In tapping the tree, the gouge is the best implement that can be used, provided it is an object to save the timber.  It is usual, when using the gouge, to take out a chip about an inch and a half in diameter; but this system is objectionable where the maple is not abundant, as it subjects the timber to decay; it is a better course to make an incision by holding the gouge obliquely upwards an inch or more in the wood.  A spout, or spile, as it is termed, about a foot long, to conduct off the sap, is inserted about two inches below this incision with the same gouge.  By this mode of tapping, the wound in the tree is so small that it will be perfectly healed or grown over in two years.  A boiler, of thick sheet-iron, made to rest on the top of an arch, by which the sides would be free from heat, and only the bottom is exposed, is doubtless a secure and rapid process of evaporation.  The sides and ends of the boiler may be made of well-seasoned boards, which will answer the same purpose as if made solely of sheet-iron.  When the sap is boiled down into syrup or thin molasses, it must be taken out of the boiler and strained through a flannel cloth into a tub, where it should settle about twenty-four hours.  The clear syrup should be separated from the sediment, which will be found in the bottom of the tub.  The pure syrup must be boiled down into sugar over a slow fire.  A short time, however, before the syrup is brought to a boiling heat, to complete the clarifying process, the whites of five eggs well beaten, about one quart of new milk, and a spoonful of saleratus, should be all well mixed with a sufficient amount of syrup, to make 100 lbs. of sugar.  The scum which would rise on the top must be skimmed off.  Caution is to be observed in not allowing the syrup to boil until the skimming process is completed.  To secure a good article, the greatest attention must be bestowed in granulating the syrup.  The boxes or tubs for draining should be large at the top and small at the bottom.  The bottom of the tubs should be bored full of small holes, to let the molasses drain through.  After it has nearly done draining, the sugar may be dissolved, and the process of clarifying, granulating, and draining repeated, which will give as pure a quality of sugar as the best refined West India article.

The greatest objections that are advanced against maple sugar are, that the processes made use of in preparing the sugar for market are so rude and imperfect that it is too generally acid, and besides charged with salts of the oxide of iron, insomuch that it ordinarily strikes a black color with tea.  These objections may be removed without any comparative difficulty, as it has been proved to demonstration, by the application of one ounce of clear lime-water to a gallon of maple sap, that the acidity will be completely neutralised, and the danger of the syrup adhering to the sides of the boiler totally removed.  The acid so peculiar to the maple sugar, when combined with lime in the