CHAPTER X 

 SUGAR FARMING 



SUGAR, a soluble form of the carbohydrates, is one of our 

 most important foods. It has great nutritive value, is 

 easily digested, and is palatable to nearly every one. We 

 consume about 4,000,000 tons a year, or more than 80 

 pounds for each person in the United States. In less pros- 

 perous nations sugar is found too expensive a food, and a 

 much smaller proportion is used. Only about one-fourth of 

 the sugar required for home consumption is grown in this 

 country, the remainder being imported. 



There are five principal varieties of sugar used: cane 

 sugar, beet sugar, maple sugar, corn sugar and sorghum. 

 Cane sugar leads both in the amount used, and in the num- 

 ber of grades produced. Most of the finer table and manu- 

 facturing sugars are from cane. Beet sugar comes next in 

 amount. Maple sugar is not produced in large amounts. 

 Large quantities of corn sugar and sorghum are used in the 

 form of sirup, or molasses. Less important varieties are 

 grape sugar, from starch ; fruit sugar, from fruits and 

 honey ; malt sugar, - from malted grains ; and milk sugar 

 from the milk of cows, goats, etc. The chemist divides all 

 sugars into two classes, saccharose and glucose. 



1. The Sugar Regions 



Nearly every state grows some amount of one of the 

 five principal kinds of sugar. 



Cane sugar region. By far the greater part of the 

 sugar used in this country is made from sugar cane. Only 



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