SUGAR.
The term “sugar” is applied by common consent to the pure sugar commercially prepared from the sugar cane and the sugar beet. These two kinds of sugar are sometimes designated by their own name, as, for instance, the purchaser will ask for cane sugar or beet sugar. When no other name appears the term sugar is applied as above.
In Europe the principal sugar used is that derived from the sugar beet. In the United States the principal sugar is that derived from the sugar cane. Notable quantities of sugar are also found in commerce derived from the maple tree, a small quantity from sorghum, and in Asia a considerable quantity is made from the palm.
Chemically, sugar belongs to the class of bodies known as sucrose or saccharose and is a compound in a pure state consisting solely of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, typical of that class of foods of which starch is the most important member, known as carbohydrates. The elements mentioned are combined in sugar in the proportion of 12 parts of carbon, 22 of hydrogen, and 11 of oxygen.
The quantity of sugar consumed by the people of the United States is very large. Excluding molasses, honey, and sirups the quantity consumed in the United States in the year ending December 31, 1905, was 2,632,216 tons. There should be added to this the total quantity of sugar found in the articles of diet which are so common in this country in the form of honey, sirups, and molasses.
Origin of Sugar.
—In the earliest times practically the only sugar which was used by man was that stored by the bees, namely, honey. The sugar cane is indigenous to Asia and was not known as a source of sugar in Europe until the 13th or 14th century, when it was brought by Eastern merchants to Europe. The discovery of America and the introduction of sugar cane into the islands adjacent thereto opened up a new field for the culture of that plant and laid the foundation of the great industry which followed. It was not, however, until 100 years ago that the sugar cane industry assumed anything like the proportions which indicated its subsequent growth. About 1747 sugar cane was introduced into Louisiana and soon thereafter, about 1790, became one of the most important crops of that state. Until the beginning of the Civil War Louisiana produced a large proportion of the cane sugar consumed in the United States. During the Civil War the industry was almost totally destroyed, but since then it has grown until it has assumed greater proportions than ever before but constantly diminishing proportions in relation to the total supply. Louisiana is somewhat too far north for the most economic production of sugar cane, since it is subject to injury by frosts. Sugar cane is a plant which is very sensitive to cold weather and is usually killed by a hard frost. For this reason its greatest development has occurred in tropical countries, especially in Cuba, the Hawaiian Islands, and in other similar localities. At the present time by far the largest part of the sugar made from sugar cane in the world is produced in Cuba and the Hawaiian Islands,—the Cuban crop amounting, in round numbers, to 1,200,000 tons and the Hawaiian to about 400,000 tons.
Beet Sugar.
—The fact that beet sugar is contained in the common garden beet was first discovered by a German chemist, Margraff, in 1747. This important discovery remained dormant for nearly half a century when one of Margraff’s pupils, the son of a French refugee from Prussia, named Achard, resumed the researches which had been started by Margraff and obtained results which were then regarded as of an astonishing character. Achard’s statements were the subject of doubt and of ridicule and even his French co-laborers, members of the academy doubted the accuracy of his work, while thinking it of sufficient interest to look into further. A commission consisting of some of the most important members of the Academy of Science, among them Chaptal and Vauquelin, investigated the matter and announced that the attempt to make sugar was unsuccessful but thought perhaps the maple tree might be grown in France. Nevertheless the commission modified the methods of Achard and obtained better results. This was the beginning of that long series of investigations which has resulted in the establishment of a beet sugar industry, making in round numbers six million tons of sugar per year, a quantity considerable greater than that produced from the sugar cane. The name of Chaptal has been mentioned as belonging to the commission which was appointed to study Achard’s process because it was through the influence of Chaptal, who had then become a Count, that the Emperor Napoleon on January 15, 1811, issued his decree establishing the beet sugar industry as a national industry of France and granting a subvention thereto. This decree ordered that one hundred thousand hectares should be planted in beets in France. Both the taxes and the octroi were withdrawn upon all sugar produced from beets for a period of four years. There were also to be established, according to the decree, four central beet sugar factories, and it was ordered that the crop of sugar beets in 1812 and 1813 should reach two million kilograms of raw sugar. The disastrous Russian campaign and the subsequent fall of the Napoleonic dynasty interrupted but did not destroy the industry.
