St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1901-02-13
THE MAPLE CROP.
GQuickness and Cleanliness VIII
Insure First Glass Products

0oufcIxnesa and Cleanliness" VIII
Insure First Glass Products.
The secret of the production OF supe-
rior maple strip and sugar lies chiefly
in the observation of cleanliness and
celebrity. If these are strictly adhered
to. the sugar made may be nearly
white, the strip of a clear light amber
shade and both have a most delicious
favor, according to an Ohio Farmer
correspondent who advises as follows:
In tapping the tree, therefore, one
SbouId clean off all the loose outside
bark, using sharp cutting bit of half
an inch in diameter and never bore
more than ~ inches deep. Why? Be-
cause the larger percentage of the sap
flows from the pulpy formation be-
tween the wood and bark, and to go
much beyond this is unnecessary.
No infallible rule can be given as to
the exact height from the ground to
tap further than that it should always
be low enough to make convenient the
hanging of the buckets. The tapping
should always occur, however, on the
easterly or southerly side of the tree,
never very near where it has been tap
ped before. The westerly side is pref
cradle to that, and the spouts used
made of metal, galvanized or timed
after manufacture, so that no rusting
part may be exposed to the sap, these
to be carefully boiled before being
driven into the trees and as carefully
dried after being taken out at the close
of the season.
The buckets may consist of wood, tin
or galvanized iron. If wooden ones,
paint them every third year inside and
out with white paint, thoroughly wash
them at the close and beginning of the
season, and in storing never stack, but
pile them separately, bottom part up,
while if they are metal clean them well
before using, and at the end of the
season carefully "dry in the sap" the
sweet quality of which makes a kind
of varnish that will prevent rusting.
Have covers for the buckets, of course,
and have them made to fit so perfectly
that practically no leaves, pieces of
sticks and the like or drippings from
the tree, snow and rain will be able to
get into the sap.
Whenever the sap runs, gather it
daily, using for the purpose a tub
made of wood or heavy galvanized
iron or steel. If the former, have it
painted thoroughly inside and out, and
often wash it. Furthermore, strain
the sap through cloth as 1t passes into
this tub and again when it leaves it.
Have storage tank, too, one Of capaci-
ty in proportion to the size of the
bush, and if it is wood have the inside
lined with zinc or tin. Also have one
part partitioned off, so that old sap
(sap nine or ten hours from the tree
is old may be kept from the newly
gathered. Above all, have it provided
with a tight cover and placed in the
coolest part of the sugar house as far
away as possible from the evaporator.
Now, good results may be obtained
from tin pans set on an arch or stove,
but where one has a large bush it is ad-
visable to get an evaporation, and it
should be the best procurable, one hav-
ing great capacity. Why? Because
the sooner sap becomes sugar after
leaving the tree the nicer is the prod
uct, and by use of a refrigerator or
feeder it is possible to maintain a uni
form flow from the storage tank to the
boiling pans and, with dry fuel, rush
the boiling so as to be able to "sirup
down" every hour. By keeping con-
slant watch of the pans, wiping the in
side edges as opportunity offers, skim
ming off the frothy matter as it gath
erS and allowing nothing but sap to get
into the pans rapid work and almost
perfect success may be realized.
Provided it is sugar one is selling and
it is to be marketed at once, the strip
should go from the evaporator to the
"sugaring off" pan without being al
lowed to cool, and before the final cook
ing into sugar the hot strip should be
strained through flannel or felt This
precludes the chance of anything to
"settle" being in the strip and is there
fore far more effectual than putting
egg, milk or any other ingredient into it
for the purpose Of raising scum"-
Ohio Farmer.