Chapter XXI: Section I (13)

The only difficulties I see in applying this process at once to the
cane juice, are the large quantity of barytes required, the expense
of re-burning it and the entire change in works that would be
necessary before it could be introduced. The advantage would be, the
obtaining the whole sugar contained in the juice, free from all
impurities, consequently white, and in the shape of a syrup marking
20 to 23 degrees instead of 8 or 10 degrees, thus saving fully half
the evaporation now required. The sugar made in this way, I was
told, contains no trace of barytes.

To show you the degree of economy practised in such establishments
in France, I may mention that the washings of the saccharate of
barytes are sold to the makers of potash and soda, who make a profit
by boiling them down to obtain what salts they contain.

The carbonic acid is obtained by the combustion of charcoal in a
closed iron furnace into which air is forced by an air pump,
requiring, I believe, about one horse power. From the top of the
furnace a pipe leads into a washing vessel, from which the gas is
led into the bottom of the vats by pipes.

At Valenciennes I met with Mr. Cail, who, beside being an engineer
and machine-maker, is interested in sugar-making, both in France and
in the West Indies, and most thoroughly understands the subject. He
invited me to accompany him to Douai, to see a new set of works
which had been set agoing this month. I was of course too glad to
accept his invitation, and started with him at six next morning,
reached Douai at eight, and then proceeded to the works, which are a
few miles out of town. In this work a new process is also employed;
it is that of Mr. Rouseau, and is said to answer well. The beet root
juice, as soon as possible after expression, is thrown up by a
montjus into copper clarifiers with double bottoms, heated by steam
at a pressure of five atmospheres. To every hundred litres of juice
(=22 gals.) two kilogrammes of lime are added (about four and a half
pounds English weight). The lime is most carefully prepared and
mixed with large quantities of hot water till it forms a milk
perfectly free from lumps. The steam is turned off, and the juice
heated to 90 deg. A complete defecation has taken place, the steam
is shut off, and the juice left a short time, to allow the heavier
impurities to subside. It is then run off in the usual manner,
undergoes a slight filtration through a cotton cloth placed over a
layer of about four inches thick of animal charcoal, and runs into a
second set of copper vessels placed on a lower level than the
clarifiers; these vessels are heated by means of a coil of steam
piping sufficient to make them boil. A second pipe passes into them,
making a single turn at the bottom of the vessel; this is pierced on
the lower side with small holes, through which a stream of carbonic
acid gas is forced.

This decomposes the saccharate of lime, which has been formed in
consequence of the large excess of lime added to the clarifiers.

The lime is precipitated as carbonate. When precipitation has
ceased, steam is turned on, and the whole made to boil; this expels
any excess of carbonic acid; the liquor is then run off, undergoes a
similar partial filtration to that mentioned above, and is then
passed through the charcoal filters to be decomposed. The sugar made
by this process, directly from the beet-root juice, is nearly white.
The molasses is re-boiled as often as six times; each time
undergoing a clarification and filtration through animal charcoal.
And the proceeds of the last re-boiling is certainly in appearance
not worse than a great deal of muscovado I have seen shipped from
Trinidad.

In this work there are about 150 people employed. The work goes on
night and day, one gang replacing the other. The whole evaporation
is done by two vacuum pans, each 6½ feet in diameter, 80,000
kilogrammes of beet-root are used daily, from which about 6,000
kilogrammes of sugar are obtained, equal to about 6 tons English
weight.

In these and every other works I visited--eight in all--the
centrifugal machines were in use, and had in most cases been so for
two years; those lately made have been much simplified in
construction, and work admirably. Cail & Co., of Paris, are the
makers; their charge is 3,000 francs for each machine (£120 stg.).
They require about one and a half horse power each. As they are
wrought in France, one machine is about equal to work off a ton and
a half of sugar daily, working all the 24 hours. Mr. Cail recommends
a separate engine for those machines; so that they can be used at
any time, independent of the other machinery. The charge put into a
machine is about 80 kilogrammes, from which about 30 to 35
kilogrammes of dry sugar is obtained; the calculation is, I believe,
40 per cent. I weighed some of the baskets of sugar taken out after
drying, and found them 35 kilogrammes. Sugar intended for the
machine is never concentrated beyond 41 degrees Baumè; that made
from the juice direct is allowed 18 to 34 hours to crystallize, and
is put into the machine in a semi-liquid state; the motion at first
is comparatively slow; in about three minutes the sugar appears
nearly dry; about three-fourths of a gallon of brown syrup is then
poured into the machine whilst in motion, and the speed brought up
to its highest, about 1200 revolutions a minute; in 3 or 4 minutes
more the machine is stopped, the sugar scooped out and thrown into
baskets, the inside of the revolving part, and especially the wire
cloth, carefully washed with a brush and water, and a fresh charge
put in. The whole time betwixt each charge is about 15 minutes. From
the large proportion of molasses you will see very plainly that
those who do not intend to re-boil, need not think of centrifugal
machines. The sugar dried in this way is not altogether white, but
has a slight greyish yellow tinge.

