REFINED SUGAR. 81 



of crystalized sugar and is afforded by 100 full grown reeds. The fuel 

 used in boiling is supplied by the dried cane itself after the juice is 

 expressed. The molasses thus drained off, and the uncrystalizable 

 portion of the juice, is exported for domestic use, or with the skim- 

 mings, &c. is fermented and distilled into rum. In favorable seasons 

 the treacle forms, proportionably, a small part. The amount of spirit 

 produced from this is five or six gals, for every 100 weight of sugar. 



The. refining of sugar is usually another process, performed after ex- 

 portation. It is boiled in pans with lime water and a portion of bul- 

 lock's blood, or hydrate of alumina. The albumen of the blood mixes 

 with the impurities of the sugar and rises to the surface, where it is 

 skimmed off; the white of eggs and butter are said sometimes to be 

 added. When purified in this way, it is placed in coolers and agitat- 

 ed till it becomes thick, or strained through woollen bags, or is made 

 to pass through animal charcoal. It is then placed in conical iron or 

 unglazed earthen vessels, the large end uppermost, when the remain- 

 ing uncrystalized syrup runs off through the small hole in the apex. 

 Wet pipe clay is then covered over the top an inch thick, the water of 

 which drains through the sugar, carrying off the remaining coloring 

 matter, and this is repeated. It is then carefully dried, and constitutes 

 Loaf sugar. It is refined or double refined according to the number of 

 operations. The green syrup which passes from the mould is made 

 into lump sugar. The art of clarifying or making loaf sugar was the 

 discovery of a Venitian about the first of the 16th century. 



63 million Ibs. of raw sugar were refined in the 43 refineries of the 

 United States in 1840. Almost all the sugar imported from beyond 

 the Cape of Good Hope is refined here. $1,260,000 is paid annually 

 to operatives in this business. The price at which refined sugar is af- 

 forded the consumer here is from 10 to 13 cents per Ib. ; in England it 

 is from 17 to 23 cents, and in France from 17 to 20 cents. From 100 

 Ibs. of raw sugar (one-third white Havanna and two-thirds brown) 

 the product of refined is 51 1 Ibs. 



Candied sugar is made by dissolving common sugar, slowly evaporat- 

 ing the water, and re-crystalizing it ; and it is brown or white, according 

 to the suscar used. This is the only sugar esteemed in the East. White 

 sugar candy is the raw su^ar boiled and clarified in moulds, as before 

 described ; it is made to crystalize in various ways. Besides the nu- 

 merous uses and delicate preparations made of this, it is used by min- 

 iature painters to prevent colors from cracking when mixed with gum- 

 Arabic. It is much used with wheat flour to make sugar toys, &c. 

 The value of confectionary made in the United Stales in 1840, was 

 $1,148,565 and the capital in the manufacture was $1,769,871, chiefly 

 in Mass. La. Penn. N. Y. and Md. 



Most modern preparations of sugar, much extolled for their medici- 

 nal virtues in curing diseased states of the bronchse and other thoracic 



