Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1876-02-17
a VER1ONTER on SUGAR MAKING

A THERMOMETER on SUGAR MAKING.
Some farmers annually make several
hundred pounds Of excellent sugar besides
molasscs, and at very trifling expense.
From an essay on sugar making by s.
H. Foster Of Calais, read before the Yer.
mont State Board of Agriculture We take
the following:
! have but little choice between tin and
we'll painted cedar tubs: all things con.
sidered, perhaps, would take lin. used
two kind Of spouts; round tin which
drives just outside the incision, and fat
tin. A thrce-eights bit is large enough to
bore with never use wedged shape nails.
as they check and injure the tree ross
the bark lightly aud smoothly with =
sharp Ratchet or Ak. Keep the storage
tubs under cover. that the sap may be ex.
posed to the sun as little IS possible
gather often, and convert it into sugar as
soon as settled. The sugar house should
be large enough for storage tubs, boiling
apparatus, wood; and there should be
clean, cool room for syrup and sugar;
also partition between the storage tubs
and arch. A seperate ach for sugaring
of, is an absolute necessity. For boiling,
Cory's evaporator is the hest thing ev-
er used it works on the right princi pie.
is easy to manage, makes better sugar,
and saves at least one-third Of the wood.
The arch should rest on a gooi founda.
ton, that the evaporation may be kept as
nearly level rs possible. The sap should
run through a coarse strainer into the
feeder, and from there to the evaporator
fhHnrnnh tina k,.o
after starting your fire, draw off syrup;
after that. once in thirty minutes; turn
it into tin cans; when fairly cooled and
settled, drain off, strain through flannel,
and sugar off in small patches as rapidly
as possible. Let it cool in the pan, stir.
ring very little, and when just right,
it will turn out without adhering to the
pan but little.
The longer you are sugaring off, the
darker will be your sugar; hence, in a
common pan would put syrup enough for
forty or fifty pounds Of sugar, build fire
enough at the start, and in thirty or for.
ty minutes it will be ready to take off,
nine times out Of ten, without using ladlc
or sweet cream. 1t is better to clean the
pan after each batch; the rinsings Of the
pan and settings should be boiled by
themselves, or made into vinegar
When boiling continually, the sub.
stance called nltre, which collects in the
back end Of the evaporation, should be re.
moved every thirty.six hours, Or the SUI
gar will be injured thereby. Clean thu
holders and drawing tubs often, and when
the tubs begin to be sour, it will pay well
to rinse them out. The wood need moi
be sound. or Of the best quality, but i,
must be dry. If possible, before leavin:
the sugar yard, get your wood for tn
next spring ifnot, make it the first bust
ness after springs work; but never wal
until late fall or winter.
How often We hear the remark, III
does not pay to sugar, when l can buy
for six or seven cents = pound Il
pays me TO sugar, and generally pays tn
best when am ready to commence 4:
soon as the sap begins to run; for ont
pound of the first is worth three Of tn
last. In the spring Of 1862, while many
were waiting for the line storm, and what
else I cannot say, tapped one thous
and trees, and in few days had on
thousand pounds Of nice sugar sent i
to Montpelier, and received ten cents ,
pound in cash, the highest price paid TO
sugar up to that time. Well, the lin
storm forgot to come therefore many di'
not make sugar that spring. Last sprinl
tapped one thousand trees and made fou
thousand three hundred pounds tn,
spring before, made six thousand eigh
hundred pounds, from one THOUSAND
three hundred trees, and for the las
four or Eve years it has averaged m
about thirteen cents per ponnd.