Of the other sugar works which I visited, the only one of peculiar
interest was that of Mr. Dequesne, near Valenciennes. Here the roots
are first cut into small pieces by an instrument similar to a turnip
slicer, then dried in a species of kiln, and stored up till
required. In this way I was told beet-root could be preserved with
very little deterioration for a full year, and this enables Mr.
Dequesne to go on making sugar all the year round. When the sugar is
to be extracted, the dried cuttings are put into a series of closed
vessels connected by pipes, and by a system of continuous filtration
of warm water through these vessels the solution of sugar is
obtained, of a density equal, I believe, to 25 degrees Baumè; it is
a good deal colored, and requires filtration through animal
charcoal. Mr. Dequesne informed me that for five years he had been
unable to make this mode of sugar-making cover its expenses, owing
to the loss occasioned by fermentation taking place in the
beet-root; but that he has now entirely overcome that difficulty; by
what means I was not told.

The number of macerating vessels is fourteen, ten of which are
working at a time, the other four filling and emptying.

A greater number of vessels, Mr. Dequesne thinks, would be
advantageous, as cold instead of hot water could then be employed.
He thinks a similar plan might be introduced in the West Indies with
great advantage, and that by employing the proper means to prevent
fermentation the sun's heat would be quite sufficient to dry the
cane slices.

Mr. Dubranfaut and Mr. Rouseau's processes are patented in England.
The terms for the use of the former would, I was told, be made so
moderate, as to offer no obstruction to its being used in the
colonies. What Mr. Rouseau's terms are I could not learn.

There are now 288 works making beet root sugar in France, and over
30 in Belgium. The same manufacture is rapidly spreading in Germany
and Russia, and is now being introduced in Italy. Whilst at
Valenciennes, I learned that two English gentlemen had just preceded
me in visiting the works in that neighbourhood, mentioning that they
had in view introducing the beet root sugar manufacture in Ireland.

The sugar crop of France was last year over 60,000,000 of
kilogrammes (60,000 tons). For two years _Belgium has been
exporting_ to the Mediterranean. One maker told me that he had last
year exported a considerable part of his crop. It would therefore
appear, that even beet root sugar can compete in _other than the
producing country_ with the sugar of the tropics--a most significant
hint that, unless the cane can be made to yield more and better
sugar than is now generally got from it, there is some risk of its
being ultimately beaten by the beet root, the cultivation of which
is now carried on with so much profit that new works are springing
up every year, in almost every country of the continent.

In going through the French works, I made inquiries as to how far
the procedé Melsens had been adopted, and was everywhere told it was
a total failure. I, however, determined to see Mr. Melsens and judge
for myself how far it might be applicable to the cane, even if a
failure with regard to the beet root. I, therefore, went on to
Brussels, enclosed my letters of introduction and card, and received
in return a note, appointing to meet me next morning. I found him
one of the best and most obliging of men. He immediately offered to
go over some experiments on beet root juice with me at his
laboratory, where I accordingly spent the greater part of two days
with him, and went over a variety of experiments; and from what I
saw and assisted in doing, I feel strongly inclined to think that,
notwithstanding the French commission at Martinique report
otherwise, some modification of Mr. Melsens' process may be most
advantageously employed in making cane sugar if not as a defecator,
at least to prevent fermentation, and, probably, also as a
decolorising agent.

Mr. Melsens showed me letters he had received from Java from a
person with whom he had no acquaintance, stating that he had used
the bisulphate of lime with complete success; and whilst I was with
him he again received letters from the same person, stating that by
its use he had not only improved the quality of sugar, but had
raised the return to 9 per cent. of the weight of cane. From the
letters which I saw, the process appears to have been tried on a
very large scale, with the advantage of filters and a vacuum pan.
Where the old mode of leaving half the dirt with the sugar, and
boiling up to a temperature of 340 degrees or thereby, is continued,
I fear there is not much chance of either bisulphate or anything
else making any very great improvement.

The use of bisulphate of lime is patented in England and the
colonies, but I believe I may state the charge for the right of
using it will be made extremely moderate.

The points which appeared to me worthy of remark in visiting the
beet-root sugar works are, the extreme care that nothing shall be
lost--the great attention paid to cleanliness in every part of the
process, besides the particular care given to defecation. No vessel
is ever used twice without being thoroughly washed. Such a thing as
the employment of an open fire in any part of the manufacture is
quite unknown. Everything is done by steam, of a pressure of from 4
to 5 atmospheres. In the more recently started works, the
evaporation is entirely carried on in vacuum. In some of the older
works copper evaporators, heated by coils of steam piping, and
having covers, with chimneys to carry off the vapor, are still used;
but of the eight works I visited I only saw them in use in one of
them, and they are nowhere used excepting to evaporate to the point
when the second filtration takes place.

The coolers I saw were invariably made of iron, and varied in depth
from 2 to over 6 feet. These very deep vessels are used for the
crystallization of sugar, made of the fourth, fifth and sixth
re-boilings of molasses, which requires from three to six months.

