The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1882-09-05

Sngar-making now and sugar-mGking as
it WAS are very different things, and what
it has gained in facility it has lost in pic
turesquesness. The old camp, with its
primitive appliances, is no more the "ket-
tie" has been superseded by the "pan," and
the trough has become a mass of crumb-
ling decay. The women and children are
kept at home, and no longer know the Did
time delights of ''sugaring-off," though in
the Arcadia of the past their services were
not despiscd, and the whole household set
up its abode in the woods.
The sap was collected then in troughs,
each about three feet long, followed out of
sections of poplars, aud was conveyed TO
the kettles in barrels, from which it 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 rehlled from the smaller ones as
evaporation reduced the quantity. When
the contents were reduced TO a desired con-
Iistency, the hot syrup was dipped out and
passed through a flannel strainer into COW
cred tubs, from which again it was poured
into a thick-bottomed kettle for the pur-
pose of stirring or" some milk and tho
whites of several eggs being added TO it.
Thus prepared ii was placed over a slow fire,
and kept just below boiling point until
the sediment and all foreign matter in it
aoated to the top and were removed, when
it became de~liciously translucent. 1t was
now exposed to n greater heat and gently
boiled, the evaporation continuing, and
bringing it nearer to the point of granula-
ton. Now the sugar-maker is all watch
fitness, and it Jared ill with those who
distracted him, for if the golden liquid
,cething in the kettle boiled the least bit
- ,.U,.I "a .rn,1I L.- l,X -. t,nIsa,
while if it boiled too little it would be
'soggy." He tested it constantly, plucking
threads of it from his stirring and trailing
them round in cups of cold water. While
the threads yielded waxily TO the touch,
the sugar was not yet done, but MS soon rs
one broke crisp between his fingers, the
time had come TO a the kettle off the
fire. As the sugar began to cool, it crystal
lied around the sides, and gradually the
whole mass, unde a vigorous stirring be-
came granular.
In that way sugar was made years ago,
and when the sap flowed proinsely the ope-
rations were continued through the night,
and the fire cast strange shadows in the
woods. But instead of II hut of logs a per
manent s~ugar-house is now built, and fur
nished with many elaborate devices to pre-
vent waste and deterioration. Formerly,
when the naples were tapped with an au-
ger, an "elder quill" was inserted in the
incision to conduct the sap into the trough
below; that is a small piece of eldcrwood
about three inches long witt the pith
bored out Of it, which formed u tube but
in most orchards of to-day n galvanized iron
spout is used, which has the advantage of
not souring the sap nor choking many of
the pores. Everything is improved" The
collections are mad with the unvarying
order of collections from let%ter-boxes, and
if the grove is on the hill, and the sugar
house is in n hollow, the sap, as it is gath
cred, is emptied into a "aume," which
quickly conducts it to n large reservoir
within the building, where it is strained
through n suitable cloth. From The reser-
yoir the sap is conducted, as required,
through tin pipes into II "heater," whence
it passes through n series of iron tubes, to
be delivered, after straining, in n condition
for "sugaring Off"
Maple sugar, MS it reaches the market, is
of a clearer color for all these improve
ments but there are some who actually
say that the flavor has fallen off, and that
the new patent evaporators are n 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-times in the Green Mountains endur-
ing memories with those who are now ebb-
ing -Hdrper's Mdgd-iao.