SUGAR. 



153 



We have demonstrated that 10*5 lbs. of cane can easily produce 

 1 lb. of sugar and • 66 of a pound of molasses. Then 6,000,000 lbs. 

 of cane will produce equal to 



$ c. $ c. 



571,428 lbs. of sugar, at 8 c 45,713 24 



380,952 lbs. molasses at 4 c 15,238 08 



. 60,951 32 



Expenses, culture 5 , 000 00 



Manufacture 11,951 32 



Taxes, overseer, engineer, &c. . . 2 , 000 00 



18,951 32 



Total $42,000 00 



6,000,000 lbs. of cane manufactured into sugar of firsts, seconds, 

 &c., would produce (white sugar) 



$ $ 



750,000 lbs. of sugar, at 12 c 91 ,200 



140,000 lbs. molasses, at 3 c 4,200 



95,400 



Expenses 25,400 



Total $70,000 



Concrete sugar contains 10 per cent, less water than ordinary 

 sugars, which usually have sugar three and molasses two parts. Thus 

 6,000,000 lbs. of cane manufactured into concrete would produce 

 867,610 lbs. of sugar at the price of some 7 cents per pound, or 

 ^60,725 ; less expenses, ^20,725 = ^40,000. 



India. — A few particulars regarding the earliest development of 

 the sugar industry will not be found uninteresting. The sugar-cane 

 is a native of India and Indo-China, where it was exclusively culti- 

 vated from remote ages down to the middle of the thirteenth century. 

 At this period the trade extended itself into the countries beyond the 

 Ganges, and the cultivation was speedily taken up in Arabia, Syria, 

 and Egypt. Gradually the plant was introduced into Cyprus and 

 Sicily, and thence into Madeira and the Canary Islands, ere long 

 becoming in Spain and France a favourite object of culture. In the 

 beginning of the sixteenth century, the sugar-cane was imported into 

 St. Thomas and St. Domingo, where its culture was rapidly deve- 

 loped, and a systematic trade established in those colonies. 



The sugar-cane was doubtless known in India from time immemo- 

 rial, and grown for food, as it still is in the present day, chiefly in 

 those regions which are unsuited for the manufacture of sugar. From 

 the elaborate investigations of Hitter, it appears that it was originally 

 a native of Bengal and of the Indo-Chinese countries, as well as of 

 Borneo, Java, Bali, Celebes, and other islands of the Malay Archipe- 

 lago. But there is no evidence that it is now found anywhere in a 

 wild state. 



The extraction of the juice from the cane — the first step toward the 

 manufacture of raw sugar — was, in early times, effected by the rudest 

 appliances. The stump of a tree, the upper part of which was carved 



