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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1926-4-7, Page 6WEDNESDN't , , 1826 Developments jiliph e SAgar inthistry Methods of Gathering Canada's An- nual Crop Have Changed Since Early Times Chemists long ago called attention to the curious and important face that wood, sugar, and starch all con- tain the same chemical elements. The theory is that the difference in the commodities are due to the various ways in which the atoms of these elements are combined. For fifty years chemists have sought to find the key to change cheaply one com- bination into another, for as soon as that be found the major part of the food problem of the world, they say, will be solved. Many Canadian chemists havemade sugar from wood but the cost has, up to the present, always been prohibitive. So fat, they have failed to do it economical- ly—all except one, for in spring the oldest of them all, Dame Nature, touches the Canadian maple with her wand, out flows the sap and behold the sugar! The sap of all maples contains sugar, and in pioneer days, in times of scarcity, even the Manitoba map- le, the least productive of the fam- ily in this respect, was tapped for the purpose of boiling' the sap to ob- tain sugar. In commercial practice, however, only the hard or sugar maple (Acer saccharum) is tapped for sugar making. In passing it may be noted that it is the leaf of this tree, the sugar maple, which is Can- ada's national emblem. When Jacques Cartier came to Canada he found the Indians mak- ing sugar. They cut the bark with hatchets and by wooden spouts dir- ected the jow of sap into birch -bark pails (called "casos" or "rocans" by the Indians)and boiled it down in earthenware pots. The first white settlers learned the art' of maple sugar making from the Indians. and the industry has been carried on from that day to the present. In In dian and pioneer days in Canada when the maple was almost the only source of sacharine matter, maple sugar was a necessity; to -day it is esteemed as a delicacy- or luxury and sells for two or three times as much per pound as the cane or beet sugar. The early settler improved upon Indian methods by substituting met- al kettles for the clay pots, and Wooden buckets for birch bark ones and to -day still further improvement has been made by the use of mod- ern evaporators installed in build- ings, and hy the collecting of sap in tin receptaces. With ?each chang? there has been an improvement in the quality of the product. This is POW much lighter in color than of old and its delicate maple ilaVor Unmixed with that of smoke, athee, or other foreign sitbstances. • In many districts, of coueee, the keeping by a farmer of a "sager Misr and the making of meek ar is het a passing phase of ageleill- tural development, but there al., oth- ers? where, owing to ;vete sui table eonditions, simeir nin kin bids fair to become ee permeneet apple orcharding. These conditions include a inaple grove situated 00 ;I. hillside of considerable extent and too steep or ton stony to 1)' eulieele for field culture. in such a situation whre the owner intends to maintain a permanent sugar bueb, the evap- orator house is placed at the bottom of the slope. In the spring when operations are to begin an array of bright tin tubes, two inches or en in diameter, and totalling hundreds of yards in length, are • brought nut from storage and erected in lines radiating from the evaporator house up the hill and extending to all parts of the grove, The sap is collected in tin pails hung against the tree. These are provided with covers which keep out ram or snow, dead leaves and dust. When a pail 18 full the worker replaces it by an empty one and empties the full pail into one of the funnels fixed at conven- ient intervals along the tubes. From the tubes the sap pours into a tank inside the evaporator house, and from this it is drawn off as required through taps placed over the evapor- ator pans. The sap is then evapor- ated to the syrup or sugar stage as desired. By this means the product is kept free from foreign substances also the. amount of labor required is reduced 'to the minimum. Wood is generally used as fuel and 'it Is customary to go over the grove, in the whiter .and tut out all dead and • undesirable trees and to skid these down the hill, into the woodpile, Or. the spring -operations. In permanent gees provision is also Made for planting Saplings and encouraging young trees to All open apadee to THE BRUSSELS POST Becomes Secretary of State , Canada and 0 s filoung Hon. Ernest Lapointe, Minister o Justice, also became secretary of state. Mr. Lapointe will thus hold a double portfolio, although the id- entity of the two