Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-03-22
To Make Good Maple Sugar.

First, as to tapping. This should be
done with a small auger Of not over
half an inch in diameter, ana in sew
eral places, instead of with an AK Or
two-inch auger; these small wounds
will heal and in time be covered with
bark, while the large ones will remain
open and form spots of decay which
soon affect the vigor of the tree. For
such taps there are spouts specially
provided They are of iron galvanized,
and are provided with four fanges,
which fit into the small auger-holes be-
fore mentioned, lea-Ting the inner sur
face of the sap-wood in the hole free
to discharge sap continuously, as the
edges Of the hanges only are in contact
with it. Three or four of these sap
spouts may be used to each tree. To
the spout there is attached hook by
which covered tin sap-bucket is sus-
pended. No leaves, dust or trash can
fall into the sap which is thus gathered,
and the bucket being non-absorbent
cannot sour or injure the flavor Of the
sap. This bucket is also the invention
of Mr.. Post, who is an old and sue
cessful sugar-maker. With these ap-
planes the first requisite sap
may be procured.
Then, as to gathering This should
be done in al equally Clearly manner.
Clean, sweet, casks should be procured
and placed upon low shed, which
can be drawn through the sugar Or
chard. The sap as gathered is poured
into the casks through a funnel In
which quantity of cut sponge is
placed as a filter; or a piece of flannel
may be used for the filter. This is
required to prevent dirt or dust from
finding its way into the sap while it is
being gathered.
Lastly, as to the boiling. This is
where the greatest care should be exer-
cised. The plan adopted by the writer,
which answered very good purpose,
was to build an arch of stones twelve
feet long and three feet wide. Upon
this was bedded boiler, made by nail
ing sheet iron On to a frame of plank
larger than the inside of the arch, so
that the fire could not reach the plank,
sides or ends. The plank was eight in
ches wide, which was the depth of the
boiler This was built in an clubhouse,
and the draftpipe passed into the
chimney. A small quantity of dry
fuel will boil a large quantity of sap in
such boiler, one of this size being
large enough for 500 trees. The de-
mand for syrup makes it desirable to
work UP the bulk of the sap into this
shape, and if this is done much Of the
work incident to sugaring off is avoid
ed. If the boiler above described is
divided into sections by divisions partly
across it and which force the sap to
flow in a serpentine direction toward
the upper end, where it may flow off
by pipe into another boiler, the syrup
may be completed at one operation;
otherwise it may be dipped or drawn
off from the main boiler into smaller
one when partly boiled down, and fiji
ished when a sufficient quantity has
been gathered. IF maple syrup and
sugar were made of as good quality as
they might be with the appliances de-
scribed and carein using them, the con-
sumption would undoubtedly be largely
increased. Much Of that which appears
in the city markets is wretched stuff,
dark in color, disagreeable in flavor.
and unattractive IL appearance, all this
owing to faults in manufacture which
might have been easily avoided.