SORGHUM AND ITS PRODUCTS. 
CHAPTER I. 
SUGAR AND SUGAR PLANTS. 
Cane Sugar—Its Early History—The Period of its Introduction 
into Europe—Comparatively unknown to the Ancients—Pliny’s 
Observations—Importance of the Sugar Industry at the Present 
Time—Sources from which Sugar is now derived—The Tropi- 
cal Cane—Its Climatology—Sugar Production in the United 
States—Insufficiency of all our Native Sources of Supply—The 
Cane in Louisiana—The Sugar Maple—The Beet—Grape or 
Starch Sugar—Its Low Rank—Inapplicable to the most Im- 
portant Purposes for which Cane Sugar is used—Sorghum Sac- 
charatum, the Northern Cane—Sketch of its History—Its Rela- 
tions to Soil and Climate—Its True Character and Value. 
THE introduction of new alimentary substances and skill 
in the art of producing them in the forms best adapted to 
human use, are eminently characteristic of modern times. 
There seems to be truth in the opinion that the vigor and 
activity of intellect and superior power of physical en- 
durance possessed by the Caucasian race are due, in some 
sort, to the use of certain articles of diet unknown or 
unappropriated in the earlier ages. It is at least a notable 
coincidence that the period when Anglo-Saxon power and 
civilization began to be acknowledged in the world, the 
golden era of literature and philosophy in Europe, the 
age of Shakspeare and Bacon, was marked by a dietetic 
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