Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1891-04-17
THE VERMONT PHd1NIX BRATTLEBORO FRIDAY April H.
ANALrsts or mAPtE snGAR.
statement Of the Work Heiug Done ~
the Experiment station.


The experiment station is receiving so
many samples Of maple sugar for analysis,
that il seems necessary 10 make some state
ment Of the work it is now doing in this
line
The last Congress passed law giving a
bounty Of " cents a pound on all sugar
testing 90 degrees or over by the POLAR
scope As our farmers have had no expe-
rience with the polariscope and have no
means Of knowing how much their sugar
will test, it is natural that they should turn
to the experiment station for help Con
sequently we have received a flood OF sam
Piles for the last few months IL soon be
came evident that there was an urgent
need OF doing something more for the farm
ers than could be done by Analysing these
single samples that came in without any
history. II is necessary TO know not only
how much sugar given sample contains,
but especially how shall syrup be handled
to make sugar that will test 80 degrees
by the polariscope. IL is to answer this
question that the station is now working.
1t is a well-known fact that as syrup is
boiled down the temperature rises. As
thermometer is cheap and easily used, it
has seemed best 10 make this the standard
for the farmer Pure water boils at 2l2
the same, but as the sap thickens to syrup
the temperature increases at about 226
degrees it forms syrup nearly like that
ordinarily sold in the market, aud by the
time the temperature reaches 23S to 24O
degrees the whole mass will crystalline into
cake sugar. At 226 degrees the syrup will
certainly not test 80 degrees by the polar
iscope and at 23S degrees, if well made, it
certainly will test more than this. Some
where between these limits is the point we
wish to find where the sugar will test a lit
tie above 50 degrees. But as this point va
ries with the way the syrup is handled, its
purity and the time of the season it will
he necessary TO make a large number Of
analyses to determine the limit of these va
riations The station has already collected
over a hundred samples this spring and
will more than double this before the sap
ceases to run.
These samples will be labeled with their
history and analysis and exhibited at each
of the county fairs in the state next fall
1t is hoped that in this way it will be posi-
| ble to show every sugar maker in the state
what he will have to do TO draw the bounty
next spring.
As this work is tnking much more time
and labor than had been expected, much of
Jhe oUheT WORK Oh Jhe staulon mas nau 10
| give way for the present, and we have had
to stop Analysing the samples of sugar sent
10y individuals throughout the state. 1t is
hoped that they will not take offence at our
being unable to analyze the samples for
them, since it is not intended as any dis
courtesy, but in the end the work we are
now doing will benefit them as much, and
probably more, than if we had spent our
time in Analysing their single samples The
work will probably be completed so that we
can make a report some time in June.
w. w. COOKE, Director.
State Agricultural Experiment Station
Burlington, Vt. April /, 1891.