C20 



SUGAR 



of sap. In a good season an average tree will yield, 

 during the best ]>eriod of flow, as nnich as 3 gallons 

 of sup daily, and piodnco about 4 pounds of sugar 

 during the season. There are exceptional cases on 

 record >;' 1<> to 40 Ibs. from a single tree. 

 when fully unit lire, may l>e tapped many years with- 

 out injury, there Ix-ing cases of the same tree being 

 topped fur 40 years without apparent harm. 



The process employed in collecting the juice is to 

 notch the tree 11 inch deep with an uxe, or to bore 

 auger-holes tin) sap being caused to flow into col- 

 lecting vessels. Three persons, it is said, can attend 

 to 230 trees. The sap is evaporated in iron caldrons 

 or shallow boilers, yielding a sugar of peculiar aj>- 

 pearance and ta^te. The annual product of maple- 

 sugar is estimated at 10,000 tons, but tho data are 

 liable. In Nebraska an equally good sugar is 

 made from the ash-leaved maple; while sonn 

 American trees promise well as sugar producers. 

 Vermont is the principal State engaged in thcmaplo 

 sugar industry. At the last census this St.-r 

 passed its nearest competitor, Now York, by 2,200,000 

 fbs. 



Maize or Indian corn was a source of sugar to tho 

 ancient Mexicans, and the maize-plants that bear no 

 seeds are so sweet that the Mexican children B 

 to be as fond of them as of sugar-cane. It lias been 

 Used to some slight extent for this purpose in South- 

 ern Europe and the United States, but a far more 

 important sugar-yielding plant is the Sorghum, or 

 Chinese Sugar-ca'ue, which has been experimented 

 upon with very promising results. The seeds of 

 this plant were first brought to Europe in 1851, and 

 to tho United States in 1854. They were distributed 

 among farmers, and found to flourish, in prop. 

 from Maine to Texas. The culture rapidly spread, 

 especially in the western States, mainly for the pur- 

 pose of making molasses, though the leaves made 

 excellent food for cattle. Until quite recently tho 

 sorghum-juice was almost wholly made into mo- 

 lasses. The census of 1870 reports only 21 

 heads of sorghum-sugar, with 16,000,000 gallons of 

 molasses. The census report of issit makes no 

 mention of sorghum. The product had apparently 

 fallen to unimportant dimensions. But since ISMI 

 improvements in sorghum-sugar making hav, 

 introduced which promise to greatly revive that in- 

 dustry, it being possible to produce sugar of excel- 

 lent quality from sorghum at a cost much below 

 that of Louisiana cane-sugar. The powerful ma- 

 chines used to crush cane are not needed in tho case 

 of sorghum, which can bo crushed much more 

 easily. The area of possible sorghum-culture i< 

 extensive, being nearly the same as that of Indian 

 corn, and while. : is profitable only on large! 



plantations sorghum can be raised profitably by 

 ordinary farmers. The industry promises, there- 

 fore, to become an important one in tho United 

 States. (See AGRICULTURE, Chap. V. 4.) 



Another source of American sugar is tho M. I.MI 

 (Cacumis mrli), which has assumed some little im- 

 portance, particularly in California. Usually the 

 juice is only ova|M>rated to molasses, whose llavor is 

 said to be much superior to that of beet-sugar. 

 As a source of commercial sugar, melons cannot 

 compote with cane or beet. Other sources of sugar 

 are milk, which is used to some extent for this pur- 

 pose in Switzerland, and the juice of several 

 of palm, particularly that of the wild date-palm, 

 from which sugar is made in many tropical r. 

 Tho artificial conversion of starch into sugar was 

 first effected by KireholT at St. Petersburg in 1702. 

 'Hi., sugar thus produced is glucose, differing 

 jcally, as we have said, from sucrose. The making of 

 it lias become a: re industry of 1 



Europe and the United States. One further source 

 of thu sugar-product of this country is imported 



' molasses, which is largely used for the making of 

 low grades of yellow sugar. Tin' leccipu of f.,:. 

 and domestic 'molasses at the port of Xew York in 

 1880 was 14,849,760 gallons. Much of this, ami of 

 the molasses received at other ports, is worked over 

 again for the sugar it contains. 



