We learn from our exchanges, that great preparations have been made for manufacturing maple sugar the present season, wherever the sugar maple is found. We are not aware that this tree abounds to any great extent in any part of Iowa, except in Jackson county – there it is found in great abundance, and from which the inhabitants of that county , will be able to supply themselves with sugar for the year, and have a surplus for their more unfortunate neighbors.
Perhaps it is not generally known that we have another forest tree – the Black Walnut – from the sap of which a syrup may be manufactured, quite equal, if not superior to that produced from the maple. Such is the fact, for we have partaken of the syrup, whether it will grain, and thus produce sugar, we are not able to say. In many parts of the state, this tree is found in sufficient number to make a respectable sugar bush within the reach of many, who have heretofore supposed the Black Walnut fitted only for the production of lumber, firewood, and nuts. In tapping the Black Walnut, and reducing the sap to syrup, proceed in all respects as you would with the maple.
Owing to the high price of sugar and molasses, every farmer who has the facilities will feel inclined to make as much maple and Black Walnut syrup, as possible, this season. Sugar and molasses have become indispensables in every family – we need them every day, and at every meal. Let us husband well in all the resources within our reach. A few years ago the only resource we had in the north was the Maple, but now we have the Chinese Sugar cane, and the Black Walnut; and for aught we know, others may turn up by and by. The resources of the Great Northwest are not yet half developed. – Iowa Homestead.
– Published in The Davenport Daily Gazette, Davenport, Iowa, Saturday Morning, March 29, 1862, p. 2
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