The Londonderry sifter. (South Londonderry, Vt.) 1883-19??, 1896-02-21

our columns but we give some OF the
salient points:
Every utensil with which sap comes
in contact must be made of metal. 1t
is an utter imossibility to obtain the
results where the sap has been in con-
tact with wood, unless the wood be
thoroughly coated with paint. Anoth-
er disadvantages that should the paint
check, the sap will penetrate the fibres
of the wood, and become sour, thus pre-
venting the manufacture of a high
grade article, no matter how skillfull
the sugar maker may be.
Distribute your buckets; and if the
Record sap spouts is used, bore a hole
of diameter of a half inch into the
tree to adepth of an inch and one half.
Carefully remove the shavings from
the bore. The spout being driven in,
suspend the bucket by wire loop, or
punch a hole in the top of the bucket
to fit the spout. The latter method is
the better, as the bucket is less liable
to tilt forward. Under no circum-
stances should a nail be driven in
to the tree, as iron causes rust, and
rust contaminates.
As tree is supplied with sap from
it's roots, it is better to tap the tree
high in the trunk, and for each sue
ceeding season, bore below or at either
side Of the aperture made the year pre-
vious. A bore should never be made
in bark giving the least indication OF
decay. Decay will color sap, and dis
colored sap should never be gathered.
One pail of discolored sap will injure
ten barrels Of pure sap. Bore, there
fore where the bark shows the most
thrift.
When the spout is removed from the
tree, at the end of the season, the hole
should be plugged with either cork or
wood, thus preventing the wood from
checking. The wound in the maple
thus made and treated will invariably
heal over in two seasons. The growth
of the bark being the life of the tree,
the advantage thus gained is easily ap-
parent.
The moment the sap leaves the tree,
it begins to deteriorate in quality, there
fore it is imperative that sap should be
gathered and converted into syrup as
quickly as possible.
The natural color of maple syrup is
a translucent white 1t is by no means
an uncommon occurrence, and undoubt-
eddy you have noticed syrup on top Of
a frozen bucket of sap, which had all
the appearance Of the finest quality Of
honey; and if you have ever tasted ma
pie syrup thus made by congealation,
you will recall it's exquisite maple
syrup is foreign to it.
The standard color Of maple syrup,
as adopted By the Vermont Sugar
Makers Association, is a light amber.
To establish a standard color, it was
deemed advisable to take the average
of the two extremes of color from a
dark amber to an extremely light shade
of amber, for the reason that it is al
most impossible to make the average
syrup, without having more or less OF
color, owing TO the ct that the sap,
semi-sweel and syrup come in contact
with the heated metal, during the pro-
cess of ev poration. OF course there
are other reasons why dark colored
syrup is obtained, which can be attri-
buted almost invariably to the neglect
or the ignorance of the manufacturer,
when the sap is in proper condition.
Silica may be removed from syrup
in two ways. One method is to bring
the syrup to a boiling point; strain
through thick felt straner, and when
the syrup is cool, the silica will be
found in re>idum second method may
BE- employed; which is to thoroughly
emulgc nilk or the white of an egg
with the syrup while cold; When the
syrup has reached the boiling point,
the scum which arises to the surface
will contain the silica.
The first method is preferable, how
ever; as very often, milk or the white
of an egg will leave peculiar odor,
particularly if either ingredient be not
perfectly fresh when used. Whether
the maple product is marketable in
either sugar or in syrup, either COM
modify should be absolutely free from
silica.
The standard weight Of maple syrup
is eleven pounds TO the gallon. If it
weighs more, it will crystalline. Crys-
utilization is in reality no detrimem to
the syrup, as it is an undeniable indi-
cation of its superior quality, as poor
grade of maple syrup will never crys-
tallize.
SOD REWARD 500.