52 



THE 



the wgar-cane (Saccharinum offlcinale), beet-root (Beta vulgaris), and the sugar-maple 



(Acer saccharinum], 



Beet-root alone can he grown in our climate, hut not as a remunerative crop tor tle 



production of sugar. It is, however, 



largely cultivated in France, Belgium, 



Austria, and Prussia ; since those coun* 



tries have no colonies whence they can 



derive cane sugar. 



The sitgar*maple is also a tree of 



somewhat northern latitudes, and one of 



great value to the new settler in Canada 



and the United States, since it not only 



yields the sugar which he so much needs, 



and which -in his distant and solitary 



habitation he could scarcely otherwise 



ohtain, hut is valuable as wood also. 



The sugar is readily obtained by boring 



holes in the tree, so as to permit the juice 



to exude, and then causing evaporation 



of the latter by exposure to the air or by 



heat. 



The quality of sugar derived from 



the fruits of plants, and also from the 



beet and the sugar-maple, is much infe- 

 rior in sweetening powers to that ob- 

 tained from the next source the sugar- 

 cane. 



The sugar-cane is a member of a 



family which abounds in sugar, and 

 grows readily in low alluvial lands of 

 all southern climes, and especially in 



the countries bordering upon, or lying 

 within, the tropics. Such are the states 

 bounding the Lower Mississippi, up to 

 about 33 of N. latitude; the West 



Indian Islands; the East Indies; fte **' 96 - THE SUGAR-CAKE (Saccharinum 

 Mauritius, and parts of China. The cultivation requires a large capital and the 

 employment of a great number of hands ; so that, with the exception of the Indian 

 crop, it is the product of slave labour, The plants are set at regular intervals, and 

 grow luxuriantly with a single stalk and large waving leaves (Fig. 96), to the height 

 of ten or twelve feet; so that a sugar plantation, with its wellrcultivated .fields, large 

 red boiling-house, planter's mansion, and village of negro huts, is a picturesque scene. 

 It is also a busy scene during the period of cultivation, but more particularly at that 

 of boiling, when the process is not stayed night or day until it is finished. "We have 

 inspected many, and have been struck with the air of richness and wealth which 

 usually pervades them, 



When the plant is mature it is cut down near to the root, and carried in wagon loads 

 to the boiling-house, where it is crushed between powerful rollers, impelled by steaia, 



