Wauwatosa news. [volume] (Wauwatosa, Wis.) 1900-1948, 1909-04-30
PURE MAPLE SYRUP.

those earlier days of mine up in Maine.
Especially when | see the sign Pure
Maple Syrup do / think of the days
spent boiling down sap up in the maple
orchard back of the house That was
before the days of evaporators and all
the paraphernaIia of modern sugaring-
off We used to make little syrup in
the spring, some twenty-five to thirty
gallons, perhaps seventy five now and
then in a good season, just to get lin
bered up for the springs work, just for
the Joy of living in the early spring
days, when Nature was waking up from
her winters nap. We didn't make
business of it as we raised our corn or
hay or potatoes, but we had little
leisure just at that season of the year
and the syrup was an extra. We rioted
in sweets for while. There We're
leather aprons" and sap sugar" out
doors and hot biscuit or griddles and
maple syrup indoors, and it is wonder
in these days how our digestion worked
so well as it did
Boiling down sap had plenty of hard
work to it, but it was fun. We had a
good grove, a saphouse, plenty of uten-
sis, and we took care to get up some
dry wood in the fall. We Just waited
for the first indications of run in the
spring. We had cut and hauled and
sawed and split our winters wood. The
snow had drifted deep in those days in
February and early March, but now
came signs of thaw. A few crows had
made their appearance and their con
versation with each other seemed quite
general at that time of the year One
day the sun shone so warm. the air felt
so balmy that we ventured TO hope that
spring was near. We were quite sure
we heard a robin, and went up to the
sap house to look over things. That
night it froze quite hard and we found
a crust the next morning What do the
boys and girls living in cities know
about the possibilities and advantages
and, well, yes deceits of crust? When
it covers some two or three feet of snow
it makes walking good And as it
seemed warm in the sunshine, and hav.
ing little else which we wanted TO do,
we thought we would tap few trees.
But the sap wouldn't run. 1t was too
early Still, we let the sap pals hang.
Then came another snowstorm-a lit
tie worse than any before The roads
were so drifted we could not move a
sled without shoveling. And then a
blow which sent the snow scurrying
over that crust back into the woods and
into the cuts along the road, and max
ing the old barn groan as if in pain.
Winter was vicious at the end The
next morning broke clear and serene.
Only light zephyrs famed the snow
drifts The sun was farm and we hur-
ried off to the maple orchard to empty
hos L. Nf Ialss
found the sap was running. The season
had begun
/ am afraid we did not spend any too
much time that morning breaking out
roads. We Just scratched track along
where the road ought to be. We would
let the sun get in some work while we
hurried back to tap some more trees.
The snow was pretty deep in the
woods and we had to struggle along
from tree to tree, and it was not long
before the wisdom born of experience
claimed our enthusiasm. We would wait
until the next morning, when there
would be a crust, before we did any
more of that work. In the meantime
we would break out a road through the
maple orchard to haul up our sap, we
would get out the sap pans, and make
ready.
Somehow, the next morning was rather
disappointing. Spring again had re-
treated before winters rude protests
1t was cold, but there was crust. and
we went on tapping our trees just the
same.
| remember our varying emotions of
disgust and hope as the changeable
spring days came along, but the sun
grew warmer, the keen cold winds be-
came less vigorous and, one morning be-
fore we reached the grove, we heard the
drops of sap ringing in the pals The
sap was running merrily, the snow be-
gan to soften, the brown patches in the
Ipasture had begun to show and then
grow larger. and the sap season was i'm
full swing.
We gathered the sap in the morning.
when there was n crust We went from
tree to tree filled a hogshead on onr
horse sled. and then hauled it down TO
the saphouse. All this is different now.
Spouts run down the hill to a reservoir
and there is no more hauling sap. but
in my time that furnished part of the
excitement of the day. The road was
trough, the snags began to show up. a
corner with a bad slew made careful
driving to get around it very necessary
to avoid spill.
In the saphouse we were boiling down
Big cordwood sticks made a roaring fire
They save wood now in their eyapora.
itors, but we did not then. The boiling
sap had fascination for me- How It
bubbed and rolled away TO the corners
of the pan. And along in the afternoon.
when the sap had been gathered for the
day, and the sap in the pans was almost
syrup, there were always few of us
sitting around the pans, discussing the
ever-burning question of how much
longer we must boil it before we finished
it off in a small pan on the stove in tn,
lcorner.
A neighbor or two would drop in to