Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1875-03-17
Maple Sugar Making.


In the New England Homestead, we
find reported the following discussion
of '"The Best Method of Manufacturing
Maple Sugar." by the Deertield Valley
Farmers Institute d. Canedy, of
Heath, stated that the soil where the
sugar maple grows, in his opinion,
makes vast deal of difference in the
quality of the sap and sugar. The most
important point to be observed in max
ing sugar is cleanliness, perfect cleanli-
ness. He set $50 tubs last season to his
100 trees, and made 1000 pounds Of
sugar. Bores the holes one to one and
half inches, and leaves all the chips in
the hole to prevent it from drying up
and would gather the sap as soon as
possible after it runs, and boil it to
sugar without ever letting itcool, and in
this way he gets the whitest and best
sugar. Uses the common pan and heats,
preferring them to the evaporation, and
uses sweet milk to cleanse the syrup
before boiling to sugar. Daniel Gale
claimed maple to be the best
Of sugar, and has been engaged
in its manufacture all his lifetime; has
been experimenting the last two seasons
on one instead of two spouts to tree,
and is satisfied that one is the best.
Sets 100 small trees, and uses the gal
vanized iron spouts, and prefers them
to wood, as the trees Will run more zap
than where wood is used. Boils his sap
as soon as possible after it runs in an
evaporation with the patent regulator,
and cakes the sugar into fve-pound
cakes, and when they are cool turns
them over to dry; stirring sugar when
1t is cooling makes it winter, but de-
stroys the grain or crystal. Iron spouts
cost s.. 50 per hundred, and should be
driven in carefully and perfectly tight.
E. M. Smith, of auckland, thinks he
can get more sap from a tree by tap
ping just above where a large root
prongs off, and puts in two spouts some
speakers that the sooner the sap is
boiled after it runs the better, and
never saw any cleansed OF strained so
clean that there would be no sediment
at the bottom of the pan. He cleanses
his syrup with eggs at the rate of two
eggs to forty or fifty pounds Of sugar
| The best, and largest quantity of sugar,
i'll his opinion, is made from trees grow
ing on an eastern slope. Thorough
| cleanliness is indispensable, and the
pan or evaporation can best be cleaned
with a piece of coarse sand-paper.
| Would bore the trees an inch and a half
deep, and put two spouts to tree, but
Mr.. Gale said this is too deep and would
use onlyon spout, except in large trees,
and would tap these on opposite sides.
D. Canedy said he did not like to let
the syrup cool and settle, for the oftener
it cools the darker it will be. Has an
orchard on western slope that makes
ten pounds of sugar to barrel of sap;
and the best sugar is from the first run
! for the last of the season; it is from sap
just from the ground, and is darker col
ored. Finds it takes from one-half to
three-fourths of cord of wood to boil
down 100 pounds of sugar. D. Gale gets
an average Of four pounds of sugar to a
tree, and finds it takes nearly as much
wood to boil a pan that is six feet long
as one, that is twelve. His greatest
trouble is from dark sediment that
| burns on to the bottom of the pan,
forming a hard coating that colors the
sugar and needs to be secured off often
with sandpaper. S. Ward said he found
it necessary to have good draft to his
chimney to keep up good fire, so as to
boil rapidly, for he agreed with the
be boiled as soon as possible after it has
run from the tree, and sugar it before it
ever cools Trees that are thrifty, and
the wood is white to the heart of the
tree, will make the whitest sugar.
Cleanliness is necessary in every partic-
rllar, but he does not believe in putting
in either milk or eggs to cleanse the
syrup. as he had always poor success
when he used it. When the syrup is
impure why add another impurity to
cleanse it? L. Richmond agreed with
the other speakers that clean
Illness is the principal thing necessary
to make good sugar, the same as to
make good butter. j. johnson spoke
of the manner of cleansing cane sugar
by using beef blood, and fltering it
through bone black, or charred bones,
and of the older way of doing it with
clay, suggested that the sediment, that
nearly all complained of, that burns on
the bottom of the pan and colors the
sugar dark, is lime, or some other min
eral held in the solution of the sap, that
only chemical analysis can determine.
! d. Gale prefers trees that growon dry
soil to make the whitest sugar, while e.
M. Smith prefers those that grow on a
gravelly soil near clear running stream
of water. Said he had made $50 pounds
from 100 tubs. e. E. Cooley thinks
the difference in the color of the sugar
is owing to the color of the wood. Old
trees with dark wood will make dark
sugar, while young trees with clear
white wood will make whittier sugar.
Prefers to put but one spout in a tree,
and the best of the syrup rises to the
top OF the kettle or pan while boiling.
! Saving and Sowing Fuchsia Seed.
| Nboro' 10 No ,,,ono o,,or,o,Io1 ,>1o,,f