As most persons who have not informed themselves on the subject,
imagine that we are indebted to cane-sugar for our main supply, and
that maple-sugar is a petty neighborhood matter, not worth the figures
employed to represent it, we propose to spend some space in stating
the truth on this matter. We will exhibit, 1, the amount produced; 2,
the proper way of manufacturing it; 3, the proper treatment of
sugar-tree groves.
We shall confine our statistics to the most important Northern and
Western States.
1. New York produces annually 10,048,109 lbs.
2. Ohio 6,363,386 “
3. Vermont 4,647,934 “
4. Indiana 3,727,795 “
5. Pennsylvania 2,265,755 “
6. New Hampshire 1,162,368 “
7. Virginia 1,541,833 “
8. Kentucky 1,377,835 “
9. Michigan 1,329,784 “
---------------
Total Of nine States 22,464,799 “
Residue thus—add for Maine, Massachusetts,
Connecticut, Maryland, Tennessee, Illinois,
Iowa, Missouri and Wisconsin 2,030,853 “
---------------
24,495,652 “
Something should be subtracted for beet-root and cornstalk-sugar. But
on the other hand, the statistics are so much below the truth on
maple-sugar, that the deficiency may be set off against beet-root and
cornstalk-sugar. That the figures do not more than represent the
amount of _maple-sugar_ produced in these States may be presumed from
one case. Indiana is set down at 3,727,795; but in the four counties
of Washington, Warrick, Posey and Harrison, no account seems to have
been taken of this article. In Marion county, four of the first
sugar-making townships, Warren, Lawrence, Centre and Franklin, are not
reckoned. If we suppose these four townships to average as much as the
others in Marion county, they produced 77,648 lbs., and instead of
putting Marion county down at 97,064 it should be 174,712 lbs. It is
apparent from this case, that in Indiana the estimate is far below the
truth; and if it is half as much so in the other eight States
enumerated,[7] then 22,464,799 is not more than a fair expression of
the _maple-sugar_ alone.
Lousiana is the first sugar-growing State in the Union. Her produce,
by the statistics of 1840, was 119,947,720, or nearly one hundred and
twenty million pounds. The States of Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia,
South Carolina and Florida, together, add only 645,281 pounds more.
Cane-sugar in the United States 120,593,001 lbs.
Maple “ “ “ 24,495,652 “
Thus about one-sixth of the sugar made annually in the United States
is made from the maple-tree.[8] It is to be remembered too that in
Louisiana it is _the_ staple, while at the North maple-sugar has never
been manufactured with any considerable skill, or regarded as a
regular crop, but only a temporary device of economy. Now it only
needs to be understood that maple-sugar may be made so as to have the
flavor of the best cane-sugar, and that it may, at a trifling expense,
be refined to white sugar, and the manufacture of it will become more
general, more skillful, and may, in a little time, entirely supersede
the necessity of importing cane-sugar. Indiana stands fourth in the
rank of maple-sugar making States. Her annual product is at least
_four million pounds_, which, at six cents the pound amounts to
$160,000 per annum. A little exertion would quickly run up the annual
value of her home-made sugar to half a million dollars.
Maple-sugar now only brings about two-thirds the price of New Orleans.
The fault is in the manufacturing of it. The saccharine principle of
the _cane and tree are exactly the same_. If the same care were
employed in their manufacture they would be indistinguishable; and
maple-sugar would be as salable as New Orleans, and if afforded at a
less price, might supplant it in the market. The average quantity of
sugar consumed in England by each individual is about thirty pounds
per annum.
MAPLE-SUGAR MAKING.—Greater care must be taken in collecting the sap.
Old, and half-decayed wooden-troughs, with a liberal infusion of
leaves, dirt, etc., impart great impurity to the water. Rain-water,
decayed vegetable matter, etc., add _chemical_ ingredients to the sap,
troublesome to extract, and injuring the quality if not removed. The
expense of clean vessels may be a little more, but with care, it could
be more than made up in the quality of the sugar. Many are now using
earthen-crocks. These are cheap, easily cleaned, and every way
desirable, with the single exception of breakage. But if wood-troughs
are used, let them be kept scrupulously clean.
