HOW THE WORLD IS FED 



69 



The American people have increased 

 their annual per capita consumption in 

 that time from eighteen pounds to eighty- 

 nine pounds. The Australian Common- 

 wealth has the sweetest tooth of all the 

 countries of the world, its per capita con- 

 sumption being 109 pounds. Denmark 

 has second place and Canada third ; the 

 United States comes fourth. 



The sugar industry is a profitable one 

 to the grower; it was recently estimated 

 that the value of the sugar crop to the 

 grower is $815,000,000, while the price 

 paid therefor by the consumer approxi- 

 mated $2,000,000,000. 



A TRADE WITH UPS AND DOWNS 



The sugar consumed in any country 

 fluctuates quite appreciably with financial 

 conditions. During every financial de- 

 pression the per capita consumption de- 

 clines, and whenever prosperity reaches 

 high tide, sugar consumption approaches 

 its climax. One might write the financial 

 ups and downs of the world in terms of 

 sugar. 



The world's production of sugar is 

 divided half and half between sugar-cane 

 and the sugar-beet. Sugar-cane is a very 

 ancient crop, and in many parts of the 

 world one of the most profitable grown. 

 The cane has a preference for the trop- 

 ics, although it is able to wander as far 

 north as the southern part of the United 

 States. 



The sugar-beet, on the other hand, 

 loves a cooler climate, and consequently 

 adds immensely to the world's possible 

 sugar-producing area. While Maggraf 

 discovered that sugar could be made 

 from the beet many years before the Na- 

 poleonic wars, it was not until that time 

 that his discovery was put to any large 

 commercial use. There is no difference 

 between the sugar derived from cane and 

 that extracted from beets (see page 86). 



A TASTE FOR CANDY 



The taste of the American citizen for 

 sweet things is emphasized by his re- 

 markable consumption of candy. We eat 

 a half billion dollars' worth every year, 

 which is said to be more than half the 

 world's total production. The candy 



habit is one that is not easily changed, 

 and people are inclined to do without 

 sweets unless they can secure their fa- 

 vorite kinds. The candy importers of 

 New York find it necessary to purchase 

 candy from the most remote regions of 

 the world in order to satisfy the demands 

 of immigrants who come from those re- 

 gions. 



The Chinese appear to have first estab- 

 lished the art of candy making. Most 

 interesting of their candy products are 

 the candy oranges and the candy eggs, the 

 former the peel of an orange filled with 

 native candy, and the latter the shell of 

 an egg filled in the same way. These 

 have been manipulated in such a way that 

 the purchaser cannot find the opening 

 through which the original contents were 

 ejected and the sweets inserted. To reach 

 the contents of the orange, it is necessary 

 to peel it, and one has to break the egg to 

 get the candy out. 



A noted physician has declared that 

 sweetness is to the taste what beauty is 

 to the eye and music to the ear. He says 

 that more than one-half of all the foods 

 in the world have a sweet or sweetish 

 taste, while only one-third possess a salty 

 taste and one-tenth a bitter or sour taste. 



He also points out that man is not the 

 only creature with a sweet tooth. One 

 can win the affection of a horse quicker 

 by feeding him sugar than in any other 

 way, while the bear and the fox, in their 

 ravages on the wild honey of the forest 

 and field, probably experience a satisfac- 

 tion resembling that of a hungry child 

 who surreptitiously gets sweets from 

 mother's cupboard. 



Sugar is manufactured from raisins in 

 practically all of the countries of south- 

 ern Europe and western Asia. There are 

 two forms of raisin sugar imported into 

 New York, one principally from Asia 

 Minor and the other mainly from Spain. 

 The Turks add to the delicacy of grape 

 sugar by the use of small quantities of 

 rosewater. 



civilization's coffee cup 



The people of the world annually con- 

 sume more than two and one-half billion 

 pounds of coffee — enough to load a train 

 of cars reaching from Philadelphia to 