An approximate estimate of the annual production 

 of sugar in America outside the United S J 

 be made from the replies to an inquiry address, d a 

 few years ago by the Agricultural Department at 

 Washington to the United .States coi-.siii-i ai \aiious 

 American ports. These icplies yield the following 

 tubular .statement of tho American sugar-pi oduei : 



Mcr'oo, export.. 18ST.-81 .................... r,.:SO,2T8 Ibc. 



I. in.-r California, annual prcxiuct ........... -',4(0,1X0 



Corta Rica, ISM p.odnct 



! GaaUoula, 18ti product .................. :.'!.<: 



Nicaingua, annual product .................. 'J,--K',000 " 



i.lor, annual product ................... 18,000.000 " 



l(|-:i-/:l. is-: , , .................... >S " 



BritUhGoiuu, I StiU product .............. " 



Dutch Guiana. 18 C product ................. 



I Yuad.ir, jinniiitl ] nMn<:t .................... 1 1,1'UM ii'i " 



V.-n -zm-i.i, r:mi;a! product .................. ' " 



IV. u. annual product ....................... 80,000,000 " 



The last-named country is excellently adapted to 

 ...roduction, and in 1*7 tJ its crop was about 

 H)(i,000,(MX) pounds, with promise of large inerea-.ii 

 through irrigation and the introduction of ('hi; 

 labor. But the war with Chili, the beet-root sugar 

 Competition, and other adverse inlluenci ised 



u considerable falling oil' in later x. 



The We>t India product, as given in tho same re- 

 ports, is as follow s : 



Jamaica. avci-ngc annual product .......... H ,S2I ,IKO Ibs. 



Trinidad, IW, export .................... 1IS.V 



S:nu,a<'ii'.z. ISXV-Ni product .............. 1 7. c .r.:,. -'.-' 



.Guadeloupe 1 ssi; product ................. Ss.-.*.i7,:;ii7 " 



leloups, 1887 wtim*ta ................ 188,800,000 " 



Mait:. -predict ................. 66,581,700 " 



San I>onmii;n. 1 sNi product ............... :iri.4'.l7.715 " 



1'ortoKioo, i-stimatc.l annual product ..... 170,400,000 " 



' Cuba, total pro.luct for ls.s (estimated 



from mother sourer) ................. 1,608,810,880 " 



UarbadofB. lt4-S5(istunatcd from another 



source) .............................. 135,908,000 " 



Of the Cuban product, which is about one-third 

 that, of the wln.1.- world, !KJ.;V> percent, of the export 

 comes to the United Slates. The product of cane- 

 sugar in the United States is much less per acre 

 than in the well-cultivated West India islands. In 

 Barbadoes the yield per acre is about 5SOO Ibs ; in 

 Louisiana, about l:if>0 Ibs. The product of this 

 country declined from lM7.">77 hogsheads in IS.'iO to 

 87,048 in 1870. This as in conseijuenco of tho 

 war. during whose continuance the sugar-crop ran 

 very low. It has been on the increase since I*7H. 

 mid has ngain reached the amount of 1850. It is 

 doubtful if it will increase considerably beyond this, 

 and may, perhaps, ere many years, be surpassed by 

 'hum-product. The following figures .give 

 the Louisiana production for several suee. 



1851. ... '.'"l.lttl.onoib*. 



...................... 10,800.000 



1^7.. i ................. w. r.j.'.'ri 



.......................... 198 



lss| . 



1SS4. 

 188(1. 



-'11 



The product of the other Gulf States, during the 

 same ]..'riod, has ranged from fi.000,000 to 10,000,000 

 Ibs., the amount for 1886 being 16,128,000 Ibs. Dur- 

 ing the same period the importations of foreign sugar 

 into the United States have grown to so enormous 

 dimensions as quite to dwarf the Louisiana product. 



