observations, if they are carefully no¬ 
ted, than the farmer, for who is affected by storms and 
frosts, and wind and change of temperature more than 
him? The tendency of meteorological observations, is 
to note these changes with atmospheric appearances 
preceding them, which, if his own observation would 
do, would undoubtedly enable him to avoid many an un¬ 
foreseen catastrophe. They will also establish climati- 
cal differences more clearly than they have yet been 
done, and in this way render him much service. 
We hope for the glory of the nation and the well be¬ 
ing of all its subjects, this noble enterprise will be 
