The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-06-03

aDles the buckets and apparatus to be
easily cleansed, an indispensable aid to
the production of good sugar and sirup.
In such an orchard the sugar-house
is placed at the foot of the hill, beside
the brook. They are one-storied wooden
buildings, containing sufficient room
for the evaporator and ssugaring 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 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 a
brick arch twenty-nine inches high,
which occupies all the space underneath
and which contains the first compart
ment OF the evaporation, and tumultu-
ously boiling proceeds slowly on it's
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 215 Q but 325 Q is
maintained by the best makers in order
that no ''nitre' or 'smalate of lime, :"
the sugar-maker' dread, the gritty sub
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 '.malaten was the
main source of the delicate aroma and
flavor of the maple products and that
its removal was an injury. Byrepeated
experiments it was ascertained that if
the temperature was never allowed to
go below 800 Q 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 a 'ssugar-
ing-off" pan, in which heat of nearly
400o is maintained, and will soon be
transformed 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' 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 a 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
boiling sap with the saccharometer,
watching the governor which controls
the flow of sap from the reservoir,
"sugaring of, " and packing the tooth
some product for market. No place
for idle hands. Every body must be
spry- such times or the enterprise
will be a failure and the farmers high
reputation as sugar and sirup-maker,
which he has been years in building
up, will be lost. An ordinary sugar
season lasts between three and four
weeks-beginning. 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.
Its sap is very rich--six quarts making
a pound of sugar. Ordinarily it
takes sixteen quarts OF sap to make
pound of sugar. The FIRST run of
sap is considered the best. The ten
dency nowadays is to bore smaller
holes than formerly; hardly ever more
than half an inch in diameter, and
sometimes not more than quarter OF
an inch and penetrating not more than
two inches and half. It 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 fol
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 transforms,
which discolor the sugar and sirup.
The best sugar is light brown and the
best sirup an amber color.
There are festivities belonging to the
sugar season by which the farmers profit
if their labors in the sugar orchards dc
not allow them to participate. The
young people OF the surrounding
I villaOas naka y,aY~tiea To the su uUa1