St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1886-06-12
the main reservoir: (s) that the sap

Tile pTouuctiOn OI SOOu sugar anu siTup
In such an orchard the sugar-hous,
is placed at the foot of the hill. beside
the brook. They are one-storied wooden
buildings, containing sufficient room
for the evaporator and "sugaring off
pan. for the packing of the products,
and for the storage of the stools" after
the expiration of the season. An evap.
orator is a long shallow pan of Russia
iron, divided into several compartments,
connected with each other by holes in
alternate ends of the transverse parti.
| tons, so that the boiling sap takes a
zigzag course as it flows through The
evaporator is placed on the top of /,
brick arch twenty-nine inches high,
which occupies allthe space underneath
and which contains the first compart
ment of the eyaporator, and tumultu-
ously boiling proceeds slowly on its
winding way" through the compart-
ments. With good luck it has flowed
into the last compartment in twenty
minutes from its entrance into the first
and has become sirup weighing eleven
pounds to the gallon. the standard dem
sity. The heat all this time has been
great. Sap boils at 215e but So is
maintained BY the best makers in order
that no .'nitre' or .malate of lime"
the sugar-maker dread. the gritty SUBJ
stance found in poor sugar. may be de-
veloped. Once it was supposed that the
formation of this substance was disa-
greeable necessity, and great pains
were taken to remove it by strain
ing and precipitation. But it was
found that the ''malate" was the
main source of the delicate aroma and
flavor of the maple products and that
its removal was an injury. By repeated
experiments it was ascertained that if
the temperature was never allowed to
60 below 5000 the malate did not CO.
alesce with the lime and the nuisance
could be avoided. In the evaporators
sirup alone is made. 1t is drawn off
from the last compartment through a
strainer; and, if the manufacture is to
end there, is set aside to cool and then
put up. generally in gallon cans. If it
is to be made into sugar it should be
transferred boiling hot into '.sugar-
ing-otf' pan. in which heat of nearly
400 ; is maintained, and will soon be
into saccharine crystals.
The greatest care is taken to prevent
scorching. The sugar is made into
cakes or packed in tin cans, each hold
ing about fifty pounds.
The sugar-maker's task during the
season is one of almost incessant
labor; but there is a rollicking smack
of the wilderness and camp life about
it that makes it very attractive. The
sap must be boiled as soon after its
flow as possible or it will ferment and
sour. Consequently it is gathered fire.
quently, and when the run is large the
boiling is kept up night and day. A
sugar place in active operation by the
dim light of an April moon is weird
sight. The fires are red hot; the furn-
aces stuffed with dry wood. which
sends streams of smoke lurid with
great sparks up the chimney; the
farmer and his assistants are dancing
around renewing the fuel, testing the
polling sap with the saccharometer,
the governor which controls
he flow of sap from the reservoir,
'sugaring off, :" and packing the tooth
eme product for market. No place
or idle hands. Every body must be
pry at such times or the enterprise |
will be failure and the farmers high |
equation As a sugar and sirup-maker,
which he has been years in building
Up, will be lost. An ordinary sugar |
eason lasts between three and four
veeks-beginning. say, the last of |
Iarch and ending about the 25th of
April. A tree averages about three
'ounds of sugar. There are many
however, carefully attended
out SO that the sunlight
as free access, and in some cases an
ually fertilized with wood ashes
7here five pounds of sugar are made
rom each tree. And there are trees
7hich make much more than that A
amous old tree in Duxbury, has pro-
uced thirty pounds of sugar in a
pring and generally makes fifteen.
IS sap is very rich-six quarts making
pound of sugar. Ordinarily it
ikes sixteen quarts of sap to make
pound of sugar. The first run of
ap is considered the best. The ten
ency nowadays is to bore smaller
oles than formerly; hardly ever more
nan half an inch in diameter, and
ometimes not more than quarter of
n inch and penetrating not more than
yo inches and half. 1t has been
hnd that second growth trees pro-
uce more and sweeter sap than the
fees of the primeval forest; and the
easibility of setting out maple orchards
A selected localities is being strongly
dvocated in the farmers meetings.
n fifteen years they would be fit for
apping. The best spouts are metallic
ipes: the best pals of tin and furn-
she'd with covers: the best holders and
ats of wood. covered and tin-lined.
he coverings prevent the ingress of
rippings, dust and bark from the
'ees, particularly during rain-storms,
'hich discolor the sugar and sirup.
he best sugar is a light brown and the
est sirup an amber color.
There are festivities belonging to the
lgar season by which the farmers profit
their labors in the sugar orchards do
OF allow them to participate. The
oung people of the surrounding
illages make parties to the sugar
laces and indulge in the luxury of
esh sugar, either cooked to a waxy
distance on snow or grained hot by
irring the sirup in saucer. Should I
lere he a butter or cheese factory near