t thing is to keep it in
order. Sugar boiling is dirty sticky business, especially on wet days,
unless every part is kept scrupulously clean and dry, slabs and tables
should be washed, no trace of sifting, scraps, or boiled goods, should
be left exposed to the atmosphere during the night, the floor well
swept, and a little clean sawdust put down every night.

The comfort and ease in working in a clean place far more than offsets
the trouble and time it takes to put it in order, besides the goods are
much drier, brighter and easier to bottle or pack. Nothing is more
unpleasant than to work with sticky slabs, slimy machines or dirty
scales. The boil adheres to the slabs, sticks to the rollers, spoiling
the shapes, and become cloudy and spotty in weighing. We are not writing
without knowledge. Any one who has worked or visited small workshops can
endorse the value of these remarks, and call to mind this imaginary
picture. However, there are exceptions, still the hint will be useful in
a good many cases.

[Illustration: Fig. 5.

Steel Candy Shears.

English Candy Shears, $1.50.]

[Illustration: Fig. 201 a. Price, $1.75

Copper Cased Candy Thermometer.]

METHOD OF SUGAR BOILING.

If the learner will study the following instructions, the author
guarantees to place him in a position to boil sugar as correctly as the
most experienced workman. To accomplish this, the reader should provide
himself with the sugar boiler's tools named on the preceding page.
While the sugar is undergoing the process of boiling, it is almost
impossible for a learner to determine the exact degree which the sugar
has attained without a thermometer, and even the journeyman finds it so
useful that you will find very few indeed who boil sugar without it; in
fact many of the larger shops will not allow a sugar boiler to work
without one. For almost any purpose the following degrees will be found
all that is necessary. For instance put into the pan in which you intend
to boil, 7 lbs. granulated sugar together with one quart of water,
placing it on the fire and allow it to boil. Put a cover over the pan
and allow it to boil for ten minutes; then take off the cover and put
the thermometer in the pan, immersing the bottom part of it in the
boiling sugar, and let it remain there until the sugar is boiled to the
degree you require. The following five degrees are those used by
confectioners for different purposes:

[Illustration: Fig. 87.

IRON BE