Mountain Home bulletin. (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1888-1889, 1888-09-22
IN TIE SUGAR CAMP.
A SHORT CHAPTER OF WOOD LORE
FROM PENNSYLVANIA.

FROM PENNSYLVANIA.
What Poets and Painters Have Done for
the "sugar Bush"--A Pennsylvania
Writer Begs Leave to Diher-How Ma
pie Sugar 10 Made.
Pennsylvania farmers manufacture over
!, 600 600 pounds of maple sugar every spring
The bulk of this is made in the counties on
and west of the Allegheny mountains, but
the northern and northeastern counties pro-
iuce large amount of superior quality. |
Poets and painters have succeeded in throw
ing a glamour Of romance and rustic pictur
esqueness about the sugar camp and a great
of sentiment is annually wasted ON
them by persons who have no closer knowl-
edge of tine woods in March than the poet
and painter have given them. In reality,
the sugar bush is a nasty, soggy place.
The sugar farmer has discovered many
curious facts about the maple and its sap.
For the sap to run freely there must be well
mingled conditions of heat, cold and light.
A still and dry yet dense atmosphere, with q
north or west wind blowing, is tho best for
sap running That is the weather referred to
by the farmer in his saying: when fires
burn best then sap runs best" When the
ground thaws during the day and freezes at
night, and there is plenty of snow in tho
woods, ''sap weather. is prime. A heavy
snow storm during the sap season, followed
by n freeze and thaw, will make the owner
of sugar bush happy. "A few trees will
produce as much sap as good many" is an
an anomalous saying of the sugar farmer 1t
means that trees standing close together di-
vide the aggregate flow made possible by tho
extent of soil they cover, which aggregate
would be rs great if there were half as many
trees draining the spot. Night sap, or sap
that runs at night, will make more sugar
than the same quantity during the day. Sap
contains more saccharlne substance when
caught either Immediately before or just
after a snow storm or freeze up. A tree
tapped high will give sweeter sap than one
tapped low, but the low tap will give the
larger quantity. A shallow tap will fetch
from the tree sweeter sap, and one that
will produce winter and better grained sugar
than deep tap, but the deep tap will yield
the most molasses. Sap starts just on the
south side of the tree, and runs much sweeter
than sap from the north side, but sap will
run for long time from the north side of
the tree after it has ceased running on the
south side.
DROP by DROP
AS soon as the sap starts in the trees the
naples are tapped, iron spiles driven in the
holes and a covered bucket hung to eacn one.
In the old days the spile was an elder with
tho pith punched out, and the receptacle for
the sap was either a trough hewn out of
birch block or an ordinary pail. The sap
falls from the spiles drop by drop, and SO
slowly that it seems as il palful would
never be obtained: but on the contrary the
trees have to be watched very closely, as the
pals fill in Il remarkably short time, and the
little drops of liquid sugar will be running
over the rim of the pail before the stranger
would think it possible. AS soon as pail is
filed it is lifted from the spile and emptied
into large barrel with a top like big fun
mel. This barrel is securely attached to a
rude sled or wagon, and is drawn about the
bush from tree to treo by mild hammered
and easy going horse driven by youth es-
pecially selected for his patience and careful
ness, for the rounds of the camp must bo
made in a slow and cautious manner. An
upset in the bush with cargo of sap aboard
lowers a driver in the estimation of his fel-
lows, and it is great feather in his cap if he
comes out when the season is over with q
clean record on that score.
| When the rounds of the trees are made.
the big barrel is filled with sap and is taken
to the sugar house or boiling shed. There it
is emptied into watts, beneath which steady
fire is kept burning, As the sap bols in the
vats it is kept constantly agitated by those
having charge of that part of the work, who
use long handled ladies md rakes. This is
the most interesting pa. ! Of maple sugar
making, but 1t is at the same time the most
distressing. The damp wood smolderin.
. hAn 4 h, hn,
riotous March wind, sends up dense clouds of
suifocating smoke. The stirrcr chokes,
freezes and burns by turns, according to the
whim and the temperature Of the wind and
the combustible qualities of tho wood in the
fire. These dscomforts, however, never
attend sap boiling in the northeastern coun.
ties of the state, where tho sugar houses are
inclosed and we'll appointed
"sUGARING OFF,
After boiling i'll one vat until certain con
ditions are brought about, which the sugar
makers skill detects at the proper time, til,
sap is run into another vat through strainel
and then the boiling is continued. When &
proper consistency is reached in tho seconc
vat the sap is ready for sugaring Off. A few
farmers in western Pennsylvania have theiI
boiling houses SO equipped that the last pro
cess may be gone through with on the prem
ises, but generally the awaiting syrup i
loaded in barrels and conveyed to the farm
houses, where the farm wives and thei
daughters take charge of it and sugar off,
1t is placed in huge boilers, on stoves or
ranged for the purpose, where it boils ant
bubbles and reduces itself, under the skillfu
manipulation and superintendence of tn
housewife.
The tests Of the different stages Of th,
syrup as it is slowly transformed INTO suga
are the same today us they were the first da,
maple sugar was natle-a spoonful of syru]
Oh plate OF snow, or dropped into bowl o
cold spring or well water. The work Of su
CARING off requires the greatest skill and tn
most constant attention. Ii syrup is wante,
the quick eye of the farmers wife detects tn
stage known as the ''buck littl
three cornered grains form under this test
The syrup is then turned into earthen jugs
When the boiling shows the advance of tn
hardening stage, the hard work begins Th
hot, sticky mass must he beaten and stirre,
and stirred and beaten, until the grains SEP
arate and the sugar assumes fine, smoot
and whitened appearance. While the syru
is still in liquid form it is run into mold
and forms of all descriptions, TO suit tn
fancy or convenience OF the maker, and se
away to cool.-Cor. New York Tribune.