ON THE POWDERED SUGAR OF COMMERCE. 



By E. H. S. Bailey and H. L. Jackson. 



IT has been said that although sugar constitutes about 30 per 

 cent of the trade of the wholesale grocer, it gives him 75 per 

 cent of his trouble. This is due to the fact that it is sold on such 

 a close margin that, although it takes considerable capital to han- 

 dle it, the profit is small, or may, indeed, in the fluctuations of the 

 market, be a negative quantity. 



The ordinary grocer handles only a few grades of sugar, as there 

 is no demand for a great variety, but there are about thirty differ- 

 ent grades on the market. These are of different colors and de- 

 grees of fineness. Those sugars upon which most work has been 

 clone in the process of manufacturing sell for a higher price, but 

 the cost to the consumer of such grades as cube sugar and pow- 

 dered sugar is entirely out of proportion to the increased cost t f 

 manufacture. In fact, these grades are to be classed as luxuries, 

 or foods to be purchased only if the consumer has sufficient in- 

 come so that he can afford to buy them. 



Both cube sugar and powdered sugar are usually made from the 

 same grade of stock as granulated sugar. The cube sugar has, 

 however, been crystallized in lumps or "sugar loaves," and is then 

 sawn into slices, and finally into cubes. Powdered sugar has been 

 ground in a mill, similar to that used in making flour, and then 

 sifted through bolting cloth, so as to be of uniform fineness. It is 

 also very important that powdered sugar should be thoroughly 

 dried, so as to prevent its caking upon storage. These sugars are 

 sometimes colored blue with "ultramarine" so as to cover up the 

 slightly yellow tint which is due to the retention of a small quan- 

 tity of molasses. This process is of the same character as the 

 bluing of clothes in the laundry, and is practiced for the same 

 purpose. 



On account of the recent high price of sugars, there would be 

 greater danger of adulteration at the present time than formerly, 

 and this adulteration, if it is practiced, would no doubt be tried on 

 the most expensive sugars and those that were powdered, so that 

 the presence of foreign sugars could not be so easily detected. 



(27) 



