Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1890-09-11
MAPLE SIRUP AND SUGAR.
TALK WITH A DEALER ABOUT METH
obs AND POSSIBLE PROFITS.

A Larger Output Than IL Generally Sup
p,s..i-lIuw to Care for and Tap the
Trees-Apparntus for Cooking the Sap.
Old Time Methods of Sugar Farming.
There are q good many interesting features
bout the maple sugar product, tile dealer
nd to a reporter. 1t Is deal more extern
we than most people imagine. Although tho
plish people OF the country nro cutting Tor
.rewood every year thousands OF trees tiat
would yield hnndsomc revenue II rightly
managed, tina product is still moro than IT,
DO,OOO pounds u year, or say nearly ono
fourth as great az tho product OF cane ana
sorghum sugar of the whole country. YER
mont alone produces about 4,WO,oUo pounds
yearly, of which the largest part comes {"
New York city. Although no record OF the
amount bundled In this city IN year Is al
hand 1t is safe to say that more than la,Ooo-
OOO pounds is received here every season.
Next to Vermont comes New YORK az
sugar producer. Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin
md New Hampshire follow. Tho hard or
sugar maple nourishes is>t In cool climate,
the Western Reserve In Ohio being the best
sugar region of Ohio. Taking one thing with
another the Western Reserve people have the
SUGAR business in better shape than any other
people in tho country, for they have learned
how to cultivate and improve the sugar
bushes. New trees are planted as fast ms the
old ones die Care is taken In planting these
trees, to place them SO they will pr"uce the
most and tho hest quality of sap, and when
tho sap is obtained 1t Is boiled In an aPIA-
rutus especially well designed to produce
clean and pure sugar.
If farmers only knew It they could get
more money out of IN acre OF sugar trees
than out Of any grain crop raised on the same
land. The best sugar bushes are on fairly
moist land that slopes to the south. An aero
Of lnnd will support thirty healthy trees.
much larger number will thrive on All acre,
but the larger number will produce less sugar
than thirty will. nm not sure but twenty
Ave would be more profitable numb"r to
put on that space for it Is well known that
the quality OF the sap from trees standing too
close together is thin. Even when trees arc
thick. II the soil Is moist abundant sap may
le had, but the sap is Ike the milk from sl"p
fed cows 1t takes between four and I'VE gar
Ions of good sap to make gallon of strip IN
4 proynr apparatus, and Il gallon OF srup
viii make eight pounds Of sugar. But where
che sap Is thin 1t will require double the
amount-sometrncs more than double-to
produce the same quantity OF sugar
In a well ordered bush OF thirty trees to
the acre the product, taking ono year with
another, will run not much below ten pounds
Of sugar to the tree The ordinary bush that
receives no care and Is tapped IN ignorant
fashion, will produce no moro than three
pounds to the tree. Tho product of the well
rrdered bush can bc set down, therefore, as
SOO hounds Of sugar TO the acre. for which tho
farmers can get at the very least ten cents Il
sound right on the ground where it is mado.
II he got $40 or $l2 an acre for hay from the
came ground, or say sl5 for oats or wheat
be would think he was getting rich hand
aver fist At the same true the labor Of max
A,g the crop Of sugar would he much less e1-
ncnsive than tho work OF making crop OF
oats.
The best apparatus for making maple
sugar from the sap is the modern condenser
ased in making condensed milk On the
Western Reserve they have CONDENSED milk
factory where milk is handled during tho
SECULAR milk season Formerly this factory
stood idle In cold weather until say the list Of
May But now along at the end OF February
tho farmers begin ~ tap the trees In the
,ugar bushes Tho taps are iron spil's' driven
into a halfnch hole The sup runs :DtO
covered pals made for tho purpose 1t Is
gathered from tho puts into milk cans and
driven from the bush to the factory, where
4 Is weighed In as milk is The sup Is then
lrIilei In vacuum condenser. 1t comes out
the most beautiful strup imaginable. Tho
farmer gets his proportion Of this sirup less
Spercentage for1he boiling. The sirup sells
rc,plly at the fuctory at $3.50 Il gallon.
Ordinary sirup brings from 81 to 10.
The modern sugar bush, II Of any extent,
requires quite u little capital Pho spiea are
etrel tubes and the pail, are useful for moth
ing elsa A house must be built to cover the
boiling pan. The boiling pan must be sct IN
q brick furnace in such u way that no direct
flame reaches in fact it ought TO Ire set in a
sand bath SO that tho strip can never burn
There must he big tank In this house u hold
the sap, and number OF tin pipe lines should
h. laid from it TO other tanks at convenient
points in the bush, $" that the sap can borun,
instead of carried, into tho house II Is Gus
tomary to gather the sap IN barrels placed on
o SLED, which horse draws through the bush,
but this is wascf,Il, for much sap is spilled
10y the jolting AMI frequent rctanding. Ono
inventor proposed to run pip" lines to al tho
trees, but that scheme was a failure
There uro trees that yield us high ~ twenty
pounds OF sugar In II season, and that average
for many years Ut n stretch from twelve to
fifteen pounds. There is one tree at Preston,
Pu, that has been lapad regularly every
Year since 1896 Sugar from 1t was sent to
Gen. Washington, and the family owning /.
have made like present from 1t to every
president si.co his time. 1t is the patriarch
Of nuplea The ordinary maple however, 4
good for twenty-five SEASONS, nftor which It
should be usel for 1rewood. Meantime q
new one to take Its place should have been
ruisod.
Or course, the manner Of gathering tho sap
and boiling it has been greatly improved
since the days when trees were tapped 10y
gasling them with an ax and allowing the
sap to 1ow from the cash over chip into
trough made from log. There are no spruce
and birch and henlock leaves and twigs In
the modern sup and no sap bugs and flies TO
be skimmed out. The sirup Is now we'll nigh
o. colorless as the sap itself, but somehow the
old heads Ike me do not find 1t quite SO much
to our taste as 1t was In the old days. Tho
marketable value of the old sort is less, but
there was something about the leaves and
twigs that are so carefully excluded now that
did not hurt the flavor q cents worth New
York Sun.
More About the Boomerang.
Horace Baker, who studied the subject
III l.