Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-04-23
Marks the End of the Farmers
Winter Holiday.
TINE TO MAKE BIS MAPLE SUGAR
A Season Of Delight for Every
Country Boy.
ALL is ACTIVITY IN CAMP

| From the New York Mail and Expr.s.
| Tbs now is the end of the farmers ho,t-
oay- The holiday in the country begins
with the first fall of snow and IL lasts unfit
the warm days OF spring time start the san
In the naples and send # on its irregular
way through all the veins and arteries OF
.he trees The farmer who has sugar
bl sh on his farm row is out with his men
| preparing 10 add TO his income by the man
uiacture OF the syrup and sugar that hav.
| been both the delight and the sorrow of
| many county boy and girl. causing many
| an ache and pain that only Jamaica ginger
| ana not bandages could cure For at least
| one season of the year the country bow
| who lives in the part OF the world where
maple trees flourish INDUCES in all the
| sweets that he possibly can crave. IA.
| does not need now TO envy the city boy
| who can obtain from the store around the
| corner all sorts of confectons that are mt
| up In form 10 tempt and TO entice. Glad
| iy now would The city boy change places
| with his country cousin. for the highest
| skill OF the confectioner cannot produce
| ahything 10 equal the jack wax, the hot
| syrup or the grained sugar Of the bush
| wien the snow begins to melt and tho
| Gays IN spring become warm. the owner of
| the sugar bush starts out for the sprlng
| harvesting. From some hidden recess ON
| the farm the old stone boat is drawn into
| usefulness AFTER q winter OF 1dieiaess. The
| hcrsts are hitched to IL, augers are sharp
| ened and the journey to the sugar house is
| begun. Away back in the woods is a rude,
| sene-aily tumbled-down log shanty. that
| Tor at least ten or eleven months of the
! year is the resting place Tor coons or foxes
| Here are stored the wooden sap buckets or
| perhaps the tin ones. whichever the farmer
| uses.
In the Sugar Camp.
In the old days il was the wooden bucket
|
helped TO destroy the sentiment of the sug-
ar bush just 1t has moved in the Same
| course IN many another direction. Now
| galvanized iron or bright tin pals are
| used and galvanized iron spouts have taken
| the places Of the old, home made wooden
| spout.
A pile Of pals is loaded onto the low
| stone boat and the work of tapping tho
| trees IS begun. Some four feet from the
| ground a half-inch hole is bored several
| inches into the tree. Into the hole spout
Is driven and just below it is fastened tho
bucket into which the sap is expected 10
/ run. Then begins the drip drip. drip.
| steady and regular, IL the weather lie Of tho
| proper sort. While the sweet drops are fall
ing the farmer and his men are busy either
4 IN the sugar house or in the woods getting
cut fuel for the big fires that must soon
be started and kept going until the sap has
| turned from sweet TO bitter and also put
| ting in shape the huge sheet iron pans
| in which the liquid is boiled down into
| sugar. Nowadays there are many new
| tangled inventions that are used iu the
| boiling down of the sap TO syrup and from
| syrup to sugar. but the sugar is 10 sweet
er and no better than IT was long before
| patent pans came into use.
Boiling the Sap.
1t generally kept one man busy to look
| after the frs. The old fireplace OF neces-
| sity had TO be fifteen or twenty feet long,
| and over it rested the big pans in which
the sap in its various stages of TRANSFERRING
ton into sugar steamed and dubbed There
| used 10 be three pans-one for each stage
| of the process. First came the nan into
which the sap originally went. Here il
was boiled until it reached a certain con-
| oition, which was known to the sugar
maker. Next TO IL was another pan where
the boiling process was carried on until
the sap had developed into "A liquid form
bordering on that which is served in res
taurants as genuine maple syrup, and next
| II reached the third and last stage IN "a
| here that the pleasures OF the sugar bush
are most appreciated. When the syrup
| reaches the last pan Ii is not many hours
| before IL can be made into jack wax or
grained.
1t is then that the town folk find the
| farmer 50 popular. The old hotel sleigh
| which Will carry from twenty to thirty OF
me boys and girls of the town is dressed
into service. To it are harnessed four or
SIX horses. and with much blowing of
| horns. wild laughter and jollity an fnva
SION or the sugar bush is made PERTAINS
the sleigh may be overturned once or twice
on the way, for In this season OF the wear
me roads are not of the best; perhaps a
morse may stumble and fall Still no one
cares. ~ e
Animal spirits are at high pitch and
me novelty of the journey keeps all IN n
soUa hunnor IL may be that the farmer is
taken unawares. and If SO there is much
scurrylng on his part when the distant
souaus Oh the horns announce the comin.,
vi sugar party for pans and forks and
he
wood is put upon the Tres and the san that
Is nearing the sugaring point is hurried on.
A Sugnring-On Party.
Inc men go out to the remaining snow
uii's ana MI their ten-quart pans with
snow, packing it down as hard as possible
The young women, and the old women. too
for that matter. fl the meantime bring out
pickles and sandwiches and take possession
OF the camp. Pickles. by the way. are as
essential TO a sugaring-of party as the
syrup itself. When all is ready the pans OF
snow are placed on convenient laps the
farmer and his men with copper iippers
hlIed win the red-hot, boiling seething
syrup go from one person TO another pour
ing TIE liquid over the snow. Ii soon hard
ems and becomes brittle. There are merry
times around the old camp then. The
sparks from the fire sputter vigorously un-
der the effort to make their presence
known. the air is heavy with the odor
OF boiling syrup and burning green
"oou' care IOT tHe time Delng Is aDan-
doned, and every one gives up to the fun
or the moment But when the merry visit
ors have gone and the noise Of the sing
Ing and blatant tones of the horns have
died away in the distance comes what to
many minds is the enjoyable part OF life
in a sugar bush.
The night watcher over the boiling pans
sits silent and alone. possibly pulling stead
lily at his strong, black pipe. and hears the
music OF sugar-ladened drops as they fall
from the spout into the buckets. All
around him is the music of the drops Some
tingle with the sound of a distant con-
vent bell calling to early prayers. while
others fall with deep resounding toae.
Nearly every note of the chromatic scale
10 struck, depending entirely for its location
on the depth of the water in the bucket
Sometimes the weather grows too cold at
night for TIE sap to run. and then the
farmer Is glad, because the sap wall run
longer and better. He looks for warm
days and freezing nights to bring out the
sweetest sap.
The Bulldog AS Fisherman.
From the Duluth News-TrhHns.
One day Clyde Scott end his dog Styx