File:New England; a human interest geographical reader (1917) (14580915660).jpg

Identifier: newenglandhumani00john (find matches)
Title: New England; a human interest geographical reader
Year: 1917 (1910s)
Authors: Johnson, Clifton, 1865-1940
Subjects: New England -- Description and travel New England -- History
Publisher: New York, The Macmillan Company London, Macmillan and Co., limited
Contributing Library: New York Public Library
Digitizing Sponsor: MSN

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A sugar-house on the borders of a grove of rock maples it is strained and then rapidly boiled until it becomessugar. This final process, however, is often omitted,and much of the maple sweet is sold in the form ofsyrup instead of sugar. At the beginning of the sugar season the snow isstill deep in the woods, and walking is difficult unlessthere is a stiff crust. The larger sugar places have two 3o8 New England or three thousand trees on them. If there are only afew hundred trees, the sap gathering may be done by aman who goes about on snowshoes with a yoke on hisshoulders, from either end of which is suspended alarge pail. The sap will not flow freely unless thenights are frosty and the days warm. In such weatherthe supply of sap is sometimes so copious that the menhave to work day and night to prevent loss. Years ago the sap spouts were made of wood. Oftenthey were of elder or sumach, which have a pithy
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Gathering sap heart that can be pushed out. The sap was caughtin troughs roughly hewn out of blocks of wood, or in Vermont Industries 309 dishes made of birch bark. Later clumsy woodenbuckets that were larger at the bottom than at thetop were used. The gathering was done with oxen.When the sap was taken to the sugar camp, it wasboiled in the open air in enormous kettles hung overa fire built on the ground. The fire was opposite anopen-fronted shanty that sheltered the sugar makersfrom the weather during their daily and nightly labor. The sugaring-off in the old cauldron was greatlyenjoyed by the children. With a spoon or a woodenpaddle they would dip up some of the thick warmsyrup and spread it to cool on the nearest clean snow.Its gummy sweetness, when it was eaten, was moredelightful than any candy they could buy in the shops. Many old-time families saw no sweetening from oneend of the year to the other but maple sugar andsyrup, and the honey from their few hives, or theuncertain sp

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