The Union and journal. [volume] (Biddeford, Me.) 1858-1882, 1862-02-14
Volume rs.

and six inches long, rounded up eaves-trough
fashion, and one end sharpened with fle,
or on grindstone. 1t is then driven into
the bark just below the auger hole, using a
wooden mallet for driving, to avoid battering
it. Others prefer wooden spou,s, made Of
pine or hard wood.
Buckets are sometimes made Of tin, Others
Of pine, and others-of cedar, the wooden ones
oeing hooped with iron or ash, and painted.
These are suspended either on the end Of the
spout dad practice). or upon large nail or
hook driven into the tree.
For collecting.sap, some still practice car
rying the buckets by hand to the kettles or
pans; some conduct il by shallow troughs
to large reservoir at the center Of the bush.
Others collect the sap by pailfuls in cask
or vat drawn upon u sled or stone.boat.
Sugairg Og.-rhis is an easy process
When the sap is boiled down to syrup,
strain it through clean flannel strainer in
to a medium sized cauldron, and boil it until
il granulates. lfleavcs, pieces Of bark, ashes,
flies. or dirt Of any kind has fallen into the
sap, il must be clarified. This can be done
by using milk, or salcratus and the whites OF
eggs. A good recipe is a half tea.cup OF
new milk to every pailtul of syrup. Then
boil slowly and stir we'll together, skimmins
Of the scum which will soon rise to the sur
face. This done, and the syrup being found
"dry" enough (by testing little in saucer)
to make into forms, pour it into tin molds OF
any convenient size or form, and when solid,
lay the cakes upside down to prevent, prema-
ture draining. At the first leisure moment,
lay the cakes on their edges with dishes un-
derneath to catch the draining. The cakes
will soon harden.
A practice Of tapping naples with the Ak,
hatchet and gougc. is in some sections alarm
ingly prevalent. 1t is certain ruin to any
maple grove, and the pricc of sugar at the
present time should convince farmers OF the
the great value of good sugar bush. In a
recent letter to the Agriculturist, farmer OF
Florence, Ohio, writes, dcploring this waste,
and describes the common "tap" used by
himself and Others. "Tako first quality,
straight grained, inch pine boards, cut them
in foot lengths, and plit them up into one
inch square pieces. Two inches from one
end saw halfway through, and split of the
ten-inch piece. Bore a quarter inch hole into
the larger end. lengthways of tho tap, and
cut groove from the hole to the other end.
In the absence Of a wise, to hold the stick to
hold the stick to prevent splitting, burn the
hole out with a hot iron. To fit them, bore
n "a inch hole in hard wood block, and
whitfield down the square ends OF the taps,
lust to fit, but not to enter it. When driven
into the trees, they should hold fast when
inserted an eight to quarter inch only; il
driven in deeper, they cut of, in part, the
flow Of sap.
1t iss good practice to deepen the holes in
the trees by several successive borings during
the sap season, in order thus to clear out the
mold, and keep the holes sweet and pure
but never sink hole deeper than two inches;
no increased aow of sap is gained. a three
quarter inch hole will often close up almost
entirely in one season.