One thing struck me forcibly in going over the French and Belgian
works; it was the extreme liberality with which I was allowed to go
over every part of them; to remain in them as long as I pleased; had
all my inquiries answered, and every explanation given; in most
striking contrast to the grudging manner in which I have been
trotted over some of the refineries in England, as if those who
showed them were afraid I should gain any information on the subject
of their trade.

Mr. H. Colman, speaking of the agriculture of the Continent, gives some information he obtained on the comparative cost of producing beet and cane sugar. A hectare (two and a half acres) produces, in the Isle of Bourbon, about 76,000 kilogrammes (a kilogramme is nearly two and one-fifth pounds) of cane, which will give 2,200 kilogrammes of sugar, and the cost for labor is 2,500 francs. A hectare of beet root produces 40,000 kilogrammes of roots, which yield 2,400 kilogrammes of sugar, and the expense of the culture is 354 francs. The cost of the cane sugar in this case is 27 centimes, and of the beet sugar 14 centimes only, per kilogramme.

These are extraordinary statements, and will be looked at by the political economist and the philanthropist with great interest. There are few of the northern states of Europe, or of the United States, which might not produce their own sugar; and when we take into account the value of this product, even in its remains after the sugar is extracted, for the fattening of cattle and sheep, and of course for the enrichment of the land for the succeeding crops, its important bearing upon agricultural improvement cannot be exaggerated.

According to M. Peligot, the average amount of sugar in beets is 12 per cent.; but, by extraction, they obtain only 6 per cent. The cane contains about 18 per cent. of saccharine matter, but they get only about 7½. The expense of cultivating a hectare of beets, according to Dombasle, is 354 francs. An hectare of cane, which produces 2,200 kilogrammes of sugar, in the Island of Bourbon, and only 2,000 in French Guiana, demands the labor of twelve negroes, the annual expense of each of whom is 250 francs, according to M. Labran.--(Commission of Inquiry in 1840.)

Sugar has become not only an article of luxury, but of utility, to such a degree, that a supply of it constitutes an important article of importation, and is of national consequence. For sugar the world has hitherto relied on the cane, with the exception of some parts of India, where the sugar palm yields it much more cheaply. The sugar cane is, however, a tropical plant, and, of course, its cultivation must of necessity be limited to such hot countries. France, during the wars of Napoleon, shut out from her Indian possessions or deprived of them, commenced making sugar from beets, and it proving unexpectedly successful and profitable, it has as we have just seen, extended not only over that empire, but nearly the whole of continental Europe, where it forms an important item in their system of cultivation and profit. The manufacture has been attempted in the United States; but though the facts of the ease and certainty with which the beets may be grown and their great value for stock has been fully ascertained, still little progress in the production of sugar from them has been made there.

MAPLE SUGAR.

There are few trees in the American forest of more value than the maple (_Acer saccharinum_). As an ornamental tree, it is exceeded by few; its ashes abound in alkali, and from it a large proportion of the potash of commerce is produced; and its sap furnishes a sugar of the best quality, and in abundance. It likewise affords molasses and an excellent vinegar. In the maple the sugar amounts to five per cent. of the whole sap. There is no tree whose shape and whose foliage is more beautiful, and whose presence indicates a more generous, fertile, and permanent soil than the rock maple: in various cabinet-work its timber vies with black walnut and mahogany for durability and beauty; and as an article of fuel its wood equals the solid hickory. Its height is sometimes 100 feet, but it usually grows to a height varying from forty to eighty feet. It is bushy, therefore an elegant shade tree. The maple is indigenous to the forests of America, and wherever there has been opportunity for a second growth, this tree attains to a considerable size much sooner than might be imagined. In the course of ten or fifteen years the maple becomes of a size to produce sugar. The trees which have come up since the first clearing, produce sap that yields much more saccharine than the original forest maples.

The whole interior of the northern part of the United States have relied, and still rely, more on their maple woodlands for sugar than on any other source; and as a branch of domestic manufacture and home production, the business is of no little consequence. The time occupied too in the manufacture is very limited, and occurs at a season when very little other labor can be performed.

Hitherto but comparatively little attention has been bestowed upon this important branch of industry in Canada. The inhabitants of that province might doubtless manufacture a sufficient quantity of maple sugar to supply the demand or consumption in this article for the whole population of the country. This variety of sugar may be refined, and made as valuable for table use as the finest qualities of West India sugar. On the south shore of Lake Huron, and the islands of that inland sea, there are forests of sugar

