Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-14

Sh"Noi ~ 40
iron, divided intoseveral 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 u
brick arch t%wcnty-nine inches high,
which occupies all thcspace underneath
and which contains the first compart
ment of the evaporation, 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 den
eity. The heat all this time has been
great. Sap boils at 2l5 o. but $3.50 is
maintained by the best makers in order
| that no 'snitre' or smalate of lime"
the sugar-maker's dread. the gritty sub
stance found in poor sugar. may be de-
vclopcd. Once it was supposed that the
formation of this substance was q disa-
grceable necessity, and great pains
ing and precipitation. But it was
found that the 'smalate' 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
90 below 5000 the malate did not CO.
alescc with the lime and the nuisance
could be avoided. In the evaporators
strip alone is made. 1t is drawn off
from the last compartment through a
straincr; 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 a "sugar-
ing-of' pan, III which a heat of nearly
400 is maintained, and will soon be
transformed into %saccharine crystals.
The greatest care is taken to prevent
s%corching. 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 fermcnt 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 a weird
sight. The fires arc 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
boiling sap with the saccharometer,
watching the governor which controls
the flow of sap from the reservoir,
''sugaring off," and packing the tooth
some product for market. No place
for idle hands. Every body must be
spry at such times or the enterprise
will be a failure and the farmers high
reputation as Il sugar and sirup-maker,
which he has been years in building
up, will be lost. An ordinary sugar
season lasts between three and four
notwithstanding, say. the last of
March and ending about the 25th of
April. A tree averages about three
pounds of sugar. There are many
orchards, however, carefully attended
to-trimmed out so that the sunlight
has free access, and in some cases an
nually fertilized with wood ashes
where five pounds of sugar are made
from each tree. And there are trees
which make much more than that. A
famous old tree in Duxbury, has pro-
duced thirty pounds of sugar in a
spring and generally makes fifteen.
| IfS CON ic vow ,,iaG civ o,,or+, ,>,,1r;,.
a pound of sugar. Ordinarily it
takes sixteen quarts of sap to make
a pound of sugar. The first run of
sap is considered the best. The ten
dency nowadays is to bore smaller
holes than formerly; hardly Eve more
than half an inch in diameter, and
sometimes not more than a quarter of
an inch and penetrating not more than
two inches and a half. 1t has been
found that second growth trees pro-
duce more and sweeter sap than the
trees of the primeval forest; and the
feasibility of setting out maple orchards
in selected localities is being strongly
advocated in the farmers meetings.
In fifteen years they would be fit for
tapping. The best spouts are metallic
pipes; the best pals Of tin and furn-
ished with covers; the best holders and
watts of wood, covered and tin-lined.
The coverings prevent the ingress of
drippings, dust and bark from the
trees, particularly during rain-storms,
which discolor the sugar and sirup.
The best sugar is a light brown and the
best sirup an amber color.
There are festivities belonging to the
sugarseason by which the farmers profit
if their labors in the sugar orchards do
not allow them to participate. The
young people of the surrounding
villages make parties to the sugar
places and indulge in the luxury of
fresh sugar, either cooked to a waxv
substance on snow or grained hot by
stirring the sirup in a saucer. Should
there be a butter or cheese factory near
by 4 dance is generally ~improvised and
the good time prolonged to the small
hours of the morning. A large share
Of the marriages in the State have their
foundation in the courtingfor which an
opportunity is given by these sugar
parties. A pretty girl never looks
more bewitching than when she is
helping her beau to a dish of steaming
sirup just drawn from the evaporator,
her face lightened by the furnace fires