The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1905-04-06
MAPLE SUGAR MAKING.
Camp Where the Sweets Are Nam
ufaCtured VisitedBy Cumberlander

stan correspondent OF that paper de-
scribes a visit made by him to the
sugar camp of Elijah Livengood, of
ers are uLacquainted with the mOdHs
OperuRdi of manufacturing sugar
from the sap of trees we reproduce the
the article, beginning with the cor
respondent 5 arrival at Salisbury who
arrived there on Wednesday evening
previous. Describing the town he
says:
This town has a population of over
1900 and is an attractive looking place
There are quite number of large
stores, many beautiful dwellings and
fine churches and school buildings.
The town is laid off and the streets
and sidewalks in very fair condition.
This is the central, or rather ship
ping point for the Somerset-G Garrett
maple sugar belt. This belt, extend
ing from line drawn from Meyers
dale to Salisbury, as far as Oakland,
! along the Goughiogheny and Cassel-
man rivers, and Laurel Hill Creek,
and their tributaries is one of the lar
gest maple sugar producing sections
in the United States. Last year the
/ 5. A. Lichliter store of which Mr..
Lichliter is manager, shipped 225, 900
pounds of maple sugar and 5000 gal
/ Ions of syrup. Nearly all of this went
! to molasses manufacturers. Mr.. Lich-
/ liter gave me three or four bricks of
maple sugar that was a beautiful
amber color, the crystals sparkling
and the taste delicious.
Sunday morning | started for the
( home of Mr.. Elijah Livengood, who
/ lives about miles south of Salisbury,
; Mr.. Liyengood is known as the" king
of sugar makers" Last year he made
10000 pounds Of maple sugar and oyer
a thousand gallons of maple syrup.
/ Arriving at Mr.. Livengood's. | was
! given a cordial welcome and soon was
/ inspecting his sugar grove. Half of
his grove is in Pennsylvania and half
/ in Maryland along the Casselman
river. He has 5000 producing trees
and everything is arranged to handle
the water as quickly as possible. he
has two buildings in which he makes
the sugar, one on each side of the
river. He has large galvanized iron
tanks mounted on sleds for hauling
the water. AT the end of the building
there is a slight embankment up
which the horses pull the sleds and
wagons, on which are the tanks. Here
are pipes which convey the water
rom the tanks into the large receiv-
ing tubs inside the building. Pipes
then convey the water from this tub
to the pans. These pans are feet
wide, IA feet long and over foot deep.
Under the pan is a 6x7 fire box with
three doors and soft coal fires are
kept going in it. Pipes again convey
the syrup into another room to the
settling tubs.
In this second room is a small fur
mace, built under two large iron pots
in which the stirring off is done. Then
there are tables, troughs, cans and
barrels for finishing the work.
1t is only by having everything on
such a large scale and so convenient
that it is possible to make 10000
pounds of sugar in n year, for it must
be remembered that a barrel of water
only makes from to pounds of SUI
gar. The record in this camp, at the
one building, for boiling water is 49,
barrels of water boiled into syrup in
90 hours.
Mr.. Liyengood has the reputation
of making the best sugar in the coun
try. He says the secret of good sugar
making is to keep every vessel per
fectly clean and allow no rain water
to get in the buckets. Last week he
had every bucket turned upside down
all week. | noticed every bucket was
painted inside and Mr.. Llvengood
told me every bucket was washed out
with boiling water after every run.
don't want the job washing six thou
sand and more buckets.
For the benefit of those who do not
know, | will explain that to tap tree
a half-inch hole is bored into the tree
an inch and half, just enough tc
penetrate the white wood. Into this
hole is placed spout, or Spite, usually
made of piece of elder from which
the pith has been removed. A bucket
is placed under the spout and there il
is ready for the water to come. The
sugar water only flows after a cold
night, cold enough to slightly freeze
the ground, followed by warm morn,
ing. If the weather gets warm or rain
comes the flow stops, but will start
again after the next cold snap if not
too late in the month of March.
Encyclopedias tell you maple sugar
is made from the sap of the maple
tree-but that is not correct for as
soon as the sap begins to flow the sea
son is over. The sugar water flows in
the white wood close to the bark be
fore the sap puts in an appearance
Taking it from a tree does not affect
the growth or length of life of the
tree. In Mr.. Liyengood's camp is a
tree that has been tapped every yeal
for oyer fifty years and it yielded this
year a barrel of water every "a hours
a Weld not approached by any other
of the $500 trees in the grove.
Trees vary in the quality and guam
tity of water and the same tree does
not yield the same every year.
After a thorough inspection Of the
sugar camp want to the house, ate g
splendid dinner and had a good talk
Mr.. Livengood has a delightful home
! The house is heated by hot air, there
is running water in the basement anC
an air of comfort prevail everywhere
! AT 3 p. m, started for Meyersdale
six miles away, and then il rained anC
hailed, and the wind blew, and the
lightning flashed, and the thunder