MAIZE SUGAR, HISTORY OF. 421 



CHAPTER XIII. 



(a.) Maize snjrar, history of. 



(6. 1 Detailed analvs-s of the juice of several varieties of maize. 



(c ) Average results of analyses of many varieties of maize. 



(d ) Sutrar anil ripe prain from maize. 



(e I Comparison of the juices of sorghum and maize. 



(/. ) Peail millet, .sugar Irom. 



MAIZE SUGAR, HISTORY OF, 



The presence of sugar in the juice of the maize stalk has been long 

 known. In the "True Travels, Adventures, and Observations of 

 Captain lohn Smitli, Account of Sixth Voyage, a. d. 1()06, London 

 Ed., A. D. 1629," he says of Indian corn (Zea niais): 



The stalke bein^ yet preene, hath a sweet iuice in it, somewhat like a sugar- 

 cane, which is the cause that when they ga'her their come greene they sucke 

 the stalkes; for as we gather greene pea^^e, so do they their corne, being greene, 

 which excelleth their olde [Maize and Sorghum, F. L. Stewart, page 17]. 



The historian, Prcscott, in his "Conquest of Mexico," says of the 

 cultivation of Indian corn : 



The great staple of the country, as indeed of the American continent, was 

 maize or Indian corn, which grew freely alouii the valleys, and up the sleep 

 sides of the Cordilleras, to the high level of the table-lands. 



Prescott says : 



The Aztecs were as curious in its preparation, and as well instructed in its 

 manifold uses, as the most experienced housewife. Its gigantic stalks, in the 

 equinoctial regions, afford a saccharine matter not found to the same extent 

 in northern latitudes, and supplied the natives with sugar little inferior to that 

 of the cane itself, which was not introduced among them till after the conquest. 



In the United States, in the early colonial days, it appears that ex- 

 periments on a large scale were made, looking to the utilization of 

 cornstalks as an economical source of sugar. 



The entire acreage of all the cultivated laud of the United States, 

 including that in the cereals, root crops, cotton, and the grass lands, 

 equals 132,910,281 acres. Of this area, 50,369,113 acres, or 38 per 

 cent, is in maize. The enormous extent of this cereal becomes thus 

 apparent. 



The availability of these plants as a source of sugar has been known 

 for a Ijng time ; but, although much has been known, little has been 



