260 VARIETIES OF SUGAR. 



starch was converted into syrup. This was purified from the acid by 

 adding quicklime, and then evaporated ; when the result was an excellent 

 sugar, fit for all domestic purposes. A bushel of potatoes, weighing 60 lb., 

 gives 8 lb. of pure dry starch ; and from these 8 lb., 7^ lb. of sugar are 

 obtained. This sugar ferments briskly when made into beer, and yields a 

 healthful and pleasant beverage. It will be of most use, however, for 

 making sweetmeats, and may be used at table in place of honey, for which 

 it is a good substitute. It has already become a great favourite with 

 most persons who have become acquainted with it. Its taste is that of a 

 delicious sweet, and as an article of diet it is probably more healthful 

 and less oppressive to the stomach than any other sweet substance in 

 use. ( Silliman's Journal.) Potatoes (as I find from the account of a travel- 

 ler) are used extensively in the eastern part of Russia for making treacle, 

 which is quite as sweet and good as that which we obtain from the 

 tropics, but having less consistence.* 



In Sweden, sugar has long been extracted from the potato. A company 

 has been formed for the purpose of bringing under the notice of the mer- 

 cantile community here the important advantages of glucose, or potato 

 sugar, which is already largely used on the Continent. 



The varieties of manna have already been described (p. 225). 



A correspondent of the ' Deseret News' gives the following account of 

 the discovery of a new kind of sugar at Provo city : — " Last week, a sweet 

 substance was discovered on the leaves of trees. A few began to gather it, 

 by stripping off the leaves and soaking them in water ; in this way Dr A. 

 Daniels made 11 lb. of sugar in one day: it looks and tastes like maple- 

 sugar. Many scores of men, women, and children are now engaged in 

 gathering it. When it was first discovered, some said it was honey-dew ; 

 others said it proceeded from the cotton wood leaves ; but it is found on 

 all kinds of leaves, and on the rocks. Many of the leaves have scales of this 

 sweet substance as thick as window-glass, and some a great deal thicker." 



A Mr Hoffman some years ago took out a patent, in conjunction with a Mr 

 E. Devay, for extracting sugar from the pumpkin. They established a small 

 manufactory at Zandor, and made about 40 cwt. of pumpkin-sugar, part of 

 which they refined. The yield of sugar, weight for weight, was about the 

 same as from the beet-root ; but one hectare of land (a little more than two 

 acres) would produce three or four times greater weight of pumpkins than of 

 beet-root, the space occupied by the Indian corn growing between the rows 

 not being included : 8 cwt. of sugar could be raised on 1,600 square 

 toises, from which a weight of 200 and sometimes 260 cwt. of pumpkins 

 was obtained. Mr Hoffman obtained from between 26 and 27 cwt. of 

 pumpkins 1 cwt. of sugar, and as much syrup. In making the sugar, the 

 pumpkins were cut in pieces, and then with the rind were rubbed on a grater, 

 the same as that used for beet-root. The seeds, which yield an excellent oil, 

 were kept separate, 1 lb. of oil being obtained from 5 lb. of seed. 



* M'Adara cm the Potato, Quarterly Journ. Ag., vol. v., p. 335-6. 