maple unsurveyed capable of producing a supply for the whole population. The Indians upon those islands have lately turned their attention pretty largely to the manufacture of sugar from the maple; and many tons have been exported from this source. If the Indians could obtain a fair value for their sugar, say seven or eight dollars per 100 lbs., they would extend their operations upon a large scale. Upon these islands alone, there are upwards of a million of full-grown maple trees, capable of yielding each from two and a half to three pounds of excellent sugar per annum; and if proper attention were given to this branch of production in that quarter, I see no reason why a most profitable business could not be carried on. Every farmer who has a grove of sugar maple, should endeavour to manufacture at least sufficient for the consumption of his own family. In most cases 150 trees of medium growth would yield an amount of sap that would make 300 lbs. of sugar, twenty-five gallons of molasses, and a barrel of vinegar. The labor required to manufacture this amount of sugar, molasses, and vinegar, would scarcely be felt by the well-organised cultivator, as the season for the business is at the close of the winter, and opening spring, when no labor can be done upon the land. In proportion to the amount of labor and money expended in the production of maple sugar, it is as capable of yielding as large a return of profits as any other branch of farm business. It is certainly an object of great national interest to the inhabitants of our North American Colonies, that they should supply their own market with such products as their highly-favored country is capable of producing. Sugar is an article which will ever find a ready sale at highly-remunerating prices, provided that it be properly manufactured and brought into market in good condition. It requires a little outlay at first to purchase buckets, cisterns, and boilers, to stock a sugar bush; but by carefully using the above necessary apparatus, they will last for a very long period. A farmer can supply himself with the suitable materials for performing the sugar business without any cost further than his own labor. The spring is the season of the year that everything should be put in readiness,--even the wood should be chopped and drawn to the spot, so that when the sap commences to run, there may be no impediments in the way to hinder the complete success of the business.

Large tracts of land in the Ottawa district are covered with the true sugar maple. It is found in great numbers in the eastern townships of Lower Canada, where considerable forests of miles in extent contain nothing else, and in other places it is mixed with various trees. There is scarcely a spot in Lower Canada where it is not to be met with. Capt. Marryatt has stated that there were trees enough on the shores of Lakes Huron and Superior, to supply the whole world with sugar. In the United States, the manufacture of the sugar was first attempted about the year 1752, by some farmers of New England, as a branch of rural economy. This gradually spread wherever the tree was known. Now it forms an article of food throughout a large portion of the country. Almost every farmer prepares sugar enough from the trees in his neighbourhood for the consumption of his family during the year, and has often a surplus for sale. It is much cheaper than muscovado, being sold at from 2d. to 3½d. per pound, whilst common muscovado cannot be bought for less than 4½d. to 5d. per pound.

The province of Canada produced nearly ten million pounds in 1852, 6,190,694 being made in Lower Canada, and 3,581,505 in Upper Canada. The quantity made in Lower Canada in 1849 was only about 1,537,093 lbs. The maple sugar product of the Canadas in 1848 was officially stated as follows:--

lbs.
Upper Canada 4,160,667
Lower Canada 2,303,158
---------
6,463,835

This product is therefore of immense importance to the British North American provinces, all of which, under a judicious system, might be made to produce vastly increased quantities of this wholesome and valuable commodity.

The importation of sugar in Canada may very safely be computed at £40,000 per annum, and the whole of this amount of money could be retained in the country if the people would only look well to the matter.

In tapping the tree, the gouge is the best implement that can be used, provided it is an object to save the timber. It is usual, when using the gouge, to take out a chip about an inch and a half in diameter; but this system is objectionable where the maple is not abundant, as it subjects the timber to decay; it is a better course to make an incision by holding the gouge obliquely upwards an inch or more in the wood. A spout, or spile, as it is termed, about a foot long, to conduct off the sap, is inserted about two inches below this incision with the same gouge. By this mode of tapping, the wound in the tree is so small that it will be perfectly healed or grown over in two years. A boiler, of thick sheet-iron, made to rest on the top of an arch, by which the sides would be free from heat, and only the bottom is exposed, is doubtless a secure and rapid process of evaporation. The sides and ends of the boiler may be made of well-seasoned boards, which will answer the same purpose as if made solely of sheet-iron. When the sap is boiled down into syrup or thin molasses, it must be taken out of the boiler and strained through a flannel cloth into a tub, where it should settle about twenty-four hours. The clear syrup should be separated from the sediment, which will be found in the bottom of the tub. The pure syrup must be boiled down into sugar over a slow fire. A short time, however, before the syrup is brought to a boiling heat, to complete the clarifying process, the whites of five eggs well beaten, about one quart of new milk, and a spoonful of saleratus, should be all well mixed with a sufficient amount of syrup, to make 100 lbs. of sugar. The scum which would rise on the top must be skimmed off. Caution is to be observed in not allowing the syrup to boil until the skimming process is completed. To secure a good article, the greatest attention must be bestowed in granulating the syrup. The boxes or tubs for draining should be large at the top and small at the bottom. The bottom of the tubs should be bored full of small holes, to let the molasses drain through. After it has nearly done draining, the sugar may be dissolved, and the process of clarifying, granulating, and draining repeated, which will give as pure a quality of sugar as the best refined West India article.

The greatest objections that are advanced against maple sugar are, that the processes made use of in preparing the sugar for market are so rude and imperfect that it is too generally acid, and besides charged with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily strikes a black color with tea. These objections may be removed without any comparative difficulty, as it has been proved to demonstration, by the application of one ounce of clear lime-water to a gallon of maple sap, that the acidity will be completely neutralised, and the danger of the syrup adhering to the sides of the boiler totally removed. The acid so peculiar to the maple sugar, when combined with lime in the above proportion, is found to be excessively soluble in alcohol; so much so, that yellow sugar can be rendered white in a few minutes by placing it in an inverted cone, open at the top, with small holes at the bottom, and by pouring on the base of the cone a quantity of alcohol. This should filtrate through until the sugar is white; it should then be dried and re-dissolved in boiling water, and again evaporated until it becomes dense enough to crystallise. Then pour it into the cones again, and let it harden. By this process a very white sample of sugar may be made, and both the alcohol and acids will be thoroughly dispelled with the vapor.