departments re- mains. The appointment does not involve a by-election. Mr. Lapointe was sworn in as Secretary of State in the presence of the Governor- General arid of the Prime Minister. take the places of trees that have died The chief centre of the maple sug- ar industry is that part of Quebec south of the St. Lawrence known as the Eastern Townships. The other provinces in which maple sugar is made are Ontario, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick, in the order named. The quantity of maple sugar pro- duced in any year is affected by a number of factors including prices of other sugars, state of trade and the climatic conditions which in- crease or decrease the "run" of sap. The output in 1925, according to the Dominion Bureau of Statistics was larger then in 1924, but owing to lower p .'ees the value was some- what le -? Tile average price was 17 cents per peund for sugar and $2.05 p e gallon for syrup. The followite table gives the figures for 1925. Sneer Syrup Prov. 1!e gals. Value Que. 9,540,837 954,984 $3,332,893 Ont. 78,322 704,903 1,716,047 N. B. 73,290 2,067 29,735 N. S. 89,910 10,139 54,146 ' 9,791,359 1,672,093 $5,132,821 Q.—"What is etiquette?" Ans.—"Saying `No thank em: when you mean 'Gimme.' the COM Borer Menace is -Ever Widening, Threaten, ing Corn Belt—Belkvel o Have Entered U. S. Only Years Ago The corn borer menace in the 'United States and Canada has grown to such tremendous proper - Lions that a concentrated intonation id and Interstate effort is being made this year to check he progress. Authorities from Canada and the United States, frou the various corn growing states and from interested institutions are combining their in- genuity and resource to stamp out the pest. Although they have so far succeed ed in slowing up the advance of the corn borer, the infested area has ready well intrenched in the area around Lake Erie, the borer threat- ens to spreadout faster than ever into the more thickly cultivated corn area of Iowa, and the surround- ing corn belt. Quarantine, education, and even laws of enforcement are being tried to halt this enemy. Yet somehow or other the insect has already found its way as far south as Marion coun- ty, Ohio, over the watershed between Lake Erie and th Gulf of Mexico, whence a flood, or just heavy rains, may carry infested corn stalks to new regions of attack. Going Only Eight Years The rapidity of this advance is shown by the history of the pest in America. Although believed to have come in from Europe about 1909 or 1910, it wasn't discovered until 1917. Then it was found to have covered an area of about 100 square miles around Boston. Five years later the area covered by the corn borer went up to near- ly 8000 square miles, covering east- ern Massachusetts and New Hamp- shire for nearly 3000 square mike, a 2500 square mile area around Schenectady, N.Y., and more than 2500 square miles along the south- ern edge of Lake Erie. In the three years since the fall of 1922, this 8000 square mile reg- ion has grown into an infested area of more than 40,000 square miles in the United States alone, despite the utmost efforts of the government to cheek the borer' advance.. Quarantine, law enforcement, edu- cation and laboratory methods were applied, Eight different types of eon borer parasites have been let Immo over certain amts. Yet the Progress of the insect hasn't shown any elaekening. Spreading in Canada Camula, ton, has been ahnoet help. less' against the ;theme of this corn enemy, It crossed the border 111 1;120 and settled in Ontario, on the other eide or Lake Erie. Now it is said to have covered an area of 20,- 000 to 25,000 square miles, and it'e threatening this more productive eorn district to the north and west Strict quarantine is established, especially during .summer. Every automobile leaving the watched corn area is stopped so that no corn ir, removed. Massachusetts has gone 80 far as to enforce the plowing un- der of all corn stubble, And a strong campaign of education among farmers and city folk is being car- ried on. The seriousness of this menace isn't over -emphasized when it is re- alized that as many as a million corn borers in the dangerous caterpillar stage- may be present in an acre of land, that the moth developed from it cannot be stopped from flying off and landing in a fresh uniinfested area where it lays its eggs for the borers of next year, that this is not a one -crop pest, like the cotton boll weevil, and that it has been known to attack about 200 other plants, most of them of economic value. Besides, such control measures as dusting with insectides, or develop- ing resistant varieties of corn have been found practically useless. The real control must come through