lant eye. As the liquor thickens into molasses, it becomes a fine
yellow, and seems nothing but thick froth. When it is getting pretty
well boiled down, the drops begin to fall clear and ropy from the ladle;
and if you see little bright grainy-looking bubbles in it, drop some on
a cold plate, and continue to stir or rub it till it is quite cold: if
it is ready to granulate, you will find it gritty, and turn whitish or
pale straw colour; and stiff. The sugar may then safely be poured off
into a tin dish, pail, basin, or any other utensil. I tried two
different methods after taking the sugar from the fire, but could find
little difference in the look of the sugar, except that in one the
quantity was broken up more completely; in the other the sugar remained
in large lumps, but equally pure and sparkling. In the first I kept
stirring the sugar till it began to cool and form a whitish thick
substance, and the grains were well crystallised; in the other process,
--which I think preferable, as being the least troublesome,--I waited
till the mass was hardened into sugar, and then, piercing the crust in
many places, I turned the mass into a cullender, and placed the
cullender over a vessel to receive the molasses that drained from the
sugar. In the course of the day or two, I frequently stirred the sugar,
which thus became perfectly free from moisture, and had acquired a fine
sparkling grain, tasting exactly like sugar-candy, free from any taste
of the maple-sap, and fit for any purpose.

I observed that in general maple-sugar, as it is commonly made, is hard
and compact, showing little grain, and weighing very heavy in proportion
to its bulk. Exactly the reverse is the case with that I made, it being
extremely light for its bulk, all the heavy molasses having been
separated, instead of dried into the sugar. Had the present season been
at all a favourable one, which it was not, we should have made a good
quantity of excellent sugar.

VINEGAR.

By boiling down five gallons of sap to one, and when just a little above
the heat of new milk, putting in a cupful of barm (hop-rising will do if
it be good), and letting the vessel remain in your kitchen chimney-
corner during the summer, and perhaps longer, you will obtain a fine,
cheap, pleasant, and strong vinegar, fit for any purpose. This plan I
have pursued successfully two years. Care must be taken that the cask or
keg be well seasoned and tight before the vinegar is put in; as