Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1881-09-22
sugar Making.

L't5hI LlahluB HOW dllu sugar ludhilS
NJ II was are very different things, and
what il has gained i'll facility 1t has lost
in plcturesqaeness. The old camp with
It's primitive appliances is no more; the
kettle" has been superseded by the
pan" and the trough is becoming a
mass of crumbling decay. The women
and children are kept at home, and no
longer know the old-time delights of
"sugaring off, though in the Arcadia
OF the past their services We're not des-
pissed, and the whole household set up
ITS abode i'll the woods.
The sap was collected then in roughs
each about three feet long, followed out
of sections of poplars, and was conveyed
to the kettles in barrels, from which it
was transferred by scoops. There were
five on more kettles, from ten to thirty
gallons in capacity, and each was filled
with sap, which was kept boiling, tho
larger kettles being retilled from the
smaller ones as evaporation reduced the
quantity. When the contents were re-
dueed to o desired consistency, the hot
sirup was dipped out and passed through
a flannel strainer into covered tubs,
from which again it was poured
into a large. thick bottomed kettle
for the process of ''stirring of, 3"
some milk and the whites of several
eggs being added to it. Thus prepared
it was placed over a slow fire and kept
just below the boiling point until the
sediment and all foreign matters in it
floated TO the top and were removed,
when it became deliciously translucent.
1t was now exposed to greater heat
and gently boiled, the evaporation con
tinuing, and bringing it nearer to the
point of granulation. Now the sugar
maker was all watchfulness, and il Jared
i'll with those who distracted him, for, il
the golden liquid seething in the kettle
boiled the least bit too much, it would
become dry in quality, while if it boiled
too little, it would become ''soggy.
He tested it constantly, plucking threads
OF ii from his stirring-stick and trailing
them round in cups of cold water.
While the threads yielded waxily to the
touch, the sugar was not yet done, but
rs s on as one broke crisp between his
fingers, the moment had come to take
the kettle off the fire. AS the sugar be-
gan to cool, it crystallyzed round the
sides, and gradually the whole mass,
under vigorous stirring, became gran
ular
In that way sugar was male years
ago, and when the sap flowed profusely
the operations were continued through
the night, and the fires cast strange
shadows in the woods. But, instead OF
a hut Of logs, permanent sugar, house
is now built, and furnished with many
elaborate devices to prevent waste ana
deterioration. Formerly, when the ma
pies were tapped with an auger, an
elder quill was inserted III the in
cision to conduct the sap into the
trough below that is, a small piece Of
elder wood about three inches long with
the pith bored out of it, which formed a
tube; but in most orchards of to-day a
galvanized iron spout Is used, which has
the advantage of not souring tn sap nor
choking many pores. Everything is
in proved" The collections are made
with the unvarying order Of collections
from letter-boxes, and, If the grove is
on hill, ard the sugar house is ~ n
hollow, the sap, as it is gathered, is emp
tied into 9 flume, which quickly con
ducts 1t to large reservoir within
the building, wherein it is strained
through cloth. A scoop or ladle is as
anachronistic as a javelin. From the
reservoir the sap is conducted, as re-
quired, through tin pipes into a
heater" whence it passes through a
series of iron tubes to be delivered, alter
straining, in condition for "sugaring
off"
Maple sugar, as it reaches the market,
is OF a clearer color for ali these improve
ments but there are some who :eually
say that the flavor has fallen or and
that the new patent evaporators are a
snare. One change has certainly not
been for the better, and that is the
abandonment OF the social life of the
old camps, which made sugar. time in
the Green mountains enduring memories
with those who are now ebbing away
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