The process of making maple sugar it will be seen is very simple and easily performed. The trees must be of suitable size, and within a convenient distance of the place where the operations of boiling, &c., are to be performed. When gathered, the sap should be boiled as early as possible, as the quality of the sugar is in a great degree dependent on the newness or freshness of the sap. There is a tendency to acidity in this fluid which produces a quick effect in preventing the making of sugar; and which, when the sap is obliged to be kept for many hours in the reservoirs, must be counteracted by throwing into them a few quarts of slaked lime. During the time of sugar making, warm weather, in which the trees will not discharge their sap, sometimes occurs, and the buckets become white and slimy, from the souring of the little sap they contain. In this case they should be brought to the boiler and washed out carefully with hot water, and a handful of lime to each.

In reducing the sap, the great danger to be apprehended is from burning the liquid after it is made to the consistence of molasses, since, when this is done, it is impossible to convert it into sugar; a tough, black, sticky mass, of little value, being the result. Indeed, constant care and attention is required to produce a first-rate article: for though sugar may be made in almost any way where the sap can be procured, yet unless the strictest care is observed in the processes, in gathering and boiling the sap, clarifying the syrup, and in converting the syrup to sugar, a dirty inferior article will be made, instead of the beautiful and delicious sweet which the maple, properly treated, is sure to yield.

The quantity of sugar produced in a year varies considerably from the same trees. The cause of this difference is to be found in the depth of snow, continued cold, or a sudden transition from cold to warm, thus abridging the period of sugar-making. A sharp frost at night, with clear warm days, is the most favorable to the sugar-maker. Perhaps four pounds of sugar from a tree may be a pretty fair average of seasons generally, although we have known the growth to exceed six pounds, and sink as low as three. A man will take care of one hundred trees easily, during the season of sugar, which usually lasts from about the middle of March into April, perhaps employing him twenty days in the whole. Dr. Jackson, in his Report of the Maine Geological Survey, gives the following instances of the production of sugar in that State:--

Lbs. of Sugar.
At the Forks of the Kennebec, twelve persons made 3,605
On No. 1, 2d range, one man and a boy made 1,000
In Farmington, Mr. Titcomb made 1,500
In Moscow, thirty families made 10,500
In Bingham, twenty-five families made 9,000
In Concord, thirty families made 11,000

A cold and dry winter is followed with a greater yield of sugar from the maple than a season very moist and variable. Trees growing in wet places will yield more sap, but much less sugar from the same quantity, than trees on more elevated and drier ground. The red and white maple will yield sap, but it has much less of the saccharine quality than the rock or sugar maple.

The work begins usually about the first of March. The tree will yield its sap long before vegetation appears from the bud: frequently the most copious flow is before the snow disappears from the ground.

Some persons have a camp in their maple orchards, where large cauldrons are set in which to boil down the sap to the consistency of a thick syrup: others take the liquid to their houses, and there boil down and make the sugar.

The process begins by the preparation of spouts and troughs or tubs for the trees: the spouts or tubes are made of elder, sumach, or pine, sharpened to fit an auger hole of about three-fourths of an inch in diameter. The hole is bored a little upward, at the distance horizontally of five or six inches apart, and about twenty inches from the ground on the south or sunny side of the tree. The trough, cut from white maple, pine, ash, or bass wood, is set directly under the spouts, the points of which are so constructed as completely to fill the hole in the tree, and prevent the loss of the sap at the edges, having a small gimlet or pitch hole in the centre, through which the entire juice discharged from the tree runs, and is all saved in the vessels below. The distance bored into the tree is only about one-half an inch to give the best run of sap. The method of boring is far better for the preservation of the tree than boxing, or cutting a hole with an axe, from the lower edge of which the juice is directed by a spout to the trough or tub prepared to receive it. The tub should be of ash or other wood that will communicate no vicious taste to the liquid or sugar.

The sap is gathered daily from the trees and put in larger tubs for the purpose of boiling down. This is done by the process of a steady hot fire. The surface of the boiling kettle is from time to time cleansed by a skimmer. The liquid is prevented from boiling over by the suspension of a small piece of fat pork at the proper point. Fresh additions of sap are made as the volume boils away. When boiled down to a syrup, the liquor is set away in some earthen or metal vessel till it becomes cool and settled. Again the purest part is drawn off or poured into a kettle until the vessel is two-thirds full. By a brisk and continual fire, the syrup is further reduced in volume to a degree of consistence best taught by a little experience, when it is either put into moulds to become hard as it is cooled, or stirred until it shall be grained into sugar. The right point of time to take it away from the fire may be ascertained by cooling and graining a small quantity. The sediment is strained off and boiled down to make molasses.

