Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1908-01-31
OLD-TiME SUGAR BUSH.
Making Maple Sirup Half a Century
Auo,

The first run Of maple sugar comes
into tie New York market shortly al
ter the beginning of the new year. X
runs from the melting kettles into the
moldS ard appears on the store shelves
as new maple sugar.
Some Of it is good maple sugar of an
other season, melted and recaEt into
new cakes, and some is q mixture Of
other sugars, with enough old maple
sugar in it to give it something OF the
| maple flavor.
The best maple sugar sold in New
York is produced from the sugar maple
trees OF northern central New York
State and New England. The sap be-
gins TO flow when the sunshine OF the
coming spring on the branches of the
trees starts the sap moving.
| This is usually while the snow still
lies deep in the woods. when it thaws
during the hours of sunshine and
! freezes sharply at night. Al!owin for
! the time required to make it and get it
to market, the first new maple sugar
| of the season should be on sale in New
York City shortly after the first of
April.
| The term for a wood in which there
are enough sugar maple trees to make
| it worth while to tap than, and make
sugar in quantities larger than those
| needed for the family, is sugar bush.
| In the sugar bush are other trees be-
| sides the sugar maple-beech, birch,
| ash, Eastwood, hickory, butternut, elms
| of various varieties and sometimes q
| few helnlocks. Tracts that run largely
to pine. cedar, and hemlock do not pro-
duce sugar maple trees.
| 1t is a good sugar bush of thirty or
forty acres that has 200 trees fit to he
tapped. A sugar bush that lies on i
| side hill sloping toward the east or
south can be tapped earlier in the
season than one sloping in another d.
| rection, but its run Of good sap viii be
| over earlier.
! Old trees yield Sweeter sap than new
trees. Trees in their prime Will stand
more tapping than young or very old
| trees.
Young trees and old trees are not
tapped every season By owners who are
careful OF their sugar bushes. Such
owHers Invariably plug up the taps
after the seasons run is over.
The first of the seasons run of sap
| The sugar cakes hard and granulates
readily and the flavor of the syrup is
perfect
! Toward the last OF the seasons run
the syrup before sugarirg Off has a
| muddy taste. Boiled down, it is not
! brittle, bat is sticky in the cake. and
the sirup is sticky. Susar;ng off is the
| final boiling down of the thin syrup TO
| -irsn ;t
and putting it up for use as maple
| syrup.
Before the days Of cvaporatng pans,
patent spilcs. buckets, hangers. and
other contrivances tho sugar making
! season was a time of unique interest
to the youngsters on farms that conf
prised sugar bushes. That WAS good
while ago, for none of the newer APP
| planes is of recent adoption.
| In the old days the sugar making
sea- began with getting out the troughs
and spiies and seeing how many Of
| them were suitable for the seasons
use. The trougtls We're made of sec
tons Of a Eastwood log.cach section
about three and u half feet long. spI;t
| i'll half lengthwisc and each half huI-
| lowed out with an axe until il would
/
The troughs We're then placed hollow
sid" down over a bed of hardwood
Goals until the inside was charred.
This charming kept the new sap from
SQUIRTING in the trough or tasting Of the
sap of the Eastwood.
| The spiles were made OF the wood
| commonly known as cedar, which 10 a
variety of juniper. The cedar blocks
We're cut into lengths of about one foot
| and split into sticks somewhat moro
than an inch and a quarter thick each
way.
About three inches from one end tho
stick was sawed a little less than half
way in two and the stick was sniff
down to this saw cut from the fartbar
end. A hole was then bored in the his.
end Of the stick until it came out ~
the shoulder, and from this hole in the
shoulder a little trough was cut with a
| pocket knife to the other end of the
! SUCK me big end of the stick was
then whitfield down until it would
driFe uShtly into a three -quarter-inch
hole. and the sap Spite was ready for
| use
Alter the farmer had looked over his
STOCK OF troughs and spiles and had
made new ones in place Of those that
We're unit for further use. the big cal
! oroh Kettles We're taken from their
housing and cleaned. For sugar
bush of 200 trees two such kettles
would be required. They We're OF
heavy cast iron, with ears or trunnions
at the sides of the rims. and of from
thirty to forty gallons capacity each.
Then road was broken through the
snow from the farmhouse to a central
point in the sugar bush. where the
arch was located. For this purpose a
yoke of oxen hitched to heavy sled
was usually employed. A team Of
horses would have fioundered in the
deep. snow until they became hope
| lesSly cast and hrokn thu hnrnoc.. -.