The establishment of an industry by imperial decree is perhaps a novel method of procedure and gave rise at that time to a caricature in which the Emperor Napoleon and the young King of Rome figured as the most important characters. The Emperor was represented as seated in the nursery with a cup of coffee before him into which he was squeezing the juice of a beet. Near him was seated the young King of Rome voraciously sucking a beet root while the nurse standing near and steadfastly observing the process is saying to the youthful monarch—“Suck, dear, suck, your father says it’s sugar.”
By reason of the embargo laid on commerce by England the cane sugar coming from tropical islands had been kept out of the continent, so in order to supply the deficiency the Emperor Napoleon issued the decree mentioned. Due to this impetus the industry grew rapidly in France even after the fall of the empire and in the course of 20 years had assumed proportions of commercial importance. About this period German scientists became interested in the matter and by studies directed to the improvement of the sugar in the beet and methods of manufacture laid the foundation of a great industry in Germany which has outclassed the similar industries of all other countries.
The production of beet sugar in the United States was only a few thousand pounds in 1879 and during that and succeeding years a number of factories were built. All of these, however, were unsuccessful except one which was located in Alvarado, California, and which has been continuously operated ever since. In 1884 the U. S. Department of Agriculture undertook anew the investigation of the conditions which were favorable to the sugar beet industry and as a result of these investigations a new start was made on a more substantial basis. The industry has since then extensively grown in importance until at the present time as much sugar is made from the sugar beet in this country as from the sugar cane. In order that an adequate idea of the magnitude of the sugar industry in the world may be had a statistical table is submitted on [page 471], showing the production of sugar in the world during the year 1906.
The first important report on the beet sugar industry in the United States was made by McMurtrie as a special report No. 28 on the culture of the sugar beet, issued in 1880 by the Department of Agriculture. It is there recounted that two Philadelphians, as early as 1880, became interested in the beet sugar industry which was then in its infancy in Europe. Eight years later David L. Child undertook in a small way the production of beet sugar in Northampton, Mass., and issued a small work on the subject, entitled “The Culture of the Beet and the Manufacture of Beet Sugar.” He reports that he had grown beets that would yield 6 percent of sugar which cost not more than 11 cents a pound. He made in all about one thousand, three hundred pounds of sugar.
Fig. 68.—Correct Position of a Mature Beet in the Soil.—(Farmers’ Bulletin 52.)
The first factory of any considerable size in the United States was erected in 1863 at Chatsworth, Ill., but this proved to be a financial failure. A beet sugar factory was erected in the Sacramento Valley, California, in 1869, and after various vicissitudes a permanent factory was established at Alvarado, as has already been mentioned. In 1874 as much as 1,500,000 pounds of beet sugar were made in California. In 1870 and 1871 New Jersey and Massachusetts enacted legislation exempting from taxation for a period of 10 years all property devoted to the production of beet sugar. Factories were established in Massachusetts and in Delaware later on, but these all suffered financial reverses. It was not until the latter part of the 80’s that the beet sugar industry in the United States was placed upon a paying basis, and even since that date many ventures in the manufacture of beet sugar have resulted in financial loss and in the abandonment of the factories.
Fig. 69.—Map showing Temperature Zone in Which the Sugar Beet Attains Its Greatest Perfection.—(Farmers’ Bulletin No. 52, Department of Agriculture.)
Conditions of Cultivation.
—The sugar beet in the United States does not produce its maximum content of sugar in areas where the mean temperature for the three months of June, July, and August rises above 70 degrees F. The southern limit of this area is an irregular, waving line, as indicated in the accompanying map ([Fig. 69]). There are, of course, localities where high-grade beets can be produced south of this line, but in point of fact nearly every successful beet sugar enterprise has been located within the field indicated. There is really no limit to the northern edge of this belt except that of short seasons, incident to late frosts of spring and early frosts of autumn. To successfully compete in the sugar markets of the world the sugar beet should enter the factory with an average percentage of sugar of not less than 12. Very much richer beets are often produced and in some of the irrigated areas of the west, where the climate is remarkably dry, an average percentage of 16 and 18 even has been obtained. In the whole beet sugar crop of the United States the average percentage of sugar in the beet is probably not far from 13 or 14. In this respect it is seen that the beet is richer in sugar than the average sugar cane of Louisiana, which does not contain over 11 or 12 percent of sugar.