The following is from a Massachusetts paper:--

The maple produces the best sugar that we have from any plant.
Almost every one admires its taste. It usually sells in this market
(Boston) nearly twice as high as other brown sugar. Had care been
taken from the first settlement of the country to preserve the sugar
maple, and proper attention been given to the cultivation of this
tree, so valuable for fuel, timber, and ornament, besides the
abundant yield of saccharine juice, we could now produce in New
England sugar enough for our own consumption, and not be dependent
on the labour of those who toil and suffer in a tropical sun for
this luxury or necessary of life. But, for want of this friendly
admonition,

"Axeman, spare that tree,"

the sturdy blows were dealt around without mercy or discretion; and
the very generation that committed devastation in the first
settlements in different sections of our country, generally lived to
witness a scarcity of fuel; and means were resorted to for the
purchase of sugar, that were far more expensive than would have been
its manufacture, under a proper mode of economy in the preservation
of the maple, and the production of sugar from its sap.

Those who have trees of the sugar maple, should prepare in season
for making sugar. In many localities, wood is no object, and a rude
method of boiling is followed; but where fuel is very scarce, a
cheap apparatus should be prepared that will require but little
fuel. In some sections, broad pans or kettles have been made of
sheet-iron bottoms, and sides of plank or boards, care being taken
(continued) to allow the fire to come into contact with the iron
only. These pans cost but a trifle, and, owing to their large
surface, the evaporation is rapid.

Another cheap construction for boiling with economy is, to make a
tight box of plank, some four or five feet square--the width of a
wide plank will answer, and then put into it, almost at the bottom,
a piece of large copper funnel, say ten or twelve inches at the
outer part, and then smaller. This funnel, beginning near one end,
should run back nearly to the opposite side, then turn and come put
at the opposite end, or at the side near the end, as most
convenient, being in only two straight parts, that the soot may be
cleared out. Each end should be made tight, with a flange nailed to
the box. At the mouth of the large part there should be a door, to
reduce the draught; here make the fire, and at the other end have a
funnel to carry off the smoke. In this case, there is only sheet
copper between the fire and the sap which surrounds the funnel, so
that the heat is readily taken up by the liquid, and very little
escapes. This is an economical plan for cooking food for stock,
steaming timber, &c.

For catching the sap, various kinds of vessels are used. The
cheapest are made of white birch, which last one season, or less.
Troughs of pine, or linden or bass wood, may be made for a few cents
each, and they will last for a number of years, if inverted in the
shade of trees. But these are inconvenient; and, after the first
year, they become dirty, and clog the sap. Pails with iron hoops are
the best, and, eventually, the cheapest. By painting and carefully
preserving them, they will cost, for a course of years, about one
cent each for a year.

Mr. Alfred Fitch, in the "Genesee Farmer," says:--

In clarifying, I use for 50 lbs. of sugar one pint of skimmed milk,
put into the syrup when cold, and place it over a moderate fire
until it rises, which should occupy thirty or forty minutes; then
skim and boil until it will grain; after which I put it into a tub,
and turn on a little cold water, and in a few days the molasses will
drain out, and leave the sugar dry, light, and white.

Mr. E.W. Clark, of Oswego, furnishes the following:--

_On Fining Maple Sugar_.--The sweet obtained from the maple tree is
undoubtedly the purest known; but from mismanagement in the
manufacture it frequently becomes very impure. Its value is
lessened, while the expense of making it increases. I am sensible
that the method which I shall recommend is not altogether a new one,
and that it is more by attending to some apparently minute and
trivial circumstances, than to any new plan, that my sugar is so
good. Much has been written upon, and many useful improvements been
made in, that part of the process which relates to tapping the
trees, and gathering and evaporating the sap, &c.; but still, if the
final operation is not understood, there will be a deficiency in the
quality of the sugar. I shall confine myself to that part of the
operation which relates to reducing the syrup to sugar, as it is of
the first importance. My process is this:--When the syrup is reduced
to the consistence of West India molasses, I set it away till it is
perfectly cold, and then mix with it the clarifying matter, which is
milk or eggs. I prefer eggs to milk, because when heated the whole
of it curdles; whereas milk produces only a small portion of curd.
The eggs should be thoroughly beaten and effectually mixed with the
syrup while cold. The syrup should then be heated till just before
it would boil, when the curd rises, bringing with it every impurity,
even the coloring matter, or a great portion of that which it had
received from the smoke, kettles, buckets, or reservoirs. The
boiling should be checked, and the scum carefully removed, when the
syrup should be slowly turned into a thick woollen strainer, and
left to run through at leisure. I would remark, that a great
proportion of the sugar that is made in our country is not strained
after cleansing. This is an error. If examined in a wine-glass,
innumerable minute and almost imperceptible particles of curd will
be seen floating in it, which, if not removed, render it liable to
burn, and otherwise injure the taste and color of it.

