CORNSTALK SUGAR. 



Sugar from Cornstalk and Maize. 



IN Prescott's " Conquest of Mexico," mention is 

 made of sugar being manufactured from corn- 

 stalks. Dr. Ackerly wrote, some forty years 

 ago, to one of the agricultural papers as follows: " If 

 a semi-civilized nation on the continent of America 

 make sugar from the stalks of Indian corn, why may 

 not a more civilized nation of the present day, with 

 the aid of art and science, do the same ?" The above 

 items are sufficient to show that even in this country 

 the problem of cornstalk sugar was one of the first 

 ideas of the early settlers, with the view of supplying 

 their domestic requirements with sugar. We may 

 ask, Could the product thus obtained be sold on our 

 market to-day ? We can positively say that it could 

 not ; for, as then, the sugar was not practically fit to 

 eat, from our civilized point of view. (If, on the other 

 hand, we consult the earliest documents, going back 

 thousands of years, this sort of sugar was suggested ; 

 experiments, so called, were made, but syrup was the 

 only reward.) The greatest excitement over the subject 

 prevailed in 1840 to 1845 in the United States, from 

 which day until within recent years nothing of moment 

 has been said or done ; consequently, if now desiring its 

 introduction, knowing the experience of older nations, 

 and after attempting its manufacture for a period of 

 five years, we would, in 1881, be recommencing on a 

 project upon which thousands of dollars have been 

 thrown away. Prospects of any practical results being 



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