The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1901-04-07
WOMEN SYRUP MAKERS.
They Own and Operate a Sugar Bush
In Ohio.

sugar bush is a queer looking place
| especially to a novice. One person. view
| ing the pals from afar thought that
1 every tree had beside 1t a stump. 1t is
rather odd to see that little tin spout
| sticking from every trunk. with the pail
| hanging on the end. and the clear white
| sap drip. drip. dripping down inSo it, One
| of the most picturesque things about a
| sugar camp is the sled which goes about
collecting the sap. Very seldom is there
\ snow for the sled to ride on. but wheels
would never do out there among the
| trees. and so the primitive old sled goes
sliding along. bearing the very new zinc
tank into which the sap is poured from
| the buckets. And OF what awful deception
is that sap capable. In its clear and I'M
cooked state IL looks like water and
tastes very much like it-water with
little sugar thrown in Just after It has
begun to boil it is very good. and there
is never a sap house without dipper
handy, which can be filed with the bub-
bling stuff, which is very good to drink.
The work is rather hard, and one must
keep at it pretty steadily when the sap
begins to come, until that run" Is over.
And yet there is a good sized bush not
far from Cleveland, says the Plain Deal
err" which is not only owned but operat-
ed, by women.
1t is one of the prettiest bushes that
one would wish to see. and the syrup
made there has good steady market, at
good high price. There rs man to do
the tapping and to gather the sap, but
the boiling and tending and canning Is
all attended to by the owners OF the farm.
They have the work evenly divided.
One sees to the outside part, the other
looks after the Swimming and canning,
and all the inside work.
The shed is a rough building, with one
large room and one small one The small
one is for wood-the sap is boiled in the
other. There are two big tanks, set into
brickwOrk, under which burns herce
wood fire. The sap, as 1t is gathered Is
sledded to one corner of the shed, and
there poured out into third tank. From
there it is dipped. bucketful at time,
into one of the other tanks, passing from
that to the one directly over the bed OF
fire, and above this tank hangs cloud
of white steam. There is bench run
ming along one end of the shed. and the
woman's part is plainly shown by the
books and cushions strewn on it. No
need not to be comfortable, even while
working. AT some of the camps coal
fire is used. but the wood fire is so much
prettier, with it's great long sticks OF
wood, through and around which the fire
flashes and dances in a way it never does
with a coal fire.
syrup only IS maze at TINS camp, ana
when little sugar Is wanted a real old
time gypsy bonfire is built outside, a
small iron kettle put on, and the sap
boiled down in the good, oid-fashioned
way. II is lots of fun to tend-that fun
ny little fire-and the sap is good in every
stage. from the time it is put into the
kettle till it turns to sugar almost as
soon as taken off the fire. No one who
has never eaten maple that way-just
it is boiled up from the sap-has any idea
how goou II can be.
There is work way into the evening.
and sometimes almost all night, when
the sap is running well and plenty for
everybody to do, from the staid old
horses, who know the route around
among the trees as well as do their driy-
ers, to those who put up the syrup.