A flannel strainer does this much better than a linen one. It is,
indeed, _indispensable_. As to the quantity of eggs necessary, one
pint to a pailful of syrup is amply sufficient, and half as much
will do very well. I now put my syrup into another kettle, which has
been made perfectly clean and _bright_, when it is placed over a
quick but solid fire, and soon rises, but is kept from overflowing
by being ladled with a long dipper. When it is sufficiently reduced,
(I ascertain this by dropping it from the point of a knife, while
hot, into one inch of cold water--if done, it will not immediately
mix with the water, but lies at the bottom in a round flat drop,) it
is taken from the fire, and the foaming allowed to subside. A thick
white scum, which is useable, is removed, and the sugar turned into
a cask, placed on an inclined platform, and left undisturbed for six
weeks or longer, when it should be tapped in the bottom and the
molasses drawn off. It will drain perfectly dry in a few days.

The sugar made in this manner is very nearly as white as lump sugar,
and beautifully grained. We have always sold ours at the highest
price of Muscovadoes; and even when these sugars have sold at
eighteen cents, ours found a ready market at twenty. Two hands will
sugar off 250 lbs. in a day. From the scum taken off in cleansing, I
usually make, by diluting and recleansing, one-sixth as much as I
had at first, and of an equal quality.

It is not of much consequence as regards the quality of the sugar,
whether care be taken to keep the sap clean or not. The points in
which the greatest error is committed, are, neglecting to use a
flannel strainer, or to strain after cleansing--to have the sugar
kettle properly cleaned--and to remove the white scum from the
sugar.

An important process of manufacturing maple sugar, which produces a most beautiful article, is also thus described in a communication by the gentleman who gained the first premium at the State Fair at Rochester in 1843, to the Committee on Maple Sugar of the New York State Agricultural Society.

In the first place, I make my buckets, tubs, and kettles all
perfectly clean. I boil the sap in a potash kettle, set in an arch
in such a manner that the edge of the kettle is defended all around
from the fire. I boil through the day, taking care not to have
anything in the kettle that will give color to the sap, and to keep
it well skimmed. At night I leave fire enough under the kettle to
boil the sap nearly or quite to syrup by the next morning. I then
take it out of the kettle, and strain it through a flannel cloth
into a tub, if it is sweet enough; if not, I put it in a cauldron
kettle, which I have hung on a pole in such a manner that I can
swing it on or off the fire at pleasure, and boil it till it is
sweet enough, and then strain it into the tub, and let it stand till
the next morning. I then take it and the syrup in the kettle, and
put it altogether into the cauldron, and sugar it off. I use, to
clarify say 100 lbs. of sugar, the whites of five or six eggs well
beaten, about one quart of new milk, and a spoonful of saleratus,
all we'll mixed with the syrup before it is scalding hot. I then
make a moderate fire directly under the cauldron, until the scum is
all raised; then skim it off clean, taking care not to let it boil
so as to rise in the kettle before I have done skimming it. I then
sugar it off, leaving it so damp that it will drain a little. I let
it remain in the kettle until it is well granulated. I then put it
into boxes made smallest at the bottom, that will hold from fifty to
seventy lbs., having a thin piece of board fitted in, two or three
inches above the bottom, which is bored full of small holes, to let
the molasses drain through, which I keep drawn off by a tap through
the bottom. I put on the top of the sugar, in the box, a clean damp
cloth; and over that, a board, well fitted in, so as to exclude the
air from the sugar. After it has done draining, or nearly so, I
dissolve it, and sugar it off again; going through with the same
process in clarifying and draining as before.

The following remarks from Dr. Jackson, of Boston, may be of interest to the sections of the country where maple sugar is made:--

The northern parts of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York,
have dense forests of the sugar maple, and at present only very rude
processes are made use of in preparing the sugar for market, so that
it is too generally acid and deliquescent, besides being charged
with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily strikes
a black color with tea. To remedy these difficulties was the object
of my researches; while, at the same time, I was engaged in
ascertaining the true composition of the sap, with a view to the
theory of vegetable nutrition.

I received several gallons of freshly-drawn maple sap from
Northampton, Warner, and Canterbury, and made analyses of each lot,
separating the acids, salts, and the sugar. I also analysed the sap
of the yellow and white birch, which do not give any crystallisable
sugar, but an astringent molasses.

I shall now communicate to you the process by which I manufactured
sugar maple sap, received from the Shakers of Canterbury, who
collected it with care in a clear glass demijohn, and sent it
forthwith, so that it came to me without any change of composition,
the weather being cold at the time. The evaporation was carried on
in glass vessels until the sap was reduced to about one-eighth its
original bulk, and then it was treated with a sufficient quantity of
clear lime-water to render it neutral, and the evaporation was
completed in a shallow porcelain basin. The result was, that a
beautiful yellow granular sugar was obtained, from which not a
single drop of molasses drained, and it did not deliquesce by
exposure to the air. Another lot of the sap, reduced to sugar
without lime-water, granulated, but not so well, was sour to the
taste, deliquesced by exposure, and gave a considerable quantity of
molasses.

