Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1845-03-07

interest to the sections ofthe country where
maple sugar is made The subject of corn
stalk sugar has been particularly commended
TO DR.. Jackson's notice during the present
year, and there is good reason to hope that
successful experiments will be made to obvi-
ate the difficulties Of graduating it.
Maple Sugar.
McSSrs Editors II beg leave TO commu-
nicate, for insertion in your paper, the result
Of some researches which have made on
the manufacture Of maple sugar having
been much interested in promoting this
branch of New England industry, and being
satisfied that, if pursued with skill, il cannot
fail to prove profitable to the people inhabt-
ing inland towns where the sugar maple
abounds
IL is well known TO you, without doubt,
that the Northern part of Maine, New
Hampshire, Vermont and New York, have
dense forests OF sugar maple, and that at
present only very rude processes are made
use of in preparing the sugar for the market,
so that il is too generally acid and deliques-
cent, besides being charged with salts of the
oxide Of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily
strikes black color with tea. To remedy
these difficulties was the object of my re-
searches: while at the same time was en-
gagged in ascertaining the true composition
Of the sap, with view to the theory of veg
etable nutrition.
Ireceiyed several gallons of freshly drawn
maple sap from Northampton, Warner and
Canterbury, and made analysis Of each lot,
separating the acids, salts, and the sugar /
also analysed the sap of the yellow and
white birch, which do not give any chrys-
talized sugar, but an astringent molasses.
| shall now commu nicate to You the pro-
cess by which l manufactured sugar-mapIe
sap received from the Shakers Of Canterbu-
~, who collected it with care in clean
glass demijohn, and sent it forthwith, so that
it came to me without any change of COM
position, the weather being cold at the time.
The evaporation was carried on in glass
vessels until the sap was reduced to about
oue-eighth its original bulk, and then it was
treated with sufficient quantity Of clear
lime water to render it neutral, and the e
vaporation was completed in shallow por-
celain basin. The result was, that a beauti-
ful yellow granular sugar was obtained,
from which not single drop of molasses
drained, and il did not deIiquesce by expos
ure TO the open air. Another lot Of the sap,
reduced to sugar, without lime water, gran
ulated, but not so well, and was sour TO the
taste, and deliquesced by exposure, and gave
considerable quantity of molasses.
Having studied the nature of the peculiar
acid of the maple, found tina, its combina-
ton with lime, were excessively soluble in
alcohol, so that the yellow sugar first des-
cribed could be rendered white in a few
minutes, by placing it in an inverted cone
open at the bottom, and pouring fresh
quantity Of alcohol upon it, and allowing it
TO filtrate through the sugar. The whiten-
ed sugar was then taken and re-dissolved in
boiling water and chrystalized, by which all
the alcoholic flavor was entirely removed,
and a perfectly fine chrystaized and pure
sugar resulted. Now, in the large way,
advise the following method of manufacture
ing maple sugar Obtain several large cop
per or brass kettles, and set them up in a row
either by tripods with iron rings, or by
hanging them on a cross bar clean them
we'll; then collect the sap in buckets, il
possible, so that but little rain-water will be
mixed with the sap, and take care not to
have any dead leaves in it. For every gallon
of the maple sap add one measured ounce OF
clear lime water; pass the sap into the FIRST
kettle, and evaporate; then, when it is re-
duced to about one half, dip it out into the
second kettle, and skim il each time; then
into the next, and so on, until il has reached
the last, where il is reduced TO syrup, and
then may be thrown into trough, and gran
uIated by beating it up with an oar.
/ As soon as the first kettle is nearly empty,
pour in a new lot of the sap, and so contin.
ne working it forward exactly after the man.
ner of the West India sugar-boiers. The
crude sugar may be refined subsequently, OF
at The time by casting it into the cones made
Of sheet iron, well painted with white lead
and boiled linseed oil, and thoroughly dried
so that no paint may come of. These
cones are to be stopped at first, until the SUI
gar is cold then remove the stopper, anG
pour on the base Of the cone a quantity Of
strong whiskey, or fourth proof rum. AL
low this to filtrate through, until the sugar
is white; dry the loaf, and re-dissolve it In
boiling hot water, aud evaporate it until il
becomes dense enough to chrystalize. Now
pour it into the cones again, and let it har
den. If any color remains, pour saturated
solution of refined white sugar on the base
of the cone, and this syrup will remove al
traces ofcolor from the loaf.
One gallon Of pasture maple sap yielded
3,45l grains Of pure sugar. One gallon o.
the juice of the sugar cane yields, on al
average, in Jamaica, 1000 grains of sugar
Hence it will appear that maple sap is very
nearly half as sweet as cane juice; and since
the maple requires no outlay for its cultva
ton, and the process may be carried on