The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1902-03-06
IN A SUGAR CAMP.
The Methods of Gathering the Water and
Making the Sugar.

The Methods of Gathering the Water and
Making the Sugar.
Miss Cora Keim, of Salisbury, Pa,
recently contributed the following
paper to the I1gIenoOk, a magazine
published at Elgin, Ill. There are
doubtless many readers of this paper
uniformed as to the method of max
ing maple sugar and we therefore
publish the article in full feeling that
it will be interesting to our patrons:
Somerset county, Pennsylvania,
with the adjoining county of Garrett
in Maryland, produces more maple
sugar than any other section of equal
area in the world.
The water from which maple sugar
is made is procured from the sugar
maple. The trees are natives of this
section and grow like other forest
trees. They are generally large, and
when in February the sugar season
opens the farmer goes from tree to
tree with an auger and bores one,
two or three holes in tree, the num-
Der depends on the size of the tree,
about two feet from the ground and
two inches deep.
The keelers, or other vessels used
for catching the water, having been
hauled out and placed at the differ
ent trees, the farmer places spiles in
the holes he has made. The spiles
may be patent ones made of tin, or
wooden ones made of elder wood, but
in either case resembling little
troughs. Through this medium the
water is conveyed from the tree to
the vessel. There are patent buckets
made now that can be fastened close
to the tree and are used by some
farmers and found to be very con-
venient.
The water does not run out, as may
be supposed, but on a good day it
drops very rapidly. A bright, or at
least warm day, after hard frost,
is considered good sugar day. The
temperature being right the water
drops at night as we'll as in the day
time. When the vessels are about
full the men begin to haul the water
to camp.
A good sized building built of rough
boards. in which the furnaces and
tanks for holding water and syrup are
comprises the camp, and in this
building the real sugar making is
done. There is a large tank in the
camp to hold the water as it is hauled
in; and over large furnace there is a
pan in which the water is boiled until
it makes thick syrup.
! For hauling the sugar water to
camp large cask, which holds three
or four barrels, is used, and during a
| good run it is often necessary to en-
ploy several Of these casks.
At one end of the camp, outside,
there is a raised place upon which
they drive, and from which, by means
of trough, the water is emptied in
to the tank from the eask.
To make maple syrup the water is
! put in the pan over the furnace and
| boiled down. When it is almost thick
enough it is removed from the pan
and put away to settle. After set
Ting it is boiled to the proper thick
ness in smaller vessel.
When sugar is the product desired
the water is boiled down until it
forms a thick syrup, when it is put
into casks and left stand until the day
of stirring off,
When a sufficient amount of syrup
is on hand, the large iron kettle over
another furnace comes into play.
The kettle is partly filled with syrup
and set to boiling. 1t is closely
watched by the careful sugar maker,
and when the syrup forms threads
from the paddle, the word goes around
for the tin cups and each person who
is fortunate enough to be present,
passes up a cup of cold water and re-
ceives a generous supply of syrup,
and when it hardens in the water you
have real Pennsylvania "spotza. g"
You must eat fast or you will only
get one spotza from kettle, for soon
as it is hard enough the kettle is lift
ed off and the liquid sugar poured in
to large wooden trough. In this it
is worked back and forth by means of
a wooden paddle and hammer until
it crumbs up fine. The sugar is then
sifted, and we have the crumb sugar
If properly made it is very fair and in
great demand. About six gallons of
sugar water are required to make one
pound Of sugar. This, however, is
greatly influenced by the season, as
some years the water is much sweeter
than others.
The average sugar crop in this Sec
ton for the past three years was three
hundred thousand pounds. Most of
this quantity is purchased by one
man and shipped to the Northwest,
where it is used in the manufacture
of maple syrup, and then shipped to
all parts of the world.
The finest sugar and syrup are
made in the early part of the season,
before the sap runs in the trees, and
to have perfect sugar or syrup the
water must be free from snow or rain
water.
The price of maple sugar varies
with the amount produced and the
quality. The average price. however,
is cents per pound.
The sugar season closes as soon as
the sap runs sufficiently to spoil the
water"