The Portland daily press., 1869-02-27
DAILY PRESS.
Saturday Morning, February 81, 1859.
PORTLAND.
Maple Sugar.

The revolution in Spain and Its effects OF
Cuba have produced much excitement in tn
sugar market and sent up the prices. Nov
there are thousands of good localities in ou
own State where maple sugar may be manu-
factured with large margin for profit, t.
say nothing of the luxury. The time is clos
at hand for such work, and preparations fo
| it ought TO be made now. 1t is very pleas
ant thing to go into a sugar maple orchard il
spring time, when the ife-blood of the noble
trees begins to circulate and to give them new
life after long winters sleep. 1t is like re
several springs ago to Mr.. Johnson's estate
at st. Mary's, which is situated at the foot oil
the falls but few miles below Lake Superior.
This man was fur trader and his wife was
an Indian woman. They had several daugh-
ters who had been highly educated in New
York City. Although they were half Indian,
yet they were good looking, graceful in their
manners, speaking the English. French and
Indian languages fuently and possessing ac-
complishments of which any lady might well
be proud.
When the season for making maple sugar
came, these girls always made 1t point to go
into the wood, camp out and assist In the
work. Weeks they would thus spend, enjoy
ing themselves better than they ever did in
any drawing room in the city where they
were educated. The location of their maple
orchard was very fine, and the trees of Wig
orous growth, and not far distant was spring
OF the purest water. 1t was no wonder they
loved this romantic spot. But we will not di-
gress further.
The process of making maple sugar is very
simple, and yet all do not understand it well
enough to make good clean article. Much
OF the sugar brought TO market Is badly made
and dirty. The maker of maple sugar should
be as particular as the butter maker Both
articles are of too delicate nature to lie mix
ed up with any kind of dirt
The tree has particular structure ,embody-
ing heart-wood, sap-wood and rind. One
more learned might, and probably would talk
about the alburnum, the cambium layer and
the hber, but our description of the structure
OF the tree is enough for our purpose. To say
the sap flows up in the spring would be no
novelty to our readers. But in what part of
the tree does it find veins for its upward
course? We answer, through the sap-wood
or albrunum which is of light color, and it
returns through the liber, or soft inner
bark. As it flows down, after giving life to
buds and leaves, it makes new wood which
at first is soft and delicate, and then hardens
into grain, thus encrcling the tree with a
new outside garment every year.
Now Vermont sugar maker says: Gin
tapping to reach the sap-weod in its upward
now, it is necessary to puncture the sap
wood only, not wounding the heart wood
and SO apply the spout or conductor as not to
shut off any of the grains of the sap-wood,
and still make the application of the spout
so firm as not to let the the sap
escape, except through the spout
into the bucket" The above rule for tapping
trees is plain enough, and if followed, the
trees will be well tapped and none of the sap
will run to waste. We have seen trees so
unskillfully tapped that much of the sap was
lost. The careful man will see to it that
nothing is lost. Good husbandry always
saves all the "odds and ends"
Trees that grow on low lands and in the
forest do not produce sap of so rich quality
as those that stand in pastures and have
their roots in dry soil and among rocks. Such
trees may yield less sap, but it will make
more sugar. We remember noble rock ma
pie that once stood more than half century
ago in pasture on dry ledge. The distance
from the roots to the first limbs was not more
than ten feet, but its branches spread far and
wide. 1t seemed as if nature did her best in
shaping the top, it was 50 symmetrical and
full of beauty, each branch growing from the
trunk just as the most accomplished artist
would have them. This tree yielded very
sweet sap, containing twice as much saccha-
rine matter as ordinary sap. We loved that
tree for the luxury it afforded us in our boy
hood, and for the refreshing shade it gave the
cows in warm summer days. But where is it
now? Gone to ashes years ago as millions of
others have gone and this generation is the
poorer for it! ~
Trees should never be tapped until they at
tain at least one foot in diameter. A Yer
monter thinks tree should be twenty-five
years old before it is drawn upon for its rich
treasure. The sap-wood is tree one foot in
diameter, is about three inches thick, and no
tree should be bored more than two inches
in depth, and even less depth may be more
judicious and profitable. The same Ver-
monter says that tapping trees is like robbing
bees of their honey. Care should be taken
to leave some, or the bees will starve. So Of
trees. All the sap should Lot be drawn from
them, but enough must be left to support the
tree.
Now after the sap is in good clean buckets,
what is to be done in order to make good sy-
rup or sugar? Remember to be thoroughly
neat. Sap should be quickly boiled, the
quicker the better, if you do not burn it.
Look out for that. Much better to boil in
pans than in kettles. The aforesaid Yer
monter says:
He boils the sap until it is quite thick, and
then strains it through flannel, after which
he lets 1t stand until it is entirely cooled, and
then bois it again; during this boiling he
cleanses it with eggs and milk; uses about
two eggs and one pint of milk to each fifty
pounds of sugar, and again strains it through
the flannel; sap that is gathered In the morn
ing he boils at night, and that gathered at
night he boils in the morning; by this second
s'ralning, he gets out gritty substance
which he cannot get at the first straining
this gritty substance is composed of magne
sia and lime but in what proportions he could
not say; if this deposit is left it gives dark
color to the sugar, and the favor is not a.
| good.
II is generally believed that the later run
of sap will not grain so well as the first run
So syrup made from the first run is the best
the flavor being more pleasant. If sugar il
too much bleached, the whitening process
tends to injure the flavor. Somaple molasse
will lose Its flavor by being exposed to the air
All sugar will also lose its peculiar flavor BY
such exposure. In a solid cake il will retain
is flavor best II is the opinion of a club o
Vermont farmers, recently expressed, that il
sugar, when ready for caking, is run into a
glass jar and hermetically sealed, itwould re-
tain its maple taste for an indefinite time.
There is such depth of snow in the coun-
try that there is prospect of good season
for making maple sugar, and we hope the
farmers of Maine who have good maple or.
chards will improve it. II the above sugges.
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