480 



MONTHLY JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURE. 



ing to the temperature of the weather. Troughs 

 are placed under the spouts to receive the sap, 

 VN'hich is carried every day to a large receiver, 

 from which it is conveyed, after being strained, 

 to the boiler. Lime, egg.s, or new milk are added 

 to the sap, in order to clarify it ; but clear Sugar 

 may be made without any of these ingredients. 

 The Sugar, after being sufficiently boiled, is 

 grained, clayed, and refined, in the same man- 

 ner as the sugar-cane in the West Indies. — ■. 

 The sooner the sap is boiled the better. It 

 should never be kept more than twenty-four 

 hours. The quality of maple sugar is .supe- 

 rior to that which is made in the West Indies 

 from the cane, and it deposits less sediment 

 when dissolved in water. It has more the 

 appearance of sugar-candy. The maple-sugar 

 is, in fact, equal to any other Sugar, and is 

 procured with little trouble." In the north 

 of Europe, Sugar has been obtained from other 

 species. 



The traveler, Spencer, has given us an ac- 

 count of the Sugar which the Circassians pro- 

 cure from the walnut-trees that flourish in extra- 

 ordinary perfection on the Caucasian mountains. 

 During spring, just as the sap is rising, they 

 pierce the trunk of the tree, and leave a spigot 

 in it for some time. When the spigot is with- 

 drawn, a clear, sweet liquor exude.s, which they 

 allow to coagulate, and sometimes they refine 

 it. They sometimes use, as a sub.stitute for Su- 

 gar, clarified honey, that has been perfectly 

 bleached in the sun. 



In France, the manufacture of Sugar from 

 chestnuts is going on very promisingly. Some 

 of the proceeds give fourteen per cent, which is 

 above the mean proportion extracted from beet- 

 root. 



Professor J. F. W. Johnston says that the 

 saccharine exudation that drops from the Euco- 

 /y/>^!(s of Van Diemen's Land is not a sort of 

 manna as it was supposed to be, but a peculiar 

 kind of sugar, which may be collected in con- 

 siderable quantity. When crystalized from al- 

 cohol, it gave the same compo.sition as grape 

 sugar, but differs from it in relation to heat and 

 other proper ties. The honey-dew, which ex- 

 udes from limes and other trees, is of a saccha- 

 rine nature, and Curtis says that if it could be 

 procured in sufficient quantities it would serve 

 well for Sugar. The Abbe Boissier de Sau- 

 vagcs has, indeed, described ■' a shower of honey- 

 dew," which fell from a lime-tree in the King's 

 garden at Paris. A correspondent of the Gar- 

 dener's Gazette states that he had some bee- 

 hives near a large wood of oak, where there 

 was a honey-dew visible for thirteen successive 

 mornings in Augu.st, and that each of these hives 

 produced considerably more honey than those 

 which were farther off. 



Sugar has been obtained from the leaves of 

 the ash tree, and from the stems of the birch 

 tree, and of some species of plants. 



The American cultivators of maize, or Indian 

 corn, find that by bruising the stalks of this plant 

 while immature, they can express an excellent 

 Sugar. Mr. H. Colman tells us that they have 

 already ascertained that more than 1,000 lbs. 

 weight of sugar can be obtained from a single 

 acre, and he has no doubt that double that 

 amount would eventually be procured by prop- 

 er cultivation and management, the manufacture 

 being yet in its infancy. 



^ It is well known that Sugar is yielded largely 



by tlie roots of carrots and beet In Russia, 



(1004) 



there are upward of thirty beet-root Sugar fac- 

 tories in full operation. This manufacture is 

 also thriving in Germany. A few years ago, 

 Messrs. Fies and Slaneward, of (iuedlinburg, 

 ^^'^estphalia, discovered a process vs'hereby, in 

 twelve hours, ten pounds of pure Sugar, per- 

 fectly crystalized, may be extracted from 100 

 lbs. weight of beet-root. The secret was imme- 

 diately purchased by M. Brokhotf, of Wi.sburg, 

 for 20,000 francs, on condition that it should not 

 be used beyond the Rhine and Westphalia. A 

 beet-root sugar manufactory has been estab- 

 lished in Es.sex; and, in 1837, some refined 

 samples of English beetroot Sugar, of good 

 quality and color, were .sold in the London mar- 

 ket at £5 per cwt. Mr. Rootsey states that 

 forty tons of mangel-wurzel, raised upon a sin- 

 gle acre, yielded three tons and a half of mo- 

 lasses. 



Sugar extracted from pumpkins is equal in 

 everj- respect to that from beet-root. Potatoes, 

 wheat, barley, beans and peas, have also been 

 made to contribute to the "sweets of life,' and 

 have been found to yield the greatest quantity 

 while immature. A species of Lamoria, con- 

 taining a con.siderable quantity of Sugar, is 

 highly esteemed by the Japanese, as an article 

 of diet, after it has been washed in cold water, 

 and then boiled in milk. 



Near the base, and on the upper surface of 

 the ovary, in the flower of the Rhododendron 

 pontimm there is a minute glandular spot, 

 whence exudes a thick, clammy juice, which, 

 on desiccation, crystalizes into pure white and 

 transparent sugar-candy, and the crystals, thus 

 naturally formed in the flowers, are sometimes 

 found to be as much as three lines in length, 

 especially in morbid specimens that have with- 

 ered without fully expanding their petal.?. It is 

 remarkable that Sugar is yielded in the greatest 

 quantity by plants previous to their attaining 

 perfection, or after they have had their flowers 

 plucked ofl", or have had their a.ssimilating 

 powers affected by disease or injury. Even 

 in the human being, suffering under certain 

 morbid states. Sugar is found to be secreted 

 by the system. In the Medico-Chimrgical 

 Transactions, second series, vol. viii. Dr. Beuce 

 Jones has written on Sugar discoverable in the 

 blood of persons laboring under the disea.se of 

 diabetes, and it is well known to be pretty 

 largely contained in their urine. 



In all parts of the globe, mankind evince a 

 fondness for Sugar, which, in many ca.ses, proves 

 wholesome to the constitution. Mr. Montgom- 

 ery Martin observes that — 



A small quantity of Sugar will sustain life, and en- 

 able the animal frame to undergo CDVporeal and (as 

 I can add fiom personal experience) mental fatigue 

 better than any other substance. Often have I trav- 

 eled with the Arab over the burning desert, or with 

 the wild Afric through his i-omautic country, and, 

 when wearied with fatigue and a noontide sun, we 

 have set ourselves down beneath an umbrageous 

 canopy, and I have shared with my companion his 

 traveling provender — a few small balls of Sugar 

 mixed with spices, and hardened into a paste with 

 flour. Invariably have 1 found two or three of these 

 balls and a draught of water the best possible re- 

 storative, and even a stimulus to renewed exertion. 

 During crop-time in the West Indies, the negioes, 

 although then hard worked, become fat, healthy and 

 cheerful. In Cochin-China, the body-guard of the 

 King are allowed a sura of money daily with which 

 they must buy sugar-canes, and eat a certain quan- 

 tity thereof, in order to preserve Iheir good looks 

 and embunpoint. Theie are about 500 of these house- 



