9OGAU CULTURK AND MAKUFACTI'IU!. 



8UQAH, riiill'KHTIES OF. 



Of Utew, the former U by f v the best Chinese sugar-candy U eun- 

 umed, to the almost total exclusion of other sugar, by tlie European* 

 at the atrUlcmenta in the Kast The process of making it in briefly 

 dMrribed under CANDT. 



Itt-r.*J Sugar. The process of manufacturing sugar from I 

 deKribed under Burr. Tlio manufacture was commenced in Europe 

 chiefly through the high price of colonial lugar, owing partly to war 

 and partly to taxation. The early attempt* were diautroug : but 

 within the last few yean the manufaoture ha* greatly extended. 

 St. .He, of Berlin, estimated the quantity of beet tugar exerted from 

 the countries where it waa made, at about 8,300,000 cwt. annually ; 

 but thia aflhrda no index to the quantity made and coxjumetl in those 

 countries. It U known that 2".uon.m'o ccntnenof beet-root have been 

 uwd for the manufacture in Germany aloue in one year. In France, 

 also, the number of beet-sugar manufactories U very large. The 

 relative advantage* and disadvantage* of beet sugar have long been, 

 and (till are, a matter of controversy. Stolid claims for beet-sugar 

 made in Kurope, over cane-sugar made in slave countries, the following 

 advantages: superior intelligence and (kill of the operatives; supe- 

 riority and easy repair of machinery ; ready intercourse of the manu- 

 facturers with chemists and mechanical inventors ; the presence of 

 the owners instead of entrusting the management to agents ; a ready 

 supply of labour and skill of various kinds ; and a climate less likely 

 than that of tropical countries to produce fermentation in the saccha- 

 rine juice. Very favourable balance sheets have frequently been put 

 forth by beet-sugar makers; but these, like many other kinds of 

 balance sheet, require to be received with caution. 



We may here add a few words concerning sugar from the mapU taA 

 the .Surr/Auw taerJiaraium. 



Maple-sugar U made in Canada and the United States. The sap U 

 obtained by boring holes in the trunk of the maple-tree, in a direction 

 inclining upwards, with an augur about three-quarters of an inch in 

 diameter : the depth of the holes being such that they may penetrate 

 about half an inch into the alburnum, or white bark, as the sap is 

 found to flow more freely at that depth than at any other. Tubes of 

 filer or sumach are inserted in the holes, so as to project a few inches 

 from the trunk ; their outer ends being cut so as to form small troughs, 

 along which the sap trickles into receptacles placed beneath them. 

 The season for collecting the sap extends from the beginning of 

 February to the middle of April. Though collected in frosty weather, 

 the tendency of the juice to fermentation renders it desirable to 

 boil down the sap within two or three days at furthest from the time 

 of its extraction. This is done in very rude apparatus, which is carried 

 to the encampment formed by the sugar-makers. The syrup is thus 

 brought to about one-third of its original bulk, the scum which rises 

 being removed. White of egg is sometimes used as a clarifier ; and 

 occasionally a little butter or fat is thrown in during the last boiling. 

 The molasses are separated, though mostly in a very imperfect manner, 

 by filtration. The concreted sugar is said to be equal in taste to cane- 

 sugar, and to sweeten as well It ia seldom refined, but is capable of 

 being made equal to loaf-sugar from the cane. 



The Sorghum taccharaium, or Sugar Qrass, haa lately become an object 

 of attention. Seeds were brought from China, and distributed in France, 

 Belgium, Germany, England, and the United States. Some were town 

 in a market-garden at Streatham, in October, 1858 ; the plants grew to 

 a height of 10 feet; and the juice was said to contain 13 per cent, of 

 saccharine matter. Dr. Scoifern even asserted that every acre of 

 inferior sandy land in England might be made to yield 4J tons of sugar 

 from this source ; that in bad years the plant might be sliced in 

 November, dried, and used for fodder, instead of turnips ; and that it 

 is superior to the white beet and the sugar-maple as a source for sugar. 

 This high encomium, however, has not been verified. The plant, 

 nevertheless, is more easily cultivated than the sugar-cane, and over a 

 wider variety of soil ; and as the juice is contained in steins capable of 

 being sliced, there is no occasion for a sugar-mill. On the other 

 hand, Dr. Hayes, of the United States, from experiments made in 

 1857, found that the syrup would not crystallise properly : whence he 

 inferred that the plant secretes, not true sugar, but a semi-fluid glucose. 

 At any rate, the plant is worthy of further attention in Kuropu. It is 

 said that the first seeds were brought from Shanghai to Paris in 1851, 

 that all dieil luit ne, and that all the plants of the 8oryhum now being 

 grown for thin experiment in Europe and America are the produce of 

 til is one seed. 



Sapor-Trad*. It is not known how much sugar in made in the 

 world. Stolid, in 1853, put down the quantities of cane-sugar 

 from the several countries as follows : 



Kt and Wwt Indict (British) . . . 7,030,000 cwU. 



