Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-05-14
M~APLE-SUGAR MAKING.
4 Profitable Industry to the Green
Mountain State.
How the Toothsome Substance Is Eek
tracted from the Trees and Prepared
for Shipment The Reason Its
Manufacture Is a Fehi-
nino blessing.

nino blessing.
This is the harvest time of the tin
smiths of Vermont, for the maple-sugar
season is at hand, and in every shop
the workmcn are busy making and re-
pairing evaporators, pans, heaters,
buckets. cans. and other sugar "tools."
The best makers are getting to use
t'tools' made only of tin or Russia
iron. wood having been pretty much
discarded, owing to the injury to the
flavor Of the product which it almost
incvitably causes.
Vermont produces more maple-sugar
and sirup in the aggregate Gone gallon
of sirup being equal to eight pounds of
sugar. than any other State in the
Union. A large run of sap is not OK
pccted this spring. since the weather
last fall was not favorable. 1t is ad-
mittcd by all competent Judges that
the spring weather of Vermont is the
cause of the flow of the maple sap.
The month or more of warmish days
and frosty nights in the spring are in
~dispensable. This is proved by the
failure of the sap-flow in the northern
and southern portions of the sugar
maple belt on this continent. This
belt cast of the Rocky mountains cx-
tends northerly, as far as the south
shore Of the st. Lawrence Gulf and
river, up to the mouth of the Saguenay
river. and thence westerly to the head
waters of the Ottawa river and to Thun-
der Bay IN Lake Superior. The south
"erh limits in thehills ofMiddlc Georgia,
Alabama. Mississippi. Arkansas, and
Northern Texas. On the Pacific coast
the southern limit is the coast range
north Of San Francisco. Its north
ern limit has not been accurately
determined. Yet little or no maple
sugar Can be made in the northern or
southern end. Even in Aroostook
county, Maine, the winter breaks up
so late that there is no transition peri
cd, and summer comes on at once.
And in Canada. New Brunswick and
Nova Scotia, where there are plenty of
NAPLES, there is little or no sugar
made for the same reason. Vermont,
from her peculiar soil and climate, is
destined to keep the lead in the manu-
facturc of maple-sugar, as she is in the
growth of merino sheep. She always
has maintained her prominence in
these respects and she always will.
Thc maplc-sugar season is peculiarly
profitable to the Vermont farmers, for
the reason that it comes "between
times" when there is nothing going
on about the conduct of their farms
except Che "chores.' The logging
and wood-cutting are over and the
ground is not ready for cultivation.
The sales of sugar and strip are for
cash down, and therefore they are en-
abled TO acquire ready money with
which to make the spring purchases
and tide over until the sales of crops in
the fall. The farmers and their sons,
and the regular 'shired men, do the
work. and there is no expense except
for "tools." For an orchard of 1000
trees it is estimated that the sugar
house. the evaporation, Che '~sugaring
OFF" pan, the vat, the sap-holders,
the gathercrs, the buckets, the spouts,
the cans for the sirup and the tubs for
the sugar cost about $500. These.
having once been obtained, will need
slight repairs and requirements from
year to year. Of course the sugar-tubs
and sirup-cans must be replaced every
spring. The profits of such an orchard
average about $500 a year -morc than
most farmers spend annually for their
household expenses. Orchards of
1900 trees are not at all uncommon,
and several farmers tap $500 and even
5000 trees.
Great improvements in the manu-
facturc of maple-sugar have taken
place within the last fifteen wears.
Forty years ago the boiling of sap in
iron potash kettles hung between logs
WAS still common, and in a few be-
nightcd localities the trees were tapped
with an axe Pans set over an arch of
brick. in which the fire burned, sue
cccdcd the kettles; and to-day, in most
of the bcst-managcd orchards, evapor-
ators Originally invented for the man
ufacturc of %sorghum) have displaced
the pans. The ideal sugar-placc Is one
of vigorous trees. situated upon the
side Of 4 hill with u southern exposure,
a brook running ut the foot Of the hill.
The advantages of such a situation are
() that the sap can be easily carried
by means of spouts running from
holders scattered through the orchard,
into which the baskets are cmptied, to
the main reservoir; (2) that the sap
begins to flow earlier. than in a north
crn exposure; (3) that the water IN
able, The buckets and apparatus to be
easily clcansod, an Indispensable aid to
the production of good sugar and sirup.
Ia suci, an orchard the sugar-housc
is placed at the foot of the hill, beside
the brook. They are one-storicd wooden
buildings. containing sufficient room