Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1898-06-27
LIKED BOGUS MAPLE SUGAR,
Boston Firms Customers Objected When
II Sold Them the Genuine.

Boston Firms Customers Objected When
| 1t Sold Them the Genuine.
That patrons of one of the largest
wholesale and retail grocery houses in
New England have been buying spur.
ious maple sugar for years was demon
strated recently by test made in
| Boston.
For the past six or seven years the
chief buyer for this firm had been
purchasing several tons of maple
sugar from one man, paying a fancy
price and retailing it at twenty-five
cents per pound. 1t was of such ex-
quisite and delicate maple favor that
the patrons of the house preferred
waiting for it than accept an inferior
substitute. Last summer the chief
buyer for the house made the ac-
quaintance of Vermont sugar maker,
and as q result this years consign.
ment of sugar was bought from him
at rather cheaper price. The sugar
to be consigned was warranted to be
pure maple sugar, and the buyer had
confidence enough in the maker to
believe him.
The sugar arrived and was put on
sale. 1t was somewhat darker than
usual, and the head of the firm was
the first one to condemn it. His
opinion was shared by the customers,
apparently, for complaints began to
pour in, and finally the buyer was told
that the consignment was failure.
He was naturally wroth, and OF once
6infofa1
terms to the consignor, who ieplied
briefly that in few days he would be
In Boston and would prove that his
was genuine maple sugar.
When he arrived he told the buyer
that he would not only prove that his
was real maple sugar, but that the
other, which the firm had previously
bought was bogus He needed fire
and kettle for "sugaring Off his
product, so he and the buyer went to
the company's warehouse where these
could be had. The firm had small
sample of maple syrup which one of
the members had seen reduced from
the actual sap, and this was first taken
by the Vermont sugar expert and
boiled down to sugar. 1t had the
exact flavor and color of the sugar
which the house was unable to SELL
Then the Vermont man called for
two pounds of granulated sugar and o
sample of the poorest maple sugar
they had in stock. A hunt was made
through the warehouse, and q con-
demned lot was found, thick, black
as molasses, and smoky in flavor.
The expert reduced the granulated
sugar to syrup, mixed it, half and
half, with the black syrup, and "sug-
ared off" again.
The sample of maple sugar he pro-
duced was the exact counterpart in
color and favor of the sugar which
the house had been selling its Gus
toners for seven years at fancy
price as the only genuine and unmis-
takably pure article.
Another sample was made of brown
sugar, and the three were taken to the
head of the firm. He sampled each,
and at once pronounced the granulated
mixture the genuine article. A sugar
expert in the wholesale district also
had an opportunity to distinguish
himself. He did it by picking out
the genuine at once. Somebody
doubted his ability, and he offered to
try again. This time he picked the
bogus granulated, and then the brown
sugar mixture.
The Vermont sugar man had, how.
ever, made his point, and his con-
signment was pushed at once, though
the firm was under the somewhat EN-.
barfassing necessity of telling its Gus.
toners that for several years they had
been buying bogus sugar for the real
article.