150 

SUGAR 
N considering the subject of sugar, its produce, supply, 
uses, and adulteration, we enter upon a much wider field 
of inquiry than in either of our former articles, though the 
present has an intimate connection with our previous 
subjects ; for neither coffee, tea, nor cocoa is usually 
considered properly prepared for table without the addi- 
tion of sugar ; it is used more or less in every part of the 
globe, for in the widest sense of the word, sugar is con- 
tained in most vegetable juices, indeed it is the principal | 
food of young plants. In the rising sap of some trees 
in spring it is very abundant, as wel. as in the young.| 
stems of grasses. The starch stored up in many seeds at | 
the time of germination is converted into sugar. The 
process of malting consists in forcing the seeds of the | 
barley to germinate, and just at the time when most 
sugar is found, to stop their growth, so that the sugar is pre- | 

NATURE 
[Dec. 22, 1870 
served for our use and not consumed by the growing plants. 
Sugar is extracted for the use of man from many distinct 
plants. Chemically considered, there are two kinds of 
sugar ; one called cane sugar, which is obtained from the 
sugar-cane, the beet-root, the maple, &c,; the other 
called grape sugar, or glucose, which is chiefly found in 
grapes and various fruits. The bulk of the sugar used 
in this country is the juice of the sugar-cane (Saccharum 
| officinarum, and perhaps allied species), a gigantic peren- 
| nial grass, growing usually ten or twelve feet high, but in 
some situations attaining fifteen or sixteen feet ; it has a 
jointed stem, somewhat similar to that of the bamboo, the 
upper part having a series of long, narrow leaves, and the 
flowers produced in large, feathery panicles. Some doubt 
exists as to the true native country of the sugar-cane, 
though it is not at all improbable that it came from 
Southern China and India. The plant is now very exten- 
sively cultivated in the East and West Indies, China, the 
Mauritius, S. America, and other parts. 
































































































NY 





* AR 
CT 
ini 




















SUGAR MANUFACTURE AT KATIPO, A VILLAGE IN EASTERN TROPICAL AFRICA 
The use of sugar dates back to a remote age; its 
introduction into Europe is said to have taken place 
in the 9th century, when it was brought from the East 
into Sicily by the Saracens, and the first European 
plantations were established about 200 years later in 
Sicily and Valentia. In the early part of the 15th century 
its cultivation began in Madeira, the Canary Islands, 
Granada, &c,; and at the close of the same century 
Columbus introduced it into one of the West Indian 
Islands. Barbadoes sent large quantities of sugar into 
England so long ago as 1646. ‘The sugar-cane does not 
ripen its seeds, and is, therefore, propagated by cuttings. 
The canes after planting require, according to the situation 
and soil in which they are grown, from ten to twelve, or 
even twenty months before they are ready for cutting ; 
they are taken off near the base, and the stem is then 
divided into equal lengths, put up into bundles, and carried 
to the mill. These lengths are submitted to pressure be- 

tween heavy rollers, by which the saccharine juice is 
squeezed out, and is collected in a cistern; it is next 
filtered and clarified, and the feculent matters separated 
by lime, a rapid system of boiling now throws off the 
watery particles by evaporation; and the sugar is brought 
to sucha thickness or consistency that after boiling in one 
pan, its bulk is so reduced that it is removed to a smaller 
or medium sized pan, where it is boiled again and skimmed 
until it is reduced to sufficient bulk and thickness to 
enable it to undergo a similar operation in the next, or 
smallest size pan, where it is again boiled till it has 
assumed the consistency of a thick syrup, which 
partially granulates upon cooling. It is, however, still in 
the form of a soft mass, the crystallised portion being 
imbedded in a thick juice, which is known as molasses. 
To remove this the whole mass is put into loosely made 
casks or hogsheads, through which the molasses drains, 
leaving the crystallised portion more or less dry. After 
