SUGAR. 381 



in this country. It is not qualified to bear a full 

 exposure to the cold of our winter ; and if even this 

 difficulty could be surmounted, there is but little 

 reason for wishing that it should be naturalized among 

 us, as the amount of labour required for its culture, 

 and for the preparation of the leaves, would, at the 

 lowest rate paid in England, raise the produce to a 

 price out of all proportion greater than we now pay 

 for the tea of China, burthened as it is with the ex- 

 penses of a lengthened voyage, and with a government 

 duty which doubles the selling price. Attempts have 

 been made to cultivate the plant in Brazil, where no 

 obstacle is offered by the climate ; but the compara- 

 tive dsarness of labour in that quarter offers a serious 

 barrier against the successful prosecution of the 

 gcheme, 



SUGAR. 



SUGAR must be considered as one of the most va- 

 luable vegetable substances with which civilized man 

 has become acquainted. So varied and extensive are 

 its uses, and so greatly does it minister to the social 

 gratifications of mankind, that we are justified in 

 ranking it as inferior only in the vegetable economy to 

 the cereal grains described in the first division of the 

 present volume. 



Sugar, speaking chemically, is included in, or 

 forms a constituent part of, a very numerous range 

 of plants, being either contained ready formed, or 

 capable of being developed in all that will yield al- 

 cohol after fermentation and distillation. Among 

 these vegetable bodies there are several from which, 

 at various times and in different countries, sugar has 

 been drawn as an alimentary substance ; but of these 

 it is quite impossible for us here to offer any satis- 

 factory description. We must limit ourselves to a 



