Vermont farmer. [volume] (Newport, Orleans County, Vt.) 1870-1877, 1873-03-07
General agriculture.
SUGAR MAKING IN VERMONT

There is at present an sbb tide in Ver-
mont farming. Farm hslp is scarcer, and its
cost is high, and there is a growing disposi'
tion among farm laborers to give less work
in day than formerly. Taxes are high.
| could name towns where the cost Of doing
the town business has increased Ave hundred
per cent. in ten years, with but little increase
in the amount OF business. At the same
time, the price Of all farm crops is low.
There has been little spurt in wool trade,
and farmers have realized So to 80 cents for
good lots but there is an organized and res
olute determination on the part of mAnufac-
turers and dealers to crowd prices down again.
There is general complaint that farming
does not pay any income on capital invested, +,
and much dependency exists among farmers.
The only farm crop common to the whole
State, and uniformly profitable, is maple su-
gar. | propose to give the thousands Of
farmers who read your excellent paper some
hints, based on the experience of our most
successful sugar makers. There are q few
simple rules the observance of which will in
sure success They are plain aud easily uu-
derstood, and aim to economiza labor and
fuel and secure absolute cleanliness aad free
dom from foreign substances, to obtain the
greatest possible quantity of sap With ths
least injury to the tree, and to reduce 1t TO
syrup or sugar with all possible dispatch.
There should be sugar house for boiling
large enough for the evaporator and for stor-
ing all the buckets and fixtures, with wide
door, that will admit the entrance of the
gathering tubs at the end of the season, and
which should not be used as hog pen, or
for any Other base purpose. (Sap like milk
is very sensitive, and impurities in the at
mosphere or the sugaring utensils are quickly
impaired to it, destroying the delicious maple
flavor, which is its peculiar charm.) The
farmer can put up a suitable building at
cost Of $50. 1t should stand on side hill
or have an artificial elevation at one side of
three feet, to give head for the flow of sap
from the gathering tub to the evapOrator. A
wood shed, or at least roof over the wood
pile should be adjacent, but 80 placed that
the steam will not escape through it. The
evaporatOr or pans should be set on brick 3,
with iron CRATE and door, and damper iu
the chimney to regulate the draft. If the
bars OF the crate are concave on the upper
surface, they will Gil with ashes, and not
warp or burn out, as solid bars will do in the
intense heat. Fuel should be provided in the
fall, well worked up and thoroughly season.
ed. No good sugar maker keeps his sap sim
merng over a sputtering FIRE.
All the utensils should be scrupulousy
clean and sweet. Old barrels with the pores
Of the wood impregnated with West India
molasses, or anything else, are not fit for ga
thering or storing sap. Gathering tubs should
be made of clean, sound timber, and should
be Kept sweet. The buckets should be Of tin
and the spouts of metal. Dir. @. O. Post has
invented several valuable improvements 10
in spouts aud buckets which are regarded as
superior to all others. have seen them ad-
vertissd in the Rural NetO Yorker. They
are worthy of full description in this place.
The Eureka sap spout and bucket hanger
is of galvanized iron. Three thin aanges on.
ly enter the hole in the tree half an inch, and
while they hold the spout firmly in place
aud support the bucket, do not Obstruot the
flow of sap. A collar or oblique shoulder
fits against the external bark and prevents