Cassell's dictionary of cookery

on an inclined platform, and left undisturbed for six weeks, or longer, when it should be tapped in the bottom, and the molasses drawn oft'. It will drain perfectly diy in a few days. The sugar made in this manner is very nearly as white as lump sugar, and beautifully grained. From the scum taken oft' in cleansing I usually make, by diluting and re-cleansing, 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 errors are committed are — neglecting to use a flannel strainer, or to strain after cleansing, to have the sugarkettle properly cleaned, and to remove the white scum from the sugar." Maple Sugar, To Make.— The process of making maple sugar is very simple, and easily performed. It 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 should be cut from white maple, pine, ash, or bass-wood. It is placed directly under the spouts, the joints 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. To give the best run of sap the distance bored into the tree is only about half an inch. 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 end of which the juice is directed by a spout to the tub or trough placed to receive it. The tub should be of ash, or of some other wood that will impart no vicious taste to the liquid or sugar. The sap is to be gathered every day from the trees, and put in large tubs for the purpose of boiling down. This is accomplished by means of a steady hot fire. The surface of the kettle is cleansed from time to time by a skimmer. A small piece of fat pork is suspended at the proper point to prevent the liquid from boiling over. As the volume of the liquid is reduced, fresh additions of sap are made. When boiled down to a syrup, the liquor is set aside in an earthenware or metal vessel to cool and settle. The purest part is then 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 learned by a little experience. It may then either be put into moulds, to become hard as it cools, or stirred until it is grained into sugar. The right time for removing it from the fire may be ascertained by cooling and graining a small quantity. In the manufactm-e of maple sugar there are several difficulties to be encountered. In reducing the sap, great care must be taken not to burn the liquid after MAP (407) MAR