Vermont has an enviable world wide reputation for the production of two
things: men and maple sugar. The noble record of the former as given to
us in history and also records of the present day are known to all. But
that the latter also has a history of much interest is little known.
Along with the maize and tobacco, maple sugar had its origin among the
Indians. For time unknown before the white man came to this continent
the aborigines drew the sap of the maple tree and distilled therefrom
a sweet syrup. The various tribes of Canada, Vermont, New Hampshire,
Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Michigan
all knew of this art. Where ever the white people came in contact with
the Indians in a region where the maple tree grew they found them
making this delicious sweet, and it was from them the white man learned
the process.
The probable way in which the Indians discovered this art is contained
in one of their Legends, as given by Rowland E. Robinson in the
_Atlantic Monthly_:
“While Woksis, the mighty hunter was out one day in search of game, his
diligent squaw Moqua busied herself embroidering him some moccasins.
For the evening meal of her lord she boiled some moose meat in the
sweet water from a maple tree just by the wigwam. Becoming interested
in her work, she forgot the moose meat, and the sweet water boiled away
to a thick brown syrup.”
“When Woksis returned he found such a dainty morsel ready for his
supper, as he had never before tasted. The great chief eagerly devoured
the viand, licked the kettle clean and then went out and told his
tribe that Kose-Kus-beh, a heaven sent instructor, had taught Moqua
how to make a delicious food by boiling the juice of the maple. And
the discovery soon became known among all the Indians.” To get the
sap the Indians with their tomahawks cut a long slanting gash in the
tree, below the lower end of this gash a notch was cut to hold a chip
along which the sap would flow. The sap was caught in birch bark
dishes and boiled in earthen kettles. The small quantity of dark syrup
thus produced was the Indians only supply of sugar. Imagine ourselves
limited in this necessity of life to a little taste each spring, and
we can think what a delicacy their maple sugar must have been to the
Indian. We fondly anticipate the coming of this season of the year,
either for pleasure or profit. How long these anticipations have
existed in the hearts of men we know not, but we do know that long
before the foot of white man touched the virgin soil of New England,
long before the woodman’s axe echoed among our hills and valleys, the
dusky race, who freely roamed the primeval forest gathered the maple
sap in the primative way. It is not improbable that the young braves
and dusky maidens of the tribe, had sugar parties, ate sugar upon snow
and became sweet with each as do the boys and girls at sugar parties
today.
[Illustration: THE PRIMATIVE METHOD, OF BOILING MAPLE SAP.]
The first white people to make maple sugar were the Canadians. The
manufacture of maple sugar in Vermont dates back to a very early day;
the first settlers like their neighbors in Canada first learned the art
of making it from the Indian, who they observed notching the trees in
the springtime.
For a hundred years or more the methods of production remained without
material change, save the substitution of iron or copper kettles for
vessels of clay or bark, and the use of better utensils. The sugar
was made merely for home use; cane sugar was a luxury and often
unobtainable by the pioneer farmer at any cost.
The trees were tapped with axes in the Indian way, the sap caught in
wooden troughs and gathered to some central place in buckets, carried
on the shoulders with a sap yoke; and if the snow was deep, snow shoes
were used to travel on; the boiling was done in large iron kettles
swung upon a pole in the open woods in some hollow sheltered from the
wind, with no protection from the sun, rain or snow, and the numerous
impurities of charcoal, ashes and leaves.
Although this was greatly in advance of the primative methods of
sugar making by the Indians, the product thus secured was dark in
color, strong in flavor, not altogether the flavor of the maple, and
quite variable in quality. This method with slight improvements and
modifications was principally used in the state until within the past
50 years; since that time great improvements have been made. But the
boys and girls of today can scarcely realize the conditions incident to
the sugar season even 40 or 50 years ago, nor can they fully realize
the pleasures which this season brought to the young people of those
times, more especially the boys. In those days it was no small matter
to get ready for sugaring. Each wooden hoop on the buckets must be
tightened, with new hoops to replace the broken ones. It required
several days to soak the buckets and make them hold the sap. The
kettle, holders and buckets must then be taken to the sugar orchard.
The boiling place must be shovelled out, and perhaps new posts set for
the lug pole on which to hang the kettles. Then the big back logs must
be hauled and some wood cut to start the boiling. A few new sap spouts
were needed each year, and these were made from green sumac trees of
proper size, and whittled to fit the auger hole; the small pith being
burned out with a redhot iron. With the inch or three-fourths inch
auger, one man could tap about 50 trees in a day if he did not bore
more than three inches deep, which was the rule. If a new sap yoke was
needed, a small basswood tree of right size was cut, and the proper
length for a yoke, halved, dug out to fit the neck and shoulders, and
the ends shaved to right dimensions. To make “the yoke easy and the
burden light” required a good fitting sap yoke.
Thus it will be seen that in the days gone by much work, and some
ingenuity were needed to get ready for sugaring. In those days the
sugar season called for hard work from the men and boys also who were
always required to do their part in gathering the nearby sap and
tending the fires. But there were two sources of intense enjoyment for
the boys which largely compensated for the tired legs in carrying the
sap, and burnt faces and hands in tending fires.
