, 1842-03-26
Making sugar.

NAohAMo Se8GSAs
March is the month 10 which the making
of Maple Sugar, one of the most delicious
OF sweets. is commenced, although the peri.
cd of manufacture is at tirsns prolonged into
April. New-York produces annually, from
ten to fifteen millions Of pounds, and the
quantity might be greatly increased. The
whole made in the United States, land only
those in the north make this sugar,) amounts
to thirty or forty millions Of pounds annually.
In making sugar, much is depending on the
season. Some years successive thaws and
SHOWS occur, which proIong the flow of the
sap, while in others, the rapid approach of
warm weather swells the buds, and by rem.
dering the sap unfit for sugar puts a stop at
once to the manufacture. Days Of a mode
rate, or rather warm temperature, with frosts
at night, and some slight SHOWS, make the
best sugar weather. During the latter part
Of the season, the sap sours readily, turns
whi,ish, and becomes ropy in a short time,
and in that state cannot be made into sugar.
If converted into molasses, as it sometimes
is, the flavor is not as good or the fluid as
pure as that made earlier. II boiled as soon
as gathered, or if a handful of lime is added
TO each barrel Of sap, the sugar or molasses
made towards the close Of the season will be
much improved in quality.
Every thing connected with the manufac-
ture Of maple sugar, should DO made ready
early in the month. For a long series Of
years we find that our sugar works has been
tapped between the 18th and the 18th Of
the month of March, with very few excep-
lions. There is no use in tapping before the
sap flows freely; and if neglected beyond the
proper time, much Of the sugar will be lost.
The kettles, pans, or whatever is used for
evaporating the sap, the reservoirs or tubs
for storing it when gathered, the troughs or
trees, should receive a thorough cleaning, by
being washed in boiling water, and then in
strong lime water, before they are required
for use. This important preparation is too
often neglected, and an impure, unpleasant
tasted article is too often the result. 1t is
indispensable that every thing about the su-
gar camp, from the gathering Of the sap to
the completion Of the manufacture, be con-
Quoted with the utmost care and neatness.
During any part of the season, if the sap
when gathered, (and it frequently will flow
in such quantities as to accumulate on the
hands Of the maker Of sugar,) is obliged to
be kept a few days before boiling, lime should
be placed in the reservoir, or occasionally
sprinkled into it, to thoroughly check any
tendency to the formation Of acids, and as.
sist the formation of sugar. Sap, when boil
ed into which lime has been thrown, will
have its impurities more easily separated, and
the process Of granting will be more ~satisfac-
tory and complete. On the cleaning of the
syrup, previous to its conversion to sugar,
much of the purity and consequently the
goodness of the article will depend. Our
method is, to boil into syrup each day all the
sap possible; 70 strain off the syrup at night
into vessels where u IculdtuS OtcI LIE utSulS
in the morning it is carefully turned off from
what sediment there is, and placed in the
kettle for reduction into sugar; for cleansing
the syrup we prefer the white Of eggs, al.
though milk will do, when eggs are not to
be had; the white Of the egg alone to be used,
well beat, aud carefully stirred into the syrup,
after the kettles are over the fire, but before
it is warmed. The syrup must then not be
disturbed until it begins to boil, when all the
impurities will rise to the surface, and may
be taken of with a skinner. The syrup
must be heated gradually, or it will be apt to
burn. When fully clsansed, the boiling may
be pushed until the syrup is ready to be dip
ped into the pans or molds for sugar. Some
sugar makers reduce their syrup to sugar, or
so that the mass will grain, and then pour
it into barrels or tubs, for granting. When
this is fully done, a hole is opened at the bot