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as 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
MAPLE SUGAR. 
As the season for its manufacture is at hand, we venture to offer 
some suggestions upon the subject, having been somewhat of a su¬ 
gar boiler in our younger days. 
The first care should be to preserve the trees. It is not safe in 
primitive woods, to cut away all the other timber, and to leave only 
the maples standing. In this way they are robbed of their protec-! 
tion, and are very liable to be prostrated by tiie wind. But trees 
growing in open situations adapt their forms to withstand the winds ; 
and hence those which are termed second growth ought to be care¬ 
fully preserved. Trees are often destroyed, in a few years, by in¬ 
judicious tapping. We have seen them half girdled in a season, in 
order to increase the sap. The consequence is, that the wounds do 
not heal; the water lodges in the boxes and rots the wood; and the 
tree dies, or is broken off by the wind. A chissel and mallet are 
better than the axe to tap with, and a screw auger, two to five quar¬ 
ters in diameter, according to the size of the tree, is better than 
either—as the wound then soon closes, and little or no injury is in¬ 
flicted on the tree. One or two holes may be bored on the south, 
and the like on the north side of the tree, if the size will warrant 
it. The holes at first should not exceed three-quarters of an inch, 
and the slope upwards should be so much that the sap will run free¬ 
ly in frosty weather, and not, by a slow motion, be liable to freeze 
in the mouth of the orifice. When the flow of sap begins to slack¬ 
en, the holes may be increased to the depth of two and a half inches, 
or the depth of the sap or whitewood, and with an auger a quarter 
larger than was first used. The spout should not enter the hole 
more than half an inch; as the farther it enters, the more the running 
sap is obstructed. In ordinary seasons, the best time for making 
maple sugar, is the last twelve days in March and the first twelve 
days in April. It must freeze at night and thaw in the day to con¬ 
stitute good sap weather. A west wind is most favorable. 
The next object is, to preserve the sap clean, and to do this, it is] 
necessary to have clean vessels for its reception. The old way was 
to use troughs roughly cut from timber previously split through the 
centre. These answered tolerably well the first year. But being 
suffered to remain under the trees, they were often found when want¬ 
ed the next year, filled with leaves, ice and filth, which unavoidably 
mingled with the sap. The best vessels for this purpose are wood¬ 
en buckets, made broader at the top than at bottom, that they may 
be packed away in nests under cover, when the sugar season is over, 
and thus preserved clean. We have seen them sold at $8 per hun¬ 
dred. They will last many years. 
It is found beneficial to put into each half barrel of sap a spoon¬ 
ful of slaked lime. This causes the impurities to rise better when 
boiling, which should be carefully skimmed off. The sap should be! 
boiled before fermentation commences, which will happen, as the 
weather becomes warm, the second or third day. The greater the| 
exposure of the surface to the atmosphere, when boiling, the great-| 
er will be the evaporation. When the sap has been reduced to sy-l 
rup, it should be strained through a woollen or hair cloth, and thenj 
stand a few hours to settle; after which it should be turned careful¬ 
ly off from the sediment which has settled at the bottom. In boiling 
down, charcoal is the best fuel to use; for although the heat should 
be pretty brisk, it should be equable, and be confined to the bottom 
of the kettle. The clarifying materials should be added at the com¬ 
mencement of this process. These are generally milk, eggs, or 
what is better, calves’ blood. The scum which rises should be care¬ 
fully taken off. The impurities attach to these mucilaginous mate¬ 
rials, and are carried with them to the surface. 
When the syrup is sufficiently reduced, and taken from the fire, it 
should be stirred well for some time, in order to give it grain. This 
is effected by bringing every part of the mass in contact with the 
atmosphere ; for if turned into moulds immediately, and not stirred, 
it will not be grained, but resemble candy rather than sugar. If in¬ 
tended to be caked, it must be turned into moulds before cold. Un¬ 
der the best process there will be a portion which will not granulate, 
on account of the vegetable mucilage which it contains, but which 
will drain off if the cask in which the sugar is deposited has holes at 
its bottom through which it can pass. To prevent the sap or syrup 
rising, a piece of fat may be thrown in, or the inner rim of the ket¬ 
tle rubbed with a piece of fat pork. 
Molasses and vinegar are generally made from the last runnings, 
as the sap is then less adapted for sugar, abounding more in muci¬ 
lage as the buds of the tree swell and being more liable to ferment. 
