SUGAR MAPLE. 
291 
len of plants can float in the air. The same ob- 
servation cannot be applied to the West India 
sugar. The insects and worms which prey upon 
it, and of course mix with it, compose a page in a 
nomenclature of natural history. I shall say no- 
thing of the hands which are employed in making 
sugar in the West Indies, but that men who work 
for the exclusive benefit of others are not under 
the same obligations to keep their persons clean 
while they are employed in this work, that men, 
women, and children are, who work exclusively for 
the benefit of themselves, and who have been edu- 
cated in the habits of cleanliness. The superior 
purity of the maple sugar is further evinced by its 
leaving a less sediment, when dissolved in water, 
than the West India sugar. 
“ It has been supposed that the maple sugar is 
inferior to the West India sugar in strength. The 
experiments which led to this opinion I suspect 
have been inaccurate, or have been made with ma- 
ple sugar prepared in a slovenly manner. I have 
examined equal quantities by weight, of both the 
grained and loaf sugar, in hyson tea, and in coffee, 
made in every respect equal by the minutest cir- 
cumstances that could affect the quality or taste of 
each of them, and could perceive no inferiority in 
the strength of the maple sugar. The liquors 
which decided this question were examined, at the 
same time, by Alexander Hamilton, esq. secretary 
of the treasury of the United States, Mr. Henry 
u 2 
