Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-03-07

cattle should be excluded from sugar places
as far as practicable; and there are many
barren pastures that might be employed to
far better advantage in raising naples.
This may seem slow process to many, but
some of our finest sugar orchards have made
their entire growth within the memory Of
their owners, and the few acres which they
cover are now 10 many cases worth FIVE, or
even ten-fold more than the adjacent pasture
lands which we're cleared perhaps at the
same time that these plots were cut or burned
over, and then suffered to grow up to young
naples. Thus for once the shiftlessness las
il was called), Of men who leGt their land
partially cleared redounded to somebody's
benefit If not their own. If we should ever
succeed iu overstocking the market for ma
pie sugar, there seems to be no good reason
why the poorer grades might not be refined,
ard thus obtain ready market. Perhaps
shsse is no branch Offasmibg in which more
improvement has been made within the last
thirty or forty years than in the manufacture
Of maple sugar and there is probably none
in regard to which there is more general ig-
nOranee among people who do not live where
it is made | will not vouch for the truth
of the story Of the man who, on immigrating
TO Vermont, thought that he would follow
sugaring the year round, as he had heard that
it was a profitable business. But only few
days ago | heard of two intelligent men
within the limits of New England who had II
warm dispute whether maple sugar was made
in the fall or spring, and referred it to a
Vermonter for decision. How many pounds
of sugar can you make from cord Of maple
wood is also an authentic question.
If the popular writers of the day alude to
the subject at all, the reference is invariably
TO the primitive style OF its manufactur
whether it is found in book, magazine, or
newspaper, or juvenile, and if engravings
are introduced to illustrate they are always
of the same character. Whether this is be-.
cause improvements eliminate the poetry AMI
romance, or because the subject is not consid
cred of sufficient Importance to demand 4
thorough examination, am unable to say ;
but let one who has used the modern improve.
ments of the most approved pattera 90 back
to the mode Of our fathers let him have the
caldron kettle, tAe potash KETTLE the five
pail and three pail kettle hung on poles and
watch them by day and night, with nothing
to shelter him from storms let the wind blow
and fill the boiling sap with ashes and dust,
and his eyes with smoke, let him mount his
suow-shoes aud bring in all his sap to tn
"boiling place upon his back, and if he finds
poetry in it, l think he will say prefer prose
hereafter.
Our best works of reference seem to have
gone back half century to obtain the infor.
nation which they give on this subject, Ap.
pletons New American CyclopediA, which
is considered TO be the best aud most COM
plete work OF the kind in existence, and
which Prides itself upon being up with the
times in all the latest improvements, has the
following article on maple sugar:
The manufacture" of maple sugar =, ID
stated to have originated in New England
about the year 1852. IL thence extended
Throughout the wooded portions of the couu-
try where the sugar maple abOunds, particu-
larly in the northeastern States, New York
Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Ohio, and Oh
the range Of the AIleghAnies further south.
1t is carried on in Canada by both whites
and Indians. The tree is found in groves
called sugar orchards, associated with scat
terng birch or other hard wood varieties
where the soil is good
At the proper season, usually in February
or March, when the days begin to grow
warmer aud the nights are frosty, the sugar
makers resort to the woods, taking with them
the few utensils they require, such as large
iron kettles, three.iourths inch augers, casks,
buckets, aud axes They construct rough
sheds over the boiling places, aud il need be,
others for their accommodation. Small open
troughs followed out of pine have been al
ready prepared and distributed near the tree.
With the augers they bore two holes in each
tree few inches apart, about two feet above
the ground taking care not to penetrate more
than half an inch into the white wood In
the holes they introduce split pieces of elder
from which the pith is removed to make u
channel for the sap to flow. Through this it
gradually drips aud collects in the trough be.
low to receive it. The troughs as they fill
are taken to the camp, aud the juice poured
into casks to be transferred to the kettle
The boiling is actively kept up, and the scum
which rises is removed more sap is added as
the liquid eYapOrates, till considerable por-
tiOn is converted into thick syrup, when it is
cooled and filtered through a wOOlen cloth
1t is then boiled again in a smaller kettle
aud when it has attained the proper consist
ency for granulating, it is turned into moulds
which are COMMONLY made Of birch bark
The molasses soon drains away and leaves the
sugar perfectly dry and hard, and OF a dark
: brown color, aud peculiar plcasaut taste
The juice Of the maple is much more free
from salts aud other ingredients than that oI
the beet The sugar is mostly couaumed iu
aruw state, considerable quantities being sold
in small cakes aud eaten like candy It may
bO easily refined and converted into the best
white sugar.
Did it never enter the minds of the pub.
fishers that improvements were possible il
this art or did they think that maple sugar