The kettles should be scoured thoroughly before use, and kept
constantly clean. If rusty, or foul, or coated with burnt sugar,
neither the color nor flavor can be perfect. Vinegar and sand have
been used by experienced sugar-makers to scour the kettles with. It is
best to have, at least, three to a range.
All vegetable juices contain _acids_, and acids resist the process of
crystallization.
Dr. J. C. Jackson[9] directs the one-_measured ounce_ (one-fourth of a
gill) of pure lime-water to be added to every gallon of sap. This
neutralizes the acid, and not only facilitates the granulation, but
gives sugar in a free state, now 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.
The process of making a pure white sugar is simple and unexpensive.
The lime added to the sap, combining with the peculiar acid of the
maple, forms a neutral salt; this salt is found to be easily soluble
in alcohol. Dr. Jackson recommends the following process. Procure
sheet-iron _cones_, with an aperture at the small end or apex—let them
be coated with white-lead and boiled linseed-oil, and thoroughly
dried, so that no part can come off. [We do not know why earthen
cones, unglazed and painted, would not answer equally well, besides
being much cheaper.] Let the sugar be put into these cones, stopping
the hole in the lower end until it is entirely cool. Then remove the
stopper, and pour upon the base a quantity of strong whisky or
fourth-proof rum[10]—allow this to filtrate through until the sugar is
white. When the loaf is dried it will be pure white sugar, with the
exception of the alcohol. To get rid of this, dissolve the sugar in
pure boiling hot-water, and let it evaporate until it is dense enough
to crystallize. Then put it again into the cone-moulds and let it
harden. The dribblets which come away from the cone while the whisky
is draining, may be used for making vinegar. It is sometimes the case
that whisky would, if freely used in a sugar camp, go off in a wrong
direction, benefiting neither the sugar nor the sugar-maker. If, on
this account, any prefer another mode, let them make a _saturated_
solution of loaf-sugar, and pour it in place of the whisky upon the
base of the cones. Although the sugar will not be quite as white, the
drainings will form an excellent molasses, whereas the _drainings_ by
the former method are good only for vinegar.
CARE OF SUGAR ORCHARDS.—It is grievous to witness the waste committed
upon valuable groves of sugar-trees. If the special object was to
destroy them, it could hardly be better reached than by the methods
now employed. The holes are carelessly made, and often the abominable
practice is seen of cutting channels in the tree with an axe. The man
who will murder his trees in this tomahawk and scalping-knife manner,
is just the man that Æsop meant when he made the fable of a fellow who
killed his goose to get at once all the golden eggs. With good care,
and allowing them occasionally a year of rest, a sugar-grove may last
for centuries.
As soon as possible get your sugar-tree grove laid down to grass,
clear out underbrush, thin out timber and useless trees. Trees in open
land make about _six pounds_ of sugar, and forest trees only about
_four_ pounds to the season. As the maple is peculiarly rich in potash
(four-fifths of potash exported is made from sugar-maple), it is
evident that it requires that substance in the soil. Upon this account
we should advise a liberal use of wood-ashes upon the soil of
sugar-groves.
TAPPING TREES.—Two taps are usually enough—never more than three. For
though as many as twenty-four have been inserted at once without
killing the tree, regard ought to be had to the use of the tree
through a long series of years. At first bore about two inches; after
ten or twelve days remove the tap and go one or two inches deeper. By
this method more sap will be obtained than by going down to the
colored wood at first. We state upon the authority of William Tripure,
a Shaker of Canterbury, N. H., that about seven pounds of sugar may be
made from a barrel of twenty gallons, or four pounds the tree for
forest trees; and two men and one boy will tend a thousand trees,
making 4,000 pounds of sugar.
We would recommend the setting of pasture-lands, and road-sides of the
farm with sugar-maple trees. Their growth is rapid, and no tree
combines more valuable properties. It is a beautiful shade-tree, it is
excellent for fuel, it is much used for manufacturing purposes, its
ashes are valuable for potash, and its sap is rich in sugar. There are
twenty-seven species of the maple known, twelve of them are indigenous
to this continent. All of these have a sacharine sap, but only two, to
a degree sufficient for practical purposes, viz., _Acer saccharinum_
or the common sugar-maple, and _Acer nigrum_ or the _black_
sugar-maple. The sap of these contains about half as much sugar as the
juice of the sugar-cane. One gallon of pasture maple sap contains, on
an average, 3,451 grains of sugar; and one gallon of cane juice (in
Jamaica), averages 7,000 grains of sugar.