Fig. 70.—A Field of Beets Ready for Harvesting.—(Bureau of Plant Industry.)
Yield per Acre.
—The average yield per acre of sugar beets in the United States is unfortunately very low, due chiefly to ignorance of the proper method of culture. The sugar beet is more of a garden than a field crop and requires special cultivation and fertilization. The average yield in the United States has probably not exceeded eight tons per acre, while the average yield in Europe is twelve or thirteen tons per acre. In this respect the Louisiana sugar cane has a marked advantage, the average crop being over twenty tons, while thirty and even forty tons are often obtained. As soon as our farmers learn the principles of culture it is certain that the average yield in the United States will be as great as that in Europe. A typical field of beets ready for the harvest is shown in [Fig. 70].
Manufacture.
—The manufacture of beet sugar is both a simple and a complicated operation. The simplicity of it consists in the fact that it is only necessary to extract the saccharine juices of the beet, properly clarify them, and reduce them by evaporation to a point where the sugar will crystallize. In reality the operation of successful manufacture requires elaborate and costly machinery and a high degree of technical skill. A brief outline of the method will be sufficient for the purpose of this manual.
Fig. 71.—Beets Ready for Transportation to Factory.—(Bureau of Plant Industry.)
Fig. 72.—Diffusion Battery.—(Farmers’ Bulletin 52.)
The beets, after harvesting, have the tops cut off with a small quantity of the adhering material of the neck of the beet, which contains large quantities of salts and is not suitable to enter the factory. In [Fig. 71] is shown a view of a beet field after the harvest. The beets are then thoroughly washed and passed through a slicing machine in which they are cut up into thin slices or ribbons. They then enter a series of tanks, known as a diffusion battery, in which they are thoroughly treated with hot water, by means of which practically all of the sugar which they contain is extracted. The saccharine product obtained, known as the diffusion juice, is treated with a large excess of lime, heated, and carbonic acid derived from a lime kiln blown through it until the lime is all converted into a carbonate carrying down with it the impurities of the juices. The diffusion juice as it comes from the diffusion battery is usually almost as black as ink. After carbonatation, as the process above is called, it is of a clear, light amber tint. To separate the liquid from the solid matter the whole is passed through a filter press from which the juice emerges bright and clear and the carbonate of lime with its adhering impurities remains in the filter press as hard cakes. This process is repeated in order to secure as great a purity as possible in the juice.
Fig. 73.—Multiple-effect Evaporating Apparatus.—(Farmers’ Bulletin 52.)
Evaporation.
—The purified juice is conducted into multiple-effect vacuum pans, [Fig. 73], from which the air is partially exhausted by a pump, the vacuum rising in the series. There are usually three or four of these pans connected together,—the first one having the least air exhausted from it and the last one the most, that is, having the highest vacuum. The vapor which arises from the first pan is conducted through the copper coils to the second and serves as the heating agent while the vapor from the second pan passes through the copper coils to the third and so on to the fourth. Thus the steam used for evaporating is turned only on the first pan and by this means a great economy in the use of fuel is secured. In this way the juice is evaporated to a sirup. This is usually somewhat colored and if white sugar is made it is bleached by passing through bone-black or by the application of sulfur fumes. When sulfur is used it is often applied first to the unevaporated juice as well as to the sirup.
Final Crystallization.
—The sirup is now ready for the final process, which takes place in what is known as the vacuum strike pan, [Fig. 74]. A considerable quantity of sirup is introduced so as to cover the lower coils of this pan and, after the vacuum is established by a pump, evaporated to the crystallizing point. An additional quantity of cold sirup is then drawn into the pan, chilling the mass and thus producing incipient crystallization in the form of extremely minute crystals. The evaporation is now continued with the addition of sirup from time to time, by which process the sugar crystals begin to grow. In the course of a few hours the pan is full of crystals of the size desired.
Fig. 74.—Vacuum Strike Pan.—(Farmers’ Bulletin 52.)
Purification of the Sugar.