farmers' help, in destroying the caterpillar between harvest and June, cutting the corn as near to the ground as possible, burning up all unused stalks, fodder and corncobs, burning all fence rows, plowing deep and running the corn through the silage cutter. Above all, co-operation among famers and state and federal auth- orities is essential in this campaign, and in this authorities say they aro aided by practically all corn grow ers. To Repair Vacuum Tank Float To repair a leaking carburetor or vacuum tank float, lip the float into a pan of hot water. Bubbles will ap- pear at the point where the float leaks. Mark this spot and then punch two holes, one in the top and the other in the bottom of the float. This will make it possible to empty the float of gasoline and solder up the holee and the leak. se Lir ACROSS CANADA AND BACK '14li eke PAA,....4'.elet'lha Marvellous beyond venception in- aptly describes the glories or Can- adele Rockies. To be fully improc- iated they must be seen, To start out on a trip by one's self into ilk 10 le :Lr but tar -famed pared tee- weearth, to many appeare quite a tie& Bealtring this, Dean Snidely Laird, of Macdonald College?, an perionced 'Reeky Motenains Travel- ler, for the third year in sate has undertaken to conduct a party , through thie glorious wonderland. A special train or dining, standard l sleepine,.., and observation compart- ment ears has been chartered, to leave Toronto on July 19th via the Canadian Pacific Railway. Steps will bo made at Port Arthur and Fort William, which together form Oen- ada's greatest grain port; Winnipeg Beach, the popuar summer resort for Winnipegers; Winnipeg, Can- ala's third largest city; Indian Head, the chief t1.00 distributing centre of the Federal Forestry Branch; Reg- ina, the capital of Saskatchewan; Calgary, Alberta's largest city; Banff the world-famous mountain resort; by automobile for 104 miles over the Banff -Windermere Highway, the mast spectacular driye in Canada; through Kootenay Lake to Nelson, the commercial- centre of Southern British Columbia; then through the Doukhobor country to Penticton; ale ong lovely Okanagan Lake, and to Vancouver, thence by steamer to Victoria. Returning ,the trip will be by the main line of the Canadian Pacific, through the great canyons of the Fraser and Thompson Rivers, and through the Selkirk, and Rockiee, affording scenery such as can be found nowhere else on earth; Lake Louise, the Pearl of the Rockies, the most perfect gem of scenery in the world; another day at Banff, Edmon- ton, the capital of Alberta; Saska- toon, the city of optimism; Devil's Gap Camp, on the Lake of the Woods, near Kenora, theme to Fort William, where one of the line Can- adian Pacific Steamers will be used across Lake Superior and Huron to Port McNicholl, then rail to Toronto, where the trip will terminate. Everything is incluled in the price of $330.00, from Toronto; transpor- tation, sleeping cars, accomodation in hotels, and and bungalow camps, meals in diners, hotels and on steam- ers. and sight-seeing tours at points visitru. r trip is open to all, and appli- cations for accomodation, are being received. Fares from other points than Tor - min will be named, and descriptive illustrated booklet sent on applica- tion to Dean Sinclair Laird, lVfacdon- aid College Post Office, Que. Rev. John McGarrity, C.S., young- est son of Patrick McGarrity and the late Mrs. McGarrity, of Brant town- ship, who was ordained to the priest- hood on Friday by Archbishop Cur- ley at Baltimore, Md., celebrated his first mass in the Sacred Heart Church, Walkerton, Sunday morning. A particularly sad feature of the occasion was that the death of Mrs. McGarrity, mother of the newly or- dained priest, occurred on Thursday, the day before her son's ordination. anted We pay Highest Cash Price for Cream. 1 cent per lb. Butter Fat extra paid for all Cream delivered at our Creamery. Satisfaction Guaranteed Brussels Creamery Co. Limited Phone 22 VingenallEMPIEMIIMIEEMENISINMer Dr. Norman Kerr, who was one of the best likel of Chicago's Candaian- American physicians, passed away re - 11 cently from a heart attack. He spent his boyhood days at Holyrood, near Lueknow. There are a great many ways to do a job of printing ; but quality printing is only done one way—THE BEST. We do printing of all kinds, and no matter what your needs may be, from name card to booklet, we do it the quality way. P. S.—We also do it in a way to save you money. The Post Publishing House INVIC.1301.,0181,NCTAJ.1. ,e- • • aY COURTESY OtC.Ri 1A77,tu. Crig-117161ace— the Buckets S.thSeellegle, P1 81 8,„0 11 588*1.0e • 115 BY COZ/ATESY C.AR GATHERING TH,E SAP .eyciluiertsr e 141-1E 4119All HOUSE- RUNIIII\10 THE SAP INT() TI1 VA.