But the cane is subject to the necessity of annual and careful
cultivation, and its manufacture is comparatively expensive and
difficult. Whereas the maple is a permanent tree, requires no
cultivation, may be raised on the borders of farms without taking up
ground, and its sap is easily convertible into sugar, and if carefully
made, into sugar as good as cane-sugar can be. Add to the above
considerations that the sugar-making period is a time of comparative
leisure with the farmer, and the motives for attention to this subject
of domestic sugar-making seem to be complete.
* * * * *
LETTUCE.—Those who wish fine _head_ lettuce should prepare a rich,
mellow bed of light soil; tough and compact soil will not give them
any growth. In transplanting, let there be at least one foot between
each plant. Stir the ground often. If it is very dry weather, water at
evening _copiously_, if you water at all; but the _hoe_ is the only
watering-pot for a garden, if thereby the soil is kept loose and fine.
We have raised heads nearly as large as a drum-head cabbage by this
method, very brittle, sweet and tender withal.
[7] Dr. J. C. Jackson puts Vermont at 6,000,000 lbs. per
annum, while the census only gives about 4,000,000.
[8] The data of these calculations, it must be confessed,
are _very_ uncertain, and conclusions drawn from them as to
the relative amounts of sugar produced in different States,
are to be regarded, at the very best, as problematical. We
extract the following remarks from an article in the
_Western Literary Journal_, from the pen of Charles Cist, an
able statistical writer:
“It is not my purpose to go into an extended notice of the
errors in the statistics connected with the census of 1840.
A few examples will serve to show their character and
extent. In the article of hemp, Ohio is stated to produce
9,080 tons, and Indiana 8,605—either equal nearly to the
product of Kentucky, which is reported at 9,992 tons, and
almost equal, when united, to Missouri, to which 18,010 tons
are given as the aggregate. Virginia is stated to raise
25,594 tons, almost equal to both Kentucky and Missouri,
which are given as above at 28,002 tons. Now the
indisputable fact is, that Kentucky and Missouri produce
more hemp than all the rest of the United States, and ten
times as much as either Ohio, Indiana, or Virginia, which
three States are made to raise 50 per centum more than those
two great hemp-producing States.
“The sugar of Louisiana is given at 119,947,720 lbs., equal
to 120,000 hhds., 160 per cent. more than has been published
in New Orleans, as the highest product of the five
consecutive years, including and preceding 1840.
“But what is this to the wholesale figure-dealing which
returns 3,160,949 tons of hay, as the product of New York
for that article! a quantity sufficient to winter all the
horses and mules in the United States.
“Other errors of great magnitude might be pointed out; such
as making the tobacco product of Virginia 11,000 hhds., when
her inspection records show 55,000 hhds., thrown into market
as the crop of that year. Who believes that 12,233 lbs.
pitch, rosin and turpentine, or the tenth part of that
quantity, were manufactured in Louisiana in 1840, or that
New York produced 10,093,991 lbs. maple-sugar in a single
year, or twenty such statements equally absurd, which I
might take from the returns?”
Mr. Cist will find in the appendix to Dr. Jackson’s Final
Report on the Geology of New Hampshire, a statement, that
Vermont makes 6,000,000 pounds of sugar annually. If this be
so, we may, without extravagance, suppose that New York
reaches 10,000,000 lbs. So far as we have collateral means
of judging, the amount of maple-sugar is _under_-stated in
the census of 1840.
[9] Appendix to final Report on the Geology and Mineralogy
of New Hampshire, page 361. This admirable Report is an able
exposition of the benefit of public State surveys.
[10] If those who drink whisky would pour it on to the sugar
in the refining cones, instead of upon sugar in tumblers, it
would refine _them_ as much as it does the sugar; performing
two valuable processes at once.