French oolonlr 1,290,000 



Dutch colonies 1,300,000 



Spanish colonies 6,690,000 



l>nli.li colon iej 150,000 



Brazil 4,000,000 



Vnitrd states 2,730,000 



23,190,000 



To which he added about an equal quantity consumed in those name 

 countries. Ho also put down in his taluilatii.n, :i,:)(IO,000 cwt. of beet- 

 tujar, 2,000,000 of palm-sugar, and 400,000 of maple-sugar. If these 



intimate* are approximately correct, the total sugar product would In- 

 over 50,000,000 cwt*. Mr. M'Culloch lias expressed an ..|.mi..n th.n . i 

 1868, the produce of cane-sugar all over the world was 1,-J. 

 equal to 25,000,000 owt*. an estimate so much lower than 

 Stolid for 1853, as to show that the authorities rely on very different 

 data. Mr. M'Culloch credits Cuba with one-third of all the cane-sugar 

 grown in the world. 



In 1601 a duty amounting to It. Crf. per cwt. was imposed on the 

 importation of British plantation sugar in England; and in in 

 duty was doubled. This gradually rose to SO*, early in the present 

 century, from which it fell to 24. in 1833. From 17U3 t.. I .- 

 duty on East India sugar was 87 and 38 per cent. :i.l \ 

 afterward* was lit. and 8*. the cwt. higher than the duty .-n \\ . -t 

 India ; but by an act paned in 183A, the duties were assimilated by 

 theredurtii.il lia sugar from 82. to 24*. the cwt. The duty 



on foreign sugar varied from 00*. to t>3. until about 1844. ( 



Fluctuations iu price, and the domestic circumstances of the country, 

 occasion great diversities in the consumption of different years, 

 with the low price of 1831, the consumption was greater than in 

 notwithstanding the population of Great Britain had increased > 

 _',iiUO,nuM. 'jl,, amm:d consumption averages above 20 Ibg. pti 

 for England and Scotland, and would probably be 60 Ibg. if a great 

 reduction were to take place in the price. In France the aimu 

 . umption averages 5 Ibs. per head; in the states of the German I 

 above 4 Ibs. ; and in the whole of Continental Europe, about 2.', 



The quantity of sugar produced in t; iieshasHuc- 



greatly since the emancipation of the slaves. The equal:.. iti.m "t the 

 duty on Kant India sugar in 1836 gave a stimulus to the cultivation <>i' 

 the sugar-cane in the East Indies, and the import of 1840 exceeded all 

 expectation, being 1,066,032 cwt*., or above 53,000 tons. '1 

 of 1840 was so great that 2316 cwts. of foreign sugar were entered t<-r 

 home consumption, paying a duty of 63*., or 39*. the ewt. more than 

 sugar from British possessions. The sugar of Brazil, Cuba, anil 

 foreign countries is chiefly exported to the Continent, where tin- prieu 

 is on an average from 10*. to 20*. the cwt. lower than in this country. 



In 1844 a great change was effected in the sugar duties. \\ 

 foreign sugar might, under certain circumstances, be imported at a 

 duty of Sii. instead of 63s., and in some favoured instances (to 

 encourage free instead of slave labour) as low as 23*. Cxi. Su H ar from 

 foreign slave states was still to pay 03s. Sugar from British possessions 

 was to pay 14*. to 21*., according to quality. By acts passed in 1840 

 and 1848, the duties on British and foreign sugar were gradually to 

 approach equality, the equalisation to be completed in 1854, at which 

 date all sugars would pay from 10. to 13s. 4<<. per cwt., according to 

 quality. Between 1854 and 1858 the duties were slightly r.r, 

 meet a war expenditure ; during this interval, the lowest duty on the 

 lowest kind was lls.; and the highest duty on the highest kind, 17*. (W. 

 By the tariff of 1860, the duty was still again slightly raised, ran-iiiL,' 

 from 12*. 8</., for common moist, to 18*. id., for best refined : 

 juice paid a duty of 10*. 4d. These duties are the same, wl 

 country the sugar may be brought from. 



Without taking note of the quantity re-exported, the following gives 

 the quantity of sugar imported for homo consumption, and the duty 

 raised from it, in six different years, situated ivspirtively live y. ar- 

 apart : 



Entered fur Homo 

 Consumption. 



1833 

 1W1 



1843 

 1848 

 1853 

 1358 



3,000,000 CWU. 



3,900,000 



4,000,000 



6,100,000 



7,300,000 



8,500,000 



Amount of Duty. 

 1,400,000 

 4,700,000 

 5,100,000 

 0,000 

 4,100,000 

 5,800,000 



The above quantities arc given in round numbers ; but to ill 

 the present state of the trade, the figures for 1800 will here be 

 in more detail : 



ImpoiUil. Home Consumption. 



I iirelim-d, 1st quality . 80,516 cwts. i cwU. 



liml'i' : '" 11 



3rd quality . 4,!I77,784 S,l"4,i'' 



Total unrclinrd 

 Kclimil anil candy sugar 

 t ;me juice . . 



--3 . . . 



8,807,586 



12,021. 

 559,953 



!l,777,G;g 8,535,040 



It will thus be seen that the home consumption of sugar very n. :n !y 

 equals the imports, leaving only a small quantity for re > 

 The computed real value of the whole (minus the duty) was al'out 

 18,000,000/. 



SUGAR, PROPERTIES OF. Sugar Is a proximate principle, 

 chiefly of vegetal. les, but also sparingly of animals of the class Mam- 

 malia. It presents considerable varieties, according to the 

 v. h.-nce it is obtained, and ia distinguished Into tli e which arc 

 ble of undergoing the vinous i m, and into those \\hi. 



not ; also into those which can assume a definite crystalline' foi 

 those which cannot ; but sometime* these two kinds co-exist in the 