[Illustration: SUGAR HOUSE INTERIOR. BOILING SAP WITH PANS AND HEATER;
NOW SLIGHTLY OUT OF DATE.]
These were sugaring off times, one of which came any day towards night,
when the sap was gathered in, and father gave permission to take some
of the sweetest boiling from the big syrup kettle, and sugar off in
the little four quart kettle, which mother would kindly let us take to
the boiling place for that purpose. Some live coals were raked from
the big fire and the little kettle with its precious sweet was placed
thereon, and carefully watched until the sugar would blow through a
twig loop or lay on snow. The sugar was very dark and often contained
bits of charcoal that had fallen into the big kettles in boiling, but
that did not matter; it was sweet and the feast always a delightful
one. The other occasion was, in a measure, a sort of state performance
and generally occurred at the close of a good run of sap, with fifteen
or twenty buckets of syrup on hand. Early in the morning the biggest
kettle was taken from the boiling place, carefully washed and set on
three large stones. It was then filled about two-thirds full of syrup
and a fire started. When milk warm, six or eight quarts of milk, with
half a dozen well beaten eggs were added to the syrup to “cleanse it.”
Just before boiling was the skimming time, when a pailful or more of
dark thick scum would be taken from the top of the syrup. About noon
the boys, and oftentimes the girls also would gather around the kettle
to see it boil and taste the sweet as it slowly thickened to sugar; but
not until about two o’clock in the afternoon would it be thick enough
to lay on snow. In sugaring off with the little kettle we did not
always have as much sugar as we wanted, but when the big kettle was on,
we ate grained or waxed sugar, and hot sugar and doughnuts, until we
wanted no more. Only those who have had these experiences can realize
the intense enjoyments of the sugar seasons of the years gone by.
[Illustration: MODERN SAP EVAPORATOR IN OPERATION.]
Within the past 40 or 50 years, great improvements have been made along
the line of sugar implements; first the crude sugar shed was built and
the kettles were incased in an arch; then came the large smooth bottom
pans which were considered the height of perfection. But the ever
restless Yankee was not content with this. First came the heater which
heated the sap before it went into the pans; next the crude form of
evaporator, with wooden sides and corrugations running across the pans
but no opening beneath. Then the evaporator of the present day of which
there are many kinds, all of which are good and capable of converting
from twenty-five to a hundred gallons of sap into syrup in an hour;
this will be explained later.
The bit of small size has taken the place of the axe, tapping iron and
large auger. The tin bucket with covers have placed in the background
the old troughs and wooden buckets. The team and lines of piping have
lightened the burden of the man with a sap yoke and snow shoes, and
instead of boiling out of doors or in the old shed a comfortable,
convenient plank floor sugar house is now used. Thus we see the change
which has taken place along the different lines of the industry. It
has worked itself into a trade or science and men make a study of it.
Therefore instead of the dark colored article containing numerous
flavors, the present product with the modern methods is light in color,
flavored only with the aroma of the maple, and the fine qualities
possessed by this article has already won for itself a reputation far
beyond the limits of our state. It has already passed the point of
being considered a necessity and its use is now limited to those who
can afford it as a luxury; even the poorest quality the price per pound
will purchase several pounds of cane sugar for home use. Thus the poor
farmer cannot use it except as a delicacy. The total product of maple
sugar in the United States as stated in our census is about 50,000,000
pounds. Of this Vermont is credited with about one-fourth of the entire
output. We do not wish to be misunderstood; all the pure maple sugar is
not of this fine quality; only the best grade which is a small percent
of the amount manufactured is entitled to the high prices received.
The small quantity of the so-called first class goods have led the
producers to grade their product, so that we have the first, second and
third grades with prices to compare with the quality; the reason of
these numerous grades are several. First, the chemical changes which
take place with the sap being exposed to the weather, the advance of
the season and last but not least, the many sugar makers who do not
take the care they should and who do not have the suitable machines and
utensils for making a No. 1 article.
[Illustration: MAPLE SUGAR CAMP EARLY IN THE SEASON; GROUND COVERED
WITH SNOW.]
The ever increasing demand for pure, genuine, first class maple goods
at a high price as compared to other sugars has led to the making and
placing upon the market numerous imitations of our maple product, in
which the poorer grade of maple sugar is used as a flavoring. These
goods often bear fraudulent labels in which it is represented that
they were manufactured in Vermont, though with the exception of a few
pounds used as flavoring, the stuff manufactured of glucose and other
compounds, never saw a maple tree in Vermont or any other state.
This is the article placed upon the market in January and February,
marked “Vermont New Maple Sugar”. You may ask, how may we get this
best grade of maple sugar and be sure of its purity and quality. By
corresponding with any member of the Vermont Maple Sugar Makers’
Association, whose names appear at the back of this booklet. Get your
goods direct from the producers.