Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-01-08
Sugar Making.

Sugar making now and sugar making
as It was are very different things, and
what it has gained in facility it has lost
in picturesqueness. The old camp with
its primitive appliances is no more; the
"kettle" has been superseded by the
"pan," and the trough is becoming
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 were not des-
pissed, and the whole household set up
It's abode in the woods.
The sap was collected then in troughs
each about three feet long, followed out
of sections of poplars, and was conveyed
to the kettles in barrels, from which 1t
was transferred by scoops. There were
five or more kettles, from ten to thirty
gallons in capacity, and each was filled
with sap, which was kept boiling, the
larger kettles being reflled from the
smaller ones as evaporation reduced the
quantity. When the contents were re-
duced to desired consistency, the hot
sirup was dipped out and passed through
a flannel strainer into covered tubs,
from which again it was poured
int a large, thick-bottonled kettle
for the process OF stirring Oft,
some milk and the whites OF several
eggs being added to it. Thus prepared
it was placed over q slow fire and kept
Just below the boiling-point until the
sediment and all foreign matters in it
fioated to the top and were removed,
when it became deliciously translucent.
It was now exposed to a 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 it Jared
III with those who distracted him, for, if
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, pluclzingthreads
of it 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
as soon 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
u1ar.
In that way sugar was made 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
hut Of logs, permanent sugar-house
is now built, and furnished with many
elaborate devices to prevent waste and
deterioration. Formerly, when the ma
pies we're tapped with an auger, an
fielder GULL WIS inserted in 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 the sap MOI
choking many pores. Everything is
"imprcyed." The collections are made
with the unvarying order Of collections
from letter-boxes, and, II the grove Is
on hill, and the sugar-house is in a
uOllOW, OIlS sup, eio ~ . SNoiiCAON, 10 SAAE
tied into g iume, which quickly con.
ducts it to large reservoir within
the building, wherein it is strained
through cloth. A scoop OF, a ladle is as
anaehronistic as q javelin. From the
reservoir the sap is conducted, as re.
CURED, through tin pipes into g
"heater," whence it passes through g
series of iron tubes to be delivered, aftel
straining, in condition for "sugarine
Off"
| Maple sugar, as breaches the market,
is of clearer color for all these improve
ments; but there are some who actually
say that the flavor has fallen off, an6
that the new patent evaporators are {
snare. One change has certainly mo-
been for the better, and that is the
abandonment of the social life of the
old camps, which made sugar-time il
the Green mountains enduring memories
with those who are now ebbing away
Rorper's Magazine.