116 SUGAR. 



Ordinary sugar, deprived of its water of composition in any othei 

 way, has the same elementary composition ; thus caramel obtained 

 hy heating sugar to 180° cent., (356" Fahr.,) until it no longer loses 

 watery vapor, has, according to M. Peligot, the composition of an- 

 hydrous sugar, such as it is found in combination with oxide of lead. 



Setting aside all theoretical considerations, it is obvious that to 

 have anhydrous sugar reconstituted ordinary hydrated sugar, it were 

 necessary to add to 100 parts 11.76 of water, containing 1.3 hydro- 

 gen and 10.46 oxygen ; the 111.76 parts then contain, in element • 



Carbon 47.1 percent. 42.1 common sugar 



Hydrogen 7.2 " 6.4 *' 



Oxygen 57.46 " 51.5 " 



111.76 100.0 



Common sugar may therefore be viewed as composed of 100 anhy- 

 drous sugar, and 11.8 water. 



The whole of the sugar which comes from South America and 

 the West Indies, and a large proportion of that which comes from 

 the East Indies, is extracted from the juice of the sugar-cane. 



In America three principal varieties of sugar-cane are cultivated, 

 the Creole, the Batavian, and the Otaheitan. The Creole cane has 

 the leaf of a deep green, the stem slender, the knots very close to- 

 gether. This species, a native of India, reached the new world 

 after having passed through Sicily, the Canaries, and the West In- 

 dia islands. The Batavian cane is indigenous in the island of Java ; 

 its foliage is very broad, and has a purple tint ; the sap of this vari- 

 ety is much employed in making rum. The Otaheite cane is that 

 which is most extensively grown at the present time ; it was intro- 

 duced into the West India islands and neighboring continent by Bou 

 gainville. Cook, and Bligh, in their several voyages, and is certainly 

 one of the most important acquisitions which the agriculture of trop- 

 ical countries owes to the voyages of naturalists. This variety of 

 cane grows with extraordinary vigor : its stem is taller, thicker, and 

 richer in juice than that of the other species. I observed it along 

 the whole coast of Venezuela, of New Grenada, and of Peru ; far 

 from having degenerated by its transplantation to the American con- 

 tinent, it appears to have preserved all its original qualities without 

 alteration. 



The sugar-cane is propagated by cuttings. Pieces of the stem 

 about 18 or 20 inches long, and having several buds or eyes, are 

 placed two or three together in holes a few inches in depth, and are 

 covered with loose moist earth. From a fortnight to three weeks 

 are required for the shoots to show themselves above ground. The 

 space to be left between each clump of plants depends much on the 

 fertility of the soil ; in the most fertile soils the distance may be 

 about a yard, or a little more ; and along the rows the spaces may 

 be about 18 inches. Where land is of no great value it is found 

 more advantageous to give greater space, and so to favor the access 

 of the air and the light. It is not uncommon to see plantations where 

 the canes are spaced at distances of between 4 and 5 feet. The 



