C 73 3 



juice flows for about five or six weeks. A common 

 sized tree, that is, a tree from two to three feet in 

 diameter, will yield about 200 pints of sap, and every 

 40 pints of sap afford about a pound of sugar. The 

 sap is neutralized by lime, and deposits crystals of 

 sugar by evaporation. 



The sugar of grapes has been lately employed in 

 France as a substitute for colonial sugar. It is pro- 

 cured from the juice of ripe grapes by evaporation, and 

 the action of pot-ashes ; it is less sweet than common 

 sugar, and its taste is peculiar : it produces a sensa- 

 tion of cold while dissolving in the mouth ; and it is 

 probable contains a larger proportion of water or its 

 elements. 



The roots of the beet (Beta vulgaris and cida^) 

 afford a peculiar sugar, by boiling, and the evapora- 

 tion of the extract : it agrees in its general properties 

 with the sugar of grapes, but has a slightly bitter 

 taste. 



Manna, a substance which exudes from various 

 trees, particularly from the Fraxinus Ornus, a species 

 of ash, which grows abundantly in Sicily and Calabria, 

 may be regarded as a variety of sugar, very analo- 

 gous to the sugar of grapes. A substance analogous 

 to manna has been extracted by Fourcroy and Van- 

 quelin, from the juice of the common onion (Album 

 Gepa.") 



Besides the crystallized and solid sugars, there 

 appears to be a sugar which cannot be separated from 

 water, and which exists only in a fluid form ; it con- 

 stitutes a principal part of melasses or treacle j and it 



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