St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-03-13
A VERMONT INDUSTRY.
Some Valuable Hints to Sugar Makers.
Inc Latest and Most Approved nethods to be
Employed.
BY c. H. Grimm. Rutland.

Employed.
BY c. H. Grimm. Rutland.
Owing to recent controversy re-
garding the color of maple syrup
which arose between Truman B. Bar
ney of Underhill, and the writer, and
having seen numerous articles pub
lished in various papers, not one of
which have been correct, have con-
Guided to reply to these misrepresen-
tations, and will give my experience
as to the latest and best method to
employ, to obtain maple syrup from
sap, in the most practical and perfect
way.
Having been directly interested in
the maple sugar industry for eight
cen years; and having for fifteen
years spent my entire time in the
sugar bush, from the beginning of the
sugar season to it's close, during
which period have come in contact
with the best class of sugar-mak ers
throughout the entire maple belt,
thus giving me the benefit of their ex-
perience and various methods, in my
judgment the following is the correct
procedure to employ.
The first step required is that the
utensils be in readiness. This means
that at the approach of the sugar
season, your buckets, spouts, tanks,
evaporator,-in fact all the parapher-
MALTA necessary must be rinsed in hot
water, and kept scrupulouslv clean
throughout the season.
Every utensil with which sap
comes in contact must be made of
metal. 1t is an utter impossibiity to
obtain the best results when sap comes
in contact with wood unless the
wood he thoroughly coated with
paint. Another disadvantage is
that if the paint checks so that the
sap will penetrate the 6bres of the
wood, the sap will become sour, thus
preventing the production of high
grade article at the very outset, no
matter how skillful the manufacturer
may be.
Distribute your buckets, and if the
Record sap.spout is used, bore a hole
of the diameter of three-eighths of IN
inch, into the tree to the depth of an
inch and one.half. Carefully remove
all the shavings from the bore. The
spout being driven in, suspend the
bucket from it either by a wire loop,
or by having hole punched into the
side of the bucket to fit the spout.
The latter method is preferable, as
the bucket is less liable to tip for
ward. Under no circumstanc
should a nail be driven into the tree.
Itcauses rust, and rust contaminates.
AS tree is supplied with sap only
from its roots, it is better to begin
to tap it high in the trunk; and for
each succeeding season it is best to
bore below or at either side of the
aperture made the year previous.
The bore should never be made where
the bark shows any indication of de-
cay, for decay will discolor sap, and
discolored sap should never be gath
cred. One pail of discolored sap will
destroy ten barrels of pure sap.
Bore, therefore, 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 either with
cork or wood, thus preventing the
wood from checking. The wound in
the maple thus treated, will heal
over in two seasons. The new
growth of bark being the life of the
tree, the advantage thus gained is
easily apparent.
The moment the sapleaves the tree,
it begins to deteriorate in quality;
therefore it is imperative that sap
should be gathered and converted
into syrup as quickly as possible.
AS before stated, all utensils en-
ployed should be made of metal;
from the gathering pail to the gath
ering tank; from the gathering tank
to the storage tank; and then dis
tributed in shallow body over the
evaporation, which should also be
made of tin. Galvanized iron or
copper should never be used, as either
metal will impart peculiar odor to
the syrup.
Force with a brisk FIRE, so that the
sap will be converted into syrup from
where it enters the evaporation, to
the syrup compartment without
mixing. The scum which will arise