Vermont watchman and State journal. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1836-1883, 1868-03-25

Maple Sugar Making.

| am AN old maple sugar maker, aud have
made as good an article as was ever sold in
any market. have also expended much
thought, time and money in making expert
ments, and have looked the world Of agricul-
tural literature over for information on the
subject without ever having got suggestion
worth pin to me as "A practical man.
Your correspondent, Mr. Field, says the
rough bark should never be hewn off the tree
and | can most cordially endorse with album
dant reasons, the assertion; but when he rec
ommends boring through the white wood
am reminded of the man who killed hi, goose
that laid the golden egg. No tree should be
bored more than one-half inch in depth, and
no more than one hole may be bored in the
same tree, if the perpetuity of the orchard is
desired We have used the east iron. the
wrought iron, the sheet iron, the sumach, and
in short every kind Of spout ever used, except
the Liyermore Patent Spout, and we very
much prefer the Wizards Franklin Spout
Chat advertiscdin the Farmer by Mr. Proper.)
Your correspondent "A. b. of Essex, VI
wants to know whats the matter" that his
sugar is waxy aud black There is nothing
palmer, when once you see it, All sugar
solutions, dense or dilute, when exposed to
light, heat and air, undergo decomposition or
what is technically called degradation, or to
express ii in more common, though not strictly
correct language they begin to turn sour. "
Agitation either by boiling or otherwise acce-
crates the action, and the presence of foreign
matter also helps it along
Degradation Is also contagious, and one par
ticle of degraded matter acts like heaven in
the mass Now "A. BIS" old buckets are
full Of the leayen, and it is a physical impos-
sibilty to get it out by scalding or otherwise.
Then again, it makes all the difference in the
world whether he fills up his pan and keeps Il
pan full of sup boiling hour after hour, or only
puts in just enough to cover the bottom OF his
pan and keeps filling in as he reduces the
amount by evaporation. Could fresh drawn
maple sap be instantaneously relieved of the
water contained in it, the product would be
pure cane sugar, as pure as any loaf sugar /;
but that being Il physical impossibility, all
maple sugar is composed of cane sugar and
this degraded article which is known to chem
lists as grape or uncrystallizablc sugar and
which is but two-ifths MS sweet as the cane
sugar and which constitutes the greater part
OF +" \. BIS waxy sugar. If the excess of
grape sugar is great, the mass should not be
cooked too hard as the uncrystallizable part
dries on to the other aud prevents either pre-
cipltation or purgation.
As regards the distance from the ground at
which trees should be tapped, there il same
difference of opinion. | am inclined to be-
lieye that the tree does not dry up quite so
early low down. and that is all the difference,
and It does not amount to anything The only
difference between lowland sap and highland
sap is that the former is sometimes more di-
lutte, and, requiring longer boiling, is subject
ed to little more of the degrading influence
Sap almost invariably deposits small amount
of the carbonate of lime in the form of hard
scale on the kettle in which it is boiled. 1t
has, however no injurious effect unless per-
mitted to accumulate in quantity, when it has
"A tendency to discolor aud perhaps burn the
sugar. q. $. Bliss.
Georgia, W., Feb. 20, 1868.