Having studied the nature of the peculiar acid of the maple, I found
that its combinations with lime were excessively soluble in alcohol,
so that the yellow sugar first described could be rendered white in
a few minutes, by placing it in an inverted cone open at the bottom,
and pouring a fresh quantity of alcohol upon it, and allowing it to
filtrate through the sugar. The whitened sugar was then taken and
re-dissolved in boiling water and crystallised, by which all the
alcoholic flavour was entirely removed, and a perfectly fine
crystallised and pure sugar resulted. Now, in the large way, I
advise the following method of manufacturing maple sugar. Obtain
several large copper or brass kettles, and set them up in a row,
either by tripods with iron rings, or by hanging them on a
cross-bar; clean them well, then collect the sap in buckets, if
possible, so that but little rain-water will be mixed with the sap,
and take care not to have any dead leaves in it. For every gallon of
the maple sap _add one measured ounce_ of clear lime-water, pass the
sap into the first kettle and evaporate; then, when it is reduced to
about one-half, dip it out into the second kettle, and skim it each
time; then into the next, and so on, until it has reached the last,
where it is reduced to syrup, and then may be thrown into a trough,
and granulated by beating it up with an oar.

As soon as the first kettle is nearly empty, pour in a new lot of
the sap, and so continue working it forward exactly after the manner
of the West India sugar-boilers. The crude sugar may be refined
subsequently, or at the time of casting it into the cones made of
sheet iron, well painted with white lead and boiled linseed oil, and
thoroughly dried, so that no paint can come off. These cones are to
be stopped at first, until the sugar is cold; then remove the
stopper and pour on the base of the cone a quantity of strong
whiskey, or fourth proof rum. Allow this to nitrate through, until
the sugar is white; dry the loaf, and redissolve it in boiling hot
water, and evaporate it until it becomes dense enough to
crystallise. Now pour it into the cones again, and let it harden. If
any color remains, pour a saturated solution of refined white sugar
on the base of the cone, and this syrup will remove all traces of
color from the loaf.

One gallon of pasture maple sap yielded 3,451 grains of pure sugar.
One gallon of the juice of the sugar cane yields, on an average, in
Jamaica, 7,000 grains of sugar. Hence, it will appear that maple sap
is very nearly half as sweet as cane juice; and since the maple
requires no outlay for its cultivation, and the process may be
carried on when there is little else to be done, the manufacture of
maple sugar is destined to become an important department of rural
economy. It is well known, by the Report of the Statistics of the
United States, that Vermont ranks next to Louisiana as a sugar
state, producing (if I recollect correctly) 6,000,000 of pounds in
some seasons, though the business is now carried on in a very rude
way, without any apparatus, and with no great chemical skill; so
that only a very impure kind of sugar is made, which, on account of
its peculiar flavor, has not found its way into common use, for
sweetening tea and coffee. It would appear worth while, then, to
improve this manufacture, and to make the maple sugar equal to any
now in use. This can be readily accomplished, if the farmers in the
back country will study the process of sugar-making, for cane and
maple sugar are, when pure, absolutely identical. It should be
remarked, that forest maples do not produce so much sugar as those
grown in open fields or in groves, where they have more light, the
under-brush being cleared away.

In Farmington, on the Sandy River, in Maine, I have seen a very fine
grove of maples, but thirty years old, which produced a large yield
of very good sugar. A man and two boys made 1,500 lbs. of sugar from
the sap of these trees in a single season. The sap was boiled down
in potash kettles, which were scoured bright with vinegar and sand.
The sugar was of a fine yellow color, and well crystallised. It was
drained of its molasses in casks, with a false bottom perforated
with small holes--the cask having a hole bored at the bottom, with a
tow plug placed loosely in it, to conduct off the molasses. This
method is a good one, but the sap ought to be limed in boiling, as I
have described; then it will not attach to the iron or copper
boilers. The latter metal must not be used with acid syrup, for
copper salts are poisonous.

There are several towns in the northern sections of Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont, that produce more than sufficient sugar for the consumption of their inhabitants. A lot of good sugar trees will average four pounds to the tree, in a favorable season. Many farmers have orchards that will yield five hundred to a thousand pounds of sugar in a year. As this is made at a season interfering very little with the general business of the farm, the sugar that the farmer makes is so much clear gain.

There is, on almost every hill-farm, some place favorable for the growth of a maple orchard--some rocky spots yielding little grass, and impervious for the plough. Such spots may be favorably chosen for the growth of a maple orchard; and whether the increase be used for manufacturing sugar or molasses, or for timber or fuel, the proprietor of the land will find a profit better than money at interest in the growth of this beautiful tree, which will spontaneously propagate itself in many positions.

Its great excellence consists in yielding sap for the manufacture of vast quantities of maple sugar in the country during the months of spring. An open winter, constantly freezing and thawing, is a forerunner of a bountiful crop of sugar. The orchard of maple trees is almost equal to a field of sugar cane of the same area, in the production of sugar. This tree reaches an age of 200 years.

Vermont is the second sugar-producing State in the Union. The amount of maple sugar produced there in 1840 was over 2,550 tons, being more than 17¾ pounds to each inhabitant, allowing a population of 291,948. At five cents a pound, this is worth. 255,963 dols. 20 cents.

The Statistics of the United States census for 1850, show that about thirty-five millions of pounds (15,250 tons) of maple sugar were manufactured in that year:--