Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1885-05-01
SUGAR MAKING.
oLD-TlMe METHODS OF MAPLE tlAN-
UFACTURE IN HoOSlERDoM.
Scenes In and About an Old Fashion ed
Sugar Camp in Indiana Tapping
the Trees - sugar Troughs"
Work, Fun and Frolic.

ny Jay, ItttIlN lIt SCtIltS anu ldolllpuS vi
a day long past, when "home made sugar"
we never called 1t maple" nor mis-
named the tree that way, except 10y an
kcc int uiCation-was not fancy confec.
ton luxury beyond the barber pole"
candy OF infancy. butanccessity. when or
leans sugar was not to be had, or was too
expensive Tor The poor in pocket, as many
rich man of to day wa, in that day. The
free handed householder laid in his years
stock OF sugar by the time the apple trees
were in bloom. at The latest
and frequently before the frost
was we'll out of the ground Ii
detcriotatcd in the close chests the pro.
lection against ants and les or in cloth.
headed barrels. and lost much If the pc.
Cular raNor Of the carry product, 1t got
musty and weak to the sweet tooth
though possibly not to the tea / or cooking
II was never so good rs the cane product
IT did not mix well, and left black spots
of undiiluscd sugar that varicl Il ed the
taste OF cake too gaudily. In moasscs it
was best, and it is still unmatched for
pancakes and fritters and all table use
No syrup equals it, no honey or hive or
hand ril ais ii for these uses The demand
for ii has manufactured a score OF mia.
tions. but they can't fool the tongue that
has been taught in the cradle the taste of
the essence of dew, distilled through TO-.
600 600 tubes in the sugar tree.
When the sugar scason-"a movable
feast, like Easter-came on, sometimes
early in February, sometimes carly in
March, hut usually between the two, the
owner of sugar camp"-somc few I'M
tutorcu or overutorcd noodles call it
sugar brush he would. with the GUS
tomary wastcfuncss of backwoods habits,
60 out with his AK and chop fresh cuts in
IL ,t,.l
collect the water in. one primitive fash.
ion was TO slope cut four or five inches
into the body of the tree IA foot or more
up, and scoOpcd at the bottom into a rude
little trough from which the water was
dipped as 'ast rs it gathered sufficiently to
be reached This was wastcful every
way, and sensible farmers after
cutting "A little notch, would bore
a hole "a couple Of inches or so
deep and drive in Spite of elder with
the piih punched out In time, though,
the notch was abandoned, and the hole
bored directly through the bark, and tin
tubes substituted in some cases for the
elder spies sugar troughs" made of a
cut two or three feet long of log "A foot
or more in diameter, split in half some
times, and followed out TO hold a couple
OF gallons or so, were in general use, but
they were wnslcful, AMI those who could
afford money better than muscle bought
crooks d buckets. These were EN-, tied
an. sometimes Ivy hand, sometimes by
scds or wagons carrying tubs. the water
was taken to the kettles at rounds made
at regular intervals
The primitive furnace long remained
probably in many places yet remains-in
use, and that was n couple of big logs a
dozen feet long, and fOo' or two in di
amcirr laid parallel and far enough apart
TO make room for fair pile of fuel he
tween Them. On these the kettle-some-
times two or three. or more, owing to the
number of trees tapped-were set, and the
water boiled down, added to it, it went
down and sill boiled down till it grew
thick and slab, " and then the fra GRANGE
that was on the passing breeze through
the grove could have discounted "nard
and cassias lamy smells" l'ungent in.
viting, suggestive, it is the bouquet"
of our backwoods nectar, and
commonly surrounded by blooming
hebcs of the cabin and the kitchen The
fitful flashes of fire, tempered to the bub.
bling of the kettles. which, unguarded,
sometimes boiled over lit up Tie woods
about with Sombcr glow that gave the
strcaks Of snow, tie bare boughs of the
trees the gray trunks and the brown
leaves at their roots a sort of dabolical
CORY look, as if IA CLEAN of pandemonium
came through some crack or knot hole
and the figures standing over the kettles
or seated ON the end of the furnace logs
might have becn mistaken by eyes I'M
taught OF the keener perceptions of the
nose, for lazy devils loating about fire
they hadn CLERGY enough to keep from
going out.
The scenes of sugar cam, however
were ANYTHING but somber in spirit, what.
ever the light upon them. There WASH I
much idlng, and there was always fun
If the camp owners had families. and the
backwoodSnan without one was won
der, the young folks made frolic of the
work of stirring Off" or granting the
sugar The name was eminenty descrp.
tive. To keep the sugar from solidifying
into mass of impenetrable candy il had TO
be necessarily stirred and the work was
too hard for nybody to endure long at
time. But as Shakespeare might have said,
and did nearly say, the fun "physcked
the pain. The manager, man or woman,
frequently tested the condition of
the syrup by pouring spoonful
into gourd'" of cold sugar
water ard noticing its "ropiness. "
Its rapdity Of cooling its tendency to
grain, and thereby Judging when it was
necessary 10 reduce the lire or put it out
huu MI the Wnlle tue SURFING OIL went
briskly on with many laugh, and giggle.
and squeal Of girlish glce or boyish lrolic.
Egg shells were filled with the ungrained
denser syrup TO cool into Jumps rs hard
as "dorniCks. or cast into the mold of
teacups creased with butter or clean lard
TO keep II from sticking, or rudey nodded
into some uncouth form or formless
chunk.
Most of the sugar woods anywhere
near the city have long been gone in
smoke. and ashes and heat that has
mixed with the universe OF correlated
forces. When one thinks of the unmiti-
gated folly of cutting down sugar trees
for firewood as long as any thing else that
would burn could be had, it seems as if a
part of Carlyle's cynical snarl at thirty
millions OF people, most fools, were a
fair hit, The result is that genuine
country sugar" home made sugar,