The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1877-02-23
MAKING mAPLE SUGAR.

Farmer Cheery's maple forest, swoke the
trees from their long, long sleep, and
they all began to shake hands and nod
toward each other, whispering: 'Good
Good Here comes the Spring.!
Soon the warm air made Them feel
thirsty aud faint; the tiny twIgs CON-
planned to the branches: the branches
told the trunks, and the trunks carried
the news down TO the roots. Ma
pie trees keep all their provisions
IN an u derground cellar {; so
the roots finding that, sure enough, the
ground was 10 longer frozen and hard.
began to feel about, and sent out little
rootlets that gathered up the good things
Just the kind they knew maple twigs
loved best. Doesn't il seem funny that
they can tell? The NAPLES take one
kind of food, the pines another, the
birches another, and for each the root'ets
pick out just the right kind from the
same ground. As fast as the
rootlets gathered the food they
sent it up to the Branches very
delicate. sweet drink; and still they sent
more and more, the little twigs always
taking the freshest, and sending back
what was left over. The branches felt
very much revived as they were fed,
grew very social, and began to tell OF
the pretty red dresses they would put on
before long; red for the cool spring days,
and afterward green for hot summer.
They we're merry planning their new
wardrobcs, l assure you; you could nave
heard II if you had the right kind OF
ears.
Farmer CHEEKY came in from his barn
chores.
Il say, wife, it's growing warm.
Shouldn't wonder if the sap would rnn
such weather as this; guess l must tap
one tree and see.
So Farmer Cherry took his augur and
went out into the maple orchard. II
didn't take INN long TO make little
mole in one of the tree trunks, and put
IN a ! tile spout; nor was it many min
utes be ore drop by drop came the sap.
"Ah! that's fne!" said Farmer Cherry,
and he went home in haste. The next
we saw of him, he was driving out into
The orchard with load OF one hundred
and fifty clean, bright, tin sap.buckets
and one hundred and fifty fresh little
,roughs. Then, III each ono OF his hum
dred and fifty maple trees ne bored a
hole and put trough IN, and bucket
beneath to catch the sap as 1t came drop
ping ou..
Didn't it starve the poor little
branches waiting tor their foodf'
Oh, no! There Was enough for them
left, all they need 20 keep them very
fresh and make them grow. So many,
many psiliuIs ran up and down every
dsy, that the one Farmer Cherry took
would hardly be missed.
Every morning and night for two or
three weeks, the good farmer might be
seen with his great tank, clean as clean
could be-, driving around TO collect
the SAD ths. had run out. He knew that
one reason why maple sugar Is sometimes
dark-colored is because the pals aud
tanks that hold the sap are moi WASHED
thoroughly, so be took great pains with
bis. de knew, too, that if any water
gets in, the sap must be boiled longer TO
make sugar OF il, and the longer it Is
boiled the darker 1t grows; so, If be saw
a storm coming, he collected al the sap
and turned the buckets upside down TIL
the rain was over.
Farmer CHEEKY had great iron pan,
which would hold, oh, l don't dare tell
YOU how many psilfuls,-a great, great
many; and this very Isrge pan rested on
some stone posts about two teet from tie
ground. Under this he bIilt q fire, 81 !
INTO it he poured his sap, stirring ii
while il boiled Almost all day long.
When he drew 1t of, such beautiful clesr
sirup don't believe you ever saw. This
ne did two or three times each week Tor
nearly a month; after that, the sap Wa
not as 90, d for people to use, though just
VIVA. the little twigs needed IS they grew
older.
Some of his strip The farmer put up
in cans 10 send to the cities; some OF II
he boiled more and more, so that II
would be sugar when cooled. Teen be
poured 1t into pretty scs.loped tins, &c
harden into the round cakes you like SC
much; and some of it his little grand
children wsXed on snow.
You don't know how that Is?
Well, May packed 9 pan;uI oil snow
Jus, a. hard Is she conld crowd 1t IN
then she smooihed of the top as even Al
a msr bic table, and she and sally carried
i, to Grandpa CHEEKY, who dropped aPoa
their snow spoonful OF the hot sirul
here and there. The little thin, xa1y
sheets of suddenly cooled siruP picked
up with a fork and eaten as soon as cool
made an excellent luncheon; and IL.
children tugged their pan Of snow roand
to give every one taste, declaring ths'
sugar season" was the very best time II
tue year.-Rrh ksnyon, st. Nicholas f0'
March.