The molasses, when properly clarified, is superior to that from the 
sugar cane, having a peculiarly grateful flavor. The vinegar, 
though excellent for ordinary use, is not so well adapted for pickles 
as that made from cider. 
Claying or whitening the sugar. —To promote the molasses pass¬ 
ing more freely from the sugar, when draining in the moulds or tubs, 
and to improve its color, in two or three days after the moulds or 
tubs are unstopped at the bottom, mix white clay with water so as 
to reduce it to a thin mortar; with this cover the top of the sugar 
one inch and a half thick : when the covering appears dry, remove 
it, and supply the place with a fresh covering about t wo inches thick. 
This process may reduce the sugar one-fifth, but will add corre* 
spondingly to the molasses. 
The Roller is in many ways serviceable on a farm, and it is an im¬ 
plement which every farmer, with trifling aid from the smith, may 
shift to make for himself. It may consist of a log of two or three 
feet in diameter, and eight or ten feet long, nicely smoothed on the 
outside, with gudgeons in the centres of the ends, a frame, and 
tongue and shafts to draw and guide it by. After sowing small 
grains and grasses, the roller should follow the harrow. It breaks 
down the clods, smooths the surface, and presses the earth to the 
seed, and thereby causes more of it to vegetate and grow than other* 
wise would ; for if the earth does not come in close contact with the 
seed, it remains dry, and is lost. In the spring, as soon as the fields 
are dry and firm enough to resist the feet of the cattle, the roller is 
very beneficially applied to meadows and winter grain. At this time 
the surface of tilled ground is crusted, and generally checked with 
small fissures, which expose the collar (the part which connects the 
roots and leaves,) and roots to the drying influence of the sun and 
winds. The roller breaks and pulverizes the crust, and renders the 
soil more pervious to heat, and closes the fissures. It is also ser¬ 
viceable in partially covering the crowns of the plants, which indu¬ 
ces them to send out new roots and to send up more seed stalks. 
This effect is particularly noticeable in barley, when the roller is 
passed over it, after it has become three or four inches high. If 
winter grain is harrowed in the spring, the roller may follow the 
harrow. 
In rolling grass lands it is necessary to attend in a particular man¬ 
ner to the season, as it cannot be performed to advantage when the 
surface is either in a too dry or too wet a condition : if too wet, the 
ground will become poached by the cattle’s hoofs; and if too dry, 
the roller will make little impression in levelling the surface; and it 
is generally necessary, if the roller be of wood, to add to its weight 
for grass grounds, by placing stones in the box, which is attached to 
it for that purpose. 
Potatoes. —The object of farmers generally is, to plant those va¬ 
rieties which will give the greatest yield, without regard to flavor or 
nutritious properties. This is wrong. Potatoes differ one-half in 
the nourishment they afford to domestic animals, as well as to man; 
and the eating of a good thing, may be as grateful to the brute as 
to the man. It has been ascertained by chemical tests, that one 
hundred parts of a good potato contain twenty-eight per cent, or 
twenty-eight parts, of nutritious matter, and that one hundred 
parts of some poor varieties contain not more than fourteen parts 
of nutritious matter. The man or the brute, therefore, that eats 
100 lbs. of poor potatoes, swallows 86 lbs. of water and ligneous 
matter which does not contribute in the least to nourish the body, 
nor to promote health. If the crop is to be consumed in the fami¬ 
ly, or on the farm, there is a propriety, on the score of economy, in 
selecting good sorts, though these do not yield more than half as 
many bushels as the poor sorts do. But the difference in product, 
seldom, if ever, exceeds a quarter. For market, the difference be¬ 
tween good and bad potatoes is, or ought to be, a quarter; and it 
will be, when the buyer knows how to appreciate and to distinguish 
the difference. The best varieties of potatoes now in vogue, are the 
kidneys, or foxites, the pink-eyes, the Mercers, and the Sault St. 
Marie. 
The potato requires, with us, a rich, moist and cool soil; that part 
at least in which the tubers form to be loose, that the stolens may 
penetrate, and the potatoes swell, without much obstruction. A 
clover ley, and long manure, are particularly beneficial to the crop. 
They should not be planted so close that the tops shall exclude the 
sun from the soil. Three feet in drills, or two and a half in hills, is 
near enough for ordinary varieties. Nor is it beneficial to earth 
them after the tubers have began to form, as this removes the roots 
too far from the surface, and causes a new set of stolens to issue. 
