Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-09
Ei1rsttstg 0lrat

With the coming of spring, thou
sands of persons in PENNSYLVANIA
VIII turn their attention to the ma
pie sugar industry. Old residents
are firmly of the opinion that the
extreme severity of the present win
ter presages an early spring. All
agree that, the harder the winter.
the stronger the flow of sap when
the spring thaws finally set in, and
the more hardy of the early plants
push their way through the scat
tered patches of snow and ice in
the woodlands. The flow of maple
sap will not wait for the real spring,
Oh course. Very shortly there will
be more warm days, and the sap will
Degln TO mount upward in the trees.
This year, sugar men are convinced
that the season will open early;
more than that, 1t promises to be
one of the best in recent years. The
sugar crop promises to be an excep-
tional one.
Practically every county in tho
state produces a share of the tasty
maple product. 1t will perhaps sur
prise many to learn that this state
Is famed for the quantity and quail
lty OF maple syrup produced The
banner counties, strange as it may
appear, lie in widely separated sec
tons of the Keystone state. 1t is
the trip of a lifetime to take Il
1aunt through Somerset county dur
ing the early spring. just about the
time nature is beginning to shake
Off the lethargy of a winters nap.
Weeks before the ground is in con-
dition for plowing, country people
everywhere are busy on the sugar"
season. During the weeks imme-
diately preceding the early thaws,
there is much work to be done. All
equipment must be overhauled and
put in 1irst-class order; for when the
season finally opens, it comes with
q rush. Not infrequently every
available person on the premises
works from daybreak until we'll in
to the night. On an exceptionally
fine day following a severe freeze,
in Il country where sugar trees are
numbered not by tens and hundreds
but by thousands and tens of thou
sands, it is almost a physical inn
possibility to collect the saccharine
liquid as rapidly as 1T flows, with
steady, rhythmical drip, into the
containers. In the sugar belt,
camps are established at convenient
points and regular routes are fol-
lowed in making collections. Tho
process of transforming maple sap
into syrup and sugar has been
greatly simplifled since the adoption
of evaporators, which make posi-
bic, rapid boiling down."
Conditions in Somerset county are
duplicated in certain north tier
counties. Just as it has been pos
sible in the past to secure flaky,
fragrant sugar and delicious candy"
at unheard of prices in Somerset and
Berlin, prices in Towanda, Sayre
and East Smithfield have been
equally alluring. While sugar MAX
ing is commercially important in
Somerset and Bradford counties,
scores of Harrisburgers who spent
their early days in Elk, Blair, West
moreland or Clarion counties will
recall with thrill of pleasure their
experiences of other years, when
sugar-making time represented three
weeks of back-breaking toll, but
every day was a day of unalloyed
pleasure. In those days the 'spiles"
were fashioned from hardy elder
bushes, and the sap was boiled in
an iron Kettle over a hickory-wood
fire. The task of collecting the sap
fell to the able-bodicd boys of the
home. Not infrequently the great
kettle with its yawning mouth was
placed near the house, in order
that the women folks might super
wise the boiling process without too
much inconvenience to themselves
as they went about their other du-
ties, but often the house was re-
moved a considerable distance from
the source of supply.
In the early days, maple syrup
was extensively used as "sweeten-
ing" for sassafras tea, Sometimes,
when the flow of sap was unusually
strong, every kettle and pan about
the place would be pressed into
service. while in the woods crooks.
buckets, boilers and even washtubs
garnered the sparkling water. Some
times the kitchen range would be-
covered with q miscellaneous assort-
ment of vessels while the sap was
being transformed into syrup. In
one Armstrong county home it was
the custom to leave n large pan or
well-boiled sap on the kitchen stove
each night during the sugar season.
One night, the boys of the home,
upon their return from town, each
took n hearty pull at the big pan
before retiring. Knowing well the
location of every object in the
broad, fashioned room, they did
not trouble themselves to light n
lamp. The syrup" on this par
ticuiar occasion seemed to have lost
it's flavor. One after another the
young men disgustedly sampled the
liquid and went to bed. Next morn
ing they were Mortified to learn that
their sister had switched" pans.
Instead of thin syrup, each had
taken a good swig of dirty dish
water
Pennsylvania will not only have
n record breaking maple sugar crop,
but one which will be very valuable
in the present shortage of sugar ac-
cording to men at the Capitol, who
have been hearing from various
counties where the tapping of trees
will soon begin. The state forestry
authorities are being asked by many
people for information as to the
way to get the sugar Last year the
production of the state according to
the Department of Agriculture was
1 100000 pounds of sugar worth
from fifteen to eighteen cents
pound and 100000 gallons of syrup
worth from 81 to $1.15 per gallon.
From all accounts reaching the
Capitol there will be much activity
in the woods this year and in spite
of the cold and SHOWS men have
been out looking over trees.