THE CUBA REVIEW 



31 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 



SOURCES OF CANE SUGAR 



Cane sugar, beet sugar, sucrose, or simply 

 "sugar," as it is known to commerce and in 

 the household, exists in solution in many 

 vegetable juices. It is found in the stems 

 and roots of the grasses, expecially in the 

 sugar cane, sorghum, and cornstalks; in fleshy 

 roots, as the beet, carrot, turnip and sweet 

 potato; in the sap of trees, as the date palm 

 and sugar maple; in almost all sweet fruits; 

 and in the nectar of flowers. Only in a few 

 of these, however, is the proportion of cane 

 sugar large enough to make profitable its 

 separation from the other substances which 

 these juices hold in solution. 



In fact, the cane and sugar beet are the only 

 important sources of sugar (sucrose). Of the 

 world's crop of 16,418,500 tons in 1910-11, 

 8,321,500 tons were made from cane, and 

 8,097,000 from the beet. 



Sugar is a staple article of food, just as is 

 bread or meat, but few realize that, unlike 

 bread and meat, it has been a staple food for 

 but a few generations. The art of manufac- 

 turing it has been developed very rapidly 

 within the last 125 years. Only, indeed, in 

 the last three-quarters of a century has it 

 been produced in such quantities and at such 

 a price as to bring it into really general use. 



The sugar cane is a gigantic jointed grass 

 with the botanical name Saccharum offici- 

 narum, native to eastern India and China, 

 nimierous varieties of which are now grown 

 in the tropical and subtropical regions of 

 both hemispheres. 



Sugar from sugar cane was probably known 

 in China 2,000 years before it was used in 

 Europe. When merchants began to trade 

 in the Indies, sugar, like spices, perfumes, and 

 other rare and costjy merchandise, was 

 brought to the western countries of Europe, 



and for a long time it was used exclusively in 

 preparation of medicines. An old saying to 

 express the lack of something very essential 

 was "Like an apothecary without sugar." 

 Several centuries before "the Christian Era 

 Greek physicians knew of sugar under the 

 name of "Indian salt." It was also called 

 "honey made from reeds," and was said to be 

 "like gum, white and brittle." But not 

 until the Middle Ages did Europeans have 

 any clear idea of its origin. It was con- 

 founded with manna or was thought to ex- 

 ude from the stem of plant, where it dried into 

 a kind of gum. When in the fourteenth cr 

 fifteenth century the sugar cane from India 

 was cultivated in northern Africa, the use 

 of sugar greatly increased, and as its culture 

 was extended to the newly-discoverd Canary 

 Island and later to the West Indies and Brazil, 

 it became a common article of food among the 

 well-to-do. By many the new food was still 

 regarded with suspicion. It was said to be 

 very heating, to be bad for the lungs, and 

 even to cause apoplexy. Honey was 

 thought to be more wholesome, because more 

 natural than the "products of forced inven- 

 tion." The sugar growing industry in what 

 is now the United States dates from 1751. It 

 has developed into a great enterprise, as has 

 also sugar refining. 



Kensington Copper & Machine Woriis 



Coppersmiths 



Vacuum Pans, Coils, 

 Evaporators, Defecat- 

 ors, Alcohol Continuous 

 Stills, Coolers and Con- 

 densers and general Copper and Brass Work. 



1227-29 E. Berks St., PHILADEIPHFA, PA., U.S.A. 



GARROS DE MOTOR 



DE LA 



COMPAIVIA BUDA 



Fabricamos equipos para Ferrocarriles e In- 



genios, que incluyen Carritos de Mano, 



Carretillas, 



Gatos, Cam- 



biaviasy 



Ranas 



30 Church Street, New York 



