21 



impurities duly removed, the Sugar is precipitated in chrystals, — leaving 

 a dark rich syrup above, which is familiarly known to us all by the name 

 of Melasses. These chrystals, when separated and drained of the sy rup, 

 are left in various conditions of purity, ■> — and constitute the different 

 sorts of our common brown Sugar. Subsequent boilings of the syrup af- 

 ford a crude precipitate, of inferior quality, known in Commerce by the 

 name of Muscovado sugar , — a term corrupted from the Spanish word 

 Mascabado, — and which, itself, is derived from the phrase, mas acabado 

 — signifying more done, or finished: — i. e, the sugar, in this case, is the 

 result of a further and concluding process.* Our haf sugar, and catn~ 

 dies, are obtained simply by refining the aforesaid saccharine crystals 

 still further ; viz. by dissolving them again — separating all foreign mas- 

 ters from the solution, by means of Lime, Alum, white of Eggs, and oth- 

 er clarifying materials — and then reducing the purified liquid to the prop- 

 er state for a second chrystallization. Thus are we furnished, by this 

 magnificent Grass, with the purest, most nutritious, and universally pala- 

 table, of all the ingredients that enter into the composition of our food. 

 The large portion of the globe adapted to the growth of the plant, and the 

 copious product of its juices, render it probable that the Cane will ever 

 be our principal resource for the supply of sugar. The Maple may fur- 

 nish a tolerable substitute to Foresters, who live remote from the channels 

 of commerce, — and systems of policy, or other considerations, may in.-, 

 duce a partial resort to the Beet, to obtain this delicious and indispensable 

 commodity: — but it may be doubted whether any, or even all the other 

 species, of the vegetable kingdom, can rival this single Grass, in the pio- 

 duction of sugar, — either in the quality, the quantity, or the cheapness 

 of the supply. That the history of the plant, and its products, is closely- 

 interwoven with a melancholy tale of oppression, and human misery, is 

 unhappily as true, as it is reproachful to our race ; and it is no less true 

 that the choice product of the Cane — like that of its grain-bearing kin- 

 dred — is often prostituted to the vilest and most mischievous uses : yet 

 we must recollect, that these evils are the results of man's own folly and 

 wickedness, — and are no more chargeable upon the blessings thus per- 

 verted, than they are imputable to the design of a bounteous Providence. 



From the sketch now presented, — which I fear has been 'tedious, 

 though extremely superficial and imperfect,-— I think it may be perceived, 

 that the simple Tribe of Plants, technically called Grasses, is not only 

 one of the most abundant, but decidedly the most valuable, and important 

 to man, of all the many natural families in the Vegetable creation. That 



* "Mascabado, adj. que se aplica al Aziicar inferior que sale de la ulti- 

 ma cochura." Dicciomamo de la Acadejiia Espanqla, 



