SUGAR 



787 



much oxygen or of a minute (necessary) quantity. 

 Besides alcohol and carbonic acid other substances 

 are produced from sucrose by yeast, notably gly- 

 cerol and lactic acid, and certain odorous principles 

 to a small extent. Pure cultures of yeast are said 

 not to elaborate the higher alcohols (fusel-oil), but 

 this view requires to be supported by further in- 

 vestigation. 



Sucrose occurs very widely in the vegetable 

 kingdom. It is found in the sugar-cane (Saccharum 

 ojtcinarum), of which a number of varieties are 

 known and cultivated ; in many other grasses 

 (Graminhe) ; in the sap of many "forest trees ; in 

 the roots of certain plants ; in numerous seeds ; 

 in most sweet fruits, usually in association with 

 invert sugar ; and in the nectar of flowers. The 

 sugar-cane was the source from which sugar was 

 originally prepared, and the East first learned the 

 use of this article of diet. The cane has doubtless 

 been known in India from time immemorial, and 



Sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum). 



sugar is still produced from this source in that 

 country, but the quality of that now exported does 

 not bear comparison with the product of other 

 lands. The early classical writers, especially 

 Herodotus, Theophrastus, Seneca, and Strabo, 

 make undoubted references to sugar, which they 

 speak of as 'honey of canes,' or 'honey made by 

 human hands;' and at about the date of the 

 Christian era this substance had become pretty 

 generally known under the name of saccharon or 

 tacr.harum. Our word sugar is derived, through 

 Fr. sucre. Span, azucar, Arabic sakkar, Persian 

 xhnLur, from the Sanskrit sharkard, which signifies 

 a substance consisting of small grains. The term 

 candy, applied to sugar in large crystals, took its 

 origin from the Arabic and Persian hand or kandat. 

 It is believed that Bengal was the locality in which 

 cane-sugar in a dry granular state was first pre- 

 pared. The Chinese admit that they first gained 

 their knowledge of the art of making sugar from 

 India, somewhere about 766 to 780 B.c. We 

 have evidence that at a later period, the 9th 



century of our era, sugar was grown in Persia, 

 and the Persian physicians of the 10th and llth 

 centuries first introduced it into medicine. The 

 Arabs cultivated the cane in many of their Medi- 

 terranean settlements, and as early as 961 A.D. the 

 plant flourished in the Iberian peninsula. Soon 

 afterwards sugar of Egyptian origin formed a staple 

 of trade between the merchants of Venice and of 

 London, wool, which then constituted the great 

 wealth of England, being largely exported in 

 exchange for it. The manufacture of sugar from 

 the cane, thus interesting historically, still fur- 

 nishes a considerable part of the entire supply ; and 

 the best sugar is derived from this source, although 

 the beet-root now actually yields a greater quan- 

 tity. 



The sugar-cane has been introduced into 

 almost all tropical and subtropical countries; 

 the East and West Indies, the southern United 

 States, Central America, Brazil, Peru, Chili, 

 Mauritius, the Malayan Archipelago, Egypt, 

 northern Australia, south Africa, and many islands 

 of the Pacific may be mentioned as illustrating the 

 wideness of its range, although the list is by no 

 means exhaustive. The cane seems to have been 

 introduced by Jesuits into the southern United 

 States from the West Indies about 1750 ; but sugar 

 culture was neither an important nor prosperous 

 industry when Louisiana was ceded to the United 

 States in 1803. This state soon became and still 

 is a great sugar-producing state ; the cane is grown 

 in all the Gulf states on both sides of the Missis- 

 sippi (though in all these states it sometimes 

 suffers from frost). In Europe it is or has been 

 grown a little in Sicily and in Andalusia. 



The cane, which may be described as a gigantic 

 grass, thrives best in a warm, moist climate, with 

 prevalent sea-breezes and moderate intervals of 

 hot, dry weather. Many descriptions of cane exist, 

 and these are regarded as varieties of one species, 

 although some botanists have raised a few to the 

 rank of distinct species. The common sugar-cane 

 of the United States is the Creole or Madeira; 

 others cultivated being the Otaheite, Batavian, 

 Chinese, and Salangore. The stem, which varies 

 from 6 to 14 feet in height, is from 1 to 14 inch 

 thick, and jointed at intervals of from 3 to 6 inches; 

 its pith, of open cellular structure, contains the 

 sugary juice. The tops and lower joints are not 

 crushed ; the outer skin contains much silica. 

 The ' arrow ' or flowering stem is without joints, 

 and bears a panicle of soft, silky flowers. The 

 cane suffers much from the ravages of rats (to 

 check whose ravages the mongoose or ichneumon 

 has in some places been successfully used), 

 from white ants, and several boring insects. The 

 plant is propagated from the eyes or buds which 

 grow on the stems, as no cultivated cane seems to 

 ripen its seed ; and the ' stoles,' or portions remain- 

 ing in the ground, throw up fresh canes, called 

 ratoons, for several seasons sometimes twenty 

 years after which replanting is necessary. The 

 young cuttings are planted in rows 3 feet apart, 

 and at intervals of 2 feet from plant to plant. 

 The cane requires a fertile, marly soil, not too 

 heavily charged with common salt or other saline 

 ingredients. The most suitable manure is farm- 

 yard dung or night-soil ; superphosphates and the 

 various artificial fertilisers are considered to be less 

 advantageous, but the presence of lime is of prim- 

 ary importance. 



The sugar exists in a state of solution in certain 

 cells in the stem of the plant, and in order to 

 obtain it several methods are adopted. The juice 

 is sometimes expressed by means 01 powerful roller- 

 mills which rupture the cells, or the crushing is 

 preceded by maceration in water. Sometimes the 

 diffusion method is adopted, which consists in 



