Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-04-17

NN - ~ haC NethSs anu 4 Yield OF three
! pounds OF sugar for each bucket Sat ie
considered fair seasons product. and Is
probably about the average. although
1Our, and even more pounds to the buckpt
is frequently made.
1onder in the midst of the woods We
| notice rough plank building from which
great clouds of steam and smoke are is.
suing, and approaching we find it TO be
| the eYapOrating works. where all this
great quantity OF sap is reduced TO svrup.
| For this purpose two eyaporating mans Of
heavy sheet iron, each three feet wide and
ten feet long, are used, and occupy sub
! stantlal brick arches or furnaces, side by
I side. \ fifteen barrel storage tank stands
near, trom-which feed spOuts pour n con-
tnuOus stream OF cold sap into each evap-
orator, from whose boiling and seething
contents dense clouds of steam are rising.
the SIZE OF each stream being carefully
Iteguiated TO Keep apaee with the diminu-
tion by evaporation.
One man is kept busy feeding the roaring
hres WIN well seasoned beech and maple
WOOD, making such an intense heat that
our faces are ScOrcEed when standing fen
feet from the open furnace. The boiling
works are sheltered by substantial build.
ing, or shed, i'll which the seasons sIpnIv
OF wood is also stored, so that RAINY
weather offers no drawback, except i'm
gatherlhg the sap from the buckets and
transferring 1t to the storage tank.
For this purpose team of two horses
Is attached to low vehicle on runners.
upon which is placed gathering tub of
TWO barrels capacity. The tub or tank is
closed at the top with the exception of a
small opening through which to conye-
nentlY pour the sap. With this convey
ance they pass through the woods adia-
cent to each tree and collect the contents
a hlInEnfS All,
sary OF course, as when the buckets are
null 1t will aggregate over thirty barrels
OF sap. During a good run of sap it is
necessary TO go over the bush twice a
day, and then If it runs all night many of
the buckets will be found overflowin@ i'm
the morning. For the convenience of dis
charging the contents Of the gathering tub
INTO the storage tank, a grade is con-
structed to a level with the ton of the
tank, upon which the team is driven with
the gathering tub, when the sap is readily
discharged into the tank through huge
faucet in the tub.
Two men and one pair of horses will at
tend bush of 450 or 800 trees. where the
hre wood has been prepared beforehand
ana modern facilities are in use, AS the
sugar making season covers the three or
four weeks of the breaking up of winter,
Whell Iarmer cannot carry on any other
n
is from three to four pounds of sugar to
the tree, or bucket, the sugar having an
equal market value with the best
grade of refined cane sugar.
ana superior in quality for
nome use, 1t will be seen that a good
sugar bush is available adjunct to a farm.
The present price Ofmaple sugar is - cents
pei, pound, and of the syrup 81 to 81 % per
gallon. 1t is only reduced to thin syrup
III the eYaporating pans in the woods.
The further reduction to sugar is generally
accomplished over the cooking stove at
the house, in small evapOratOr provided
for that purpose. All there is about the
process from beginning to end is to con-
tinue cooking the sap until it becomes.
syrup and then transfer it to a convenient
vessel, and cook it until it is reduced to
sugar. When cold it becomes a solid
mass, so hard that one can scarcely bite it.
The common way of preserving it for
use, therefore, is to pour it while hot into
tin mOulds, Of from two to five pounds
capacity, and when cold it can be re-
moved, and the hard cakes thus formed
stored III any convenient place.
The young people take considerable de-
light Ill moulding it into various fantastic
or symbolic forms as gifts to their friends.
the form of two hearts joined being the
most common. Where proper care Is
uoeu III INC llduuldclufe OF JnlS COM
modify ii is of a very light brown color
and Of delightful flavor. The syrup is a
bright amber, and the most delicious sub
stance that ever tickled the palate of NOR
tai man. In fact, the product of the sugar
maple, whether as the ice-cOld sap In the
bucket fresh from the tree, the warm half
reduced syrup taken from the eYaporating
pan, or the amber liquid as served upon
the table as an accompaniment to hot bis
10
gods. rake the sugar while it is still hot |
and in liquid form and pour quantity
OF 1t thinly over the surface |
of painful of snow and !
it will form transparent wax, the deli |
cious qualities of which no language can
describe. The nerves that are cOncen- |
trated at the palate and roots of the |
tongue, are made to titillate to ones very
toes as he places a roll of the translucent |
wax in his mouth and slowly works his
Jaws through the clinging mass of cOncen-
trated sweetness.
sugar parties are very popular among
the young people during the sugar-making
season, a score or more gathering at the
house OF some farmer who has a sugar
bush, where they spend the hours until
midnight, their efforts about equally di- |
vided between depOsiting large quantities |
OF warm sugar inside themselves and |
upon the outside of their companions. !
The plainest girls may be made truly |
sweet i'll this manner, even though it does !
ruin their clothes and necessitate the cut
ting off of half their hair the next dav be-
fore they can get comb through it.
A sugar camp when in operation at
night, with its roaring fires casting fam
tastical shadows among the hills, and
anon flashing upon and revealing the |
dense cloud OF white YapOr, in strange
contrast with the surrounding darkness, !
a scene of no little wierdness |
and novelty.
sometimes several of the young ladies |
and young men of a neighbOrhOod will get
together and pay visit to one of these |
sugar camps at night, holding high car |
nlval among the ghOstly shadows, drink !
ing cOpiously of warm syrup, burning |
their faces to the color Of Indians by |
in front of the fire, and making |
themselves and night hideOus in this and |
various other ways, waking more echoes |
through the woods than would a party of |
Sioux warriors on the warpath. or of |
canal bOatmen on the tOwpath.
The cost of an outfit for maple sugar. !
making is, for tin buckets, $25 per 100: |
iron spOuts, So 80 per 100; handmade |
wooden spOuts may be used at a nominal |
cost J; storage tanks,SlO; evapOrating pan, |
from $40 to $40, according to size The |
beech and other growth i'm an ordinary |
sugar bush will furnish the supply of fire |
wood from year to year.
There are constant improvements being |
made in evapOrating pans, the latest be- !
iRg a nest of four pans connected by !
syphOns; the cold sap flowing constant |
stream into the first pan and, pressing on
in continuous current from one to the |
other, flows in constant stream of syrup |
from the fourth pan. These pans are |
nested into a portable iron furnace, with |
suitable smoke stack, and can be set up |
anywhere, requiring no other provision |
than level place to set it. Their cost |
ranges, believe, from $50 to 1925, accord
ing to size and capacity.
OF course, these eVaporatOrs would be
equally applicable to the manufacture of
sorghum, or cane syrup and sugar. Even
the plain single pan would be vastly supe
riOr to and no more expensive than the |
primitive kettles and facilities used in /
sugar making on many Florida planta-
tions. as recently observed by the writer. /
y. G. =. /
Grain in England.