—The vacuum is broken and the crystallized mass of sugar drawn into a mixing apparatus whereby all lumps are broken up and a uniform magma secured. This is done while the mass is still warm. Were it allowed to cool it would be extremely difficult to break it up. The warm mixture is then passed into the centrifugal machine, by means of which the molasses is separated from the crystals and these remain as white pure crystals in the pan. The whole process of separating the juice from the massecuite, as the mass is called, occupies only a few minutes. Thus the sugar is often centrifugalled and in the barrels before it is cold from the vacuum pan.
The above is merely the outline of a method which requires complicated apparatus, often of extensive proportions, and which could not be described in detail except in a technical work. It gives the reader, however, an idea of how the white sugar which he eats is made. Often white sugar is not made at the sugar factory, in which case the bleaching with bone-black, etc., is omitted and a brown sugar is produced which afterward goes to the refinery.
Fig. 75.—Sugar Cane Field Ready for Harvest.—(Photographed by H. W. Wiley.)
Growth of Sugar Cane.
—The growth of sugar cane is confined to tropical and subtropical regions. In the United States this crop is grown chiefly in Louisiana and Texas. Its cultivation does not extend northward beyond the center of Georgia. Typical scenes in sugar cane fields are shown in [Figs. 75] and [76].
Manufacture of Cane Sugar.
—In the manufacture of sugar from the sugar cane the first process, naturally, after the harvest, is the expression of the juice from the cane. At the time of harvesting the canes are topped in such a way as to cut off the green portion of the upper part of the stalk and the leaves also are removed.
Fig. 76.—cane Field Partly Harvested.—(Photographed by H. W. Wiley.)
There are two methods of extracting the juice from the cane, one similar to that described for the sugar beet but used very little. Only one or two factories in the United States use this method of extraction. The most common method of extraction is by passing the canes through heavy mills. These mills are made of great strength so as to bear an immense pressure without breaking. The largest mills have a capacity of grinding from 500 to 1000 tons of cane a day. Many of them grind only from 200 to 500 tons per day. The mills are nearly always placed in series, that is, the cane is subjected to a double pressure. The first mill is uniformly composed of three rollers of the same size and set so that the first and second are not quite so close together as the second and third. The second mill also often consists of three rollers the same as the first mill but sometimes only two. Occasionally a third is used. It is quite customary to sprinkle the crushed cane as it comes from the first mill with water before it enters the second mill, thus securing a greater degree of extraction. The residue from the mill is called bagasse and is commonly carried directly to the furnace and used as fuel, furnishing steam, to evaporate the juice and drive the mill. The mills extract from 75 to 80 percent of the weight of cane in juice. The sugar cane contains about 88 percent of its weight of sugar juice. It is seen, therefore, that a considerable portion of the sugar remains in the bagasse. By the process of diffusion a larger proportion of the sugar is extracted than by milling, but the resulting juices are very much diluted and require a greater combustion of fuel for evaporation.
Clarifying the Juice.
—The juice as expressed from the cane is a dirty-looking mass and requires to be clarified before it is concentrated. It is a very common practice to subject the fresh juice to the fumes of burning sulfur. In all cases the first step in the clarifying is the addition of lime to neutralize the natural acidity of the juice and facilitate the coagulation of the dissolved matter. The limed juice is next subjected to heating and as the boiling point approaches a separation of the suspended and coagulated matter takes place, the light coming to the top and the heavy falling to the bottom. The common method of separating these bodies is by skimming the top coagulum and settling the bottom portion and drawing off the clear juice therefrom. In addition to this to get a more complete separation the heated juice may be run through a filter press.
The clarification of sugar cane juice, as is seen, is much more simple than that of beet juice. The method employed for the clarification of beet juice is sometimes used for cane juice but not very frequently.
Evaporation of Clarified Juice.
—After the clarification is completed the further treatment of the juice is exactly the same as that for the sugar beet.
Fig. 77.—Tapping the Maple Trees.—(Courtesy Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.)
Fig. 78.—Transporting the Sap to the Sugar House.—(Courtesy Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.)
Manufacture of Maple Sugar.
—The maple trees in the United States grow chiefly in the New England states, especially in Vermont, New York, Ohio, and Indiana. Very little sugar is made in other states. The season of manufacture is at the beginning of spring, when the sap first begins to run and before the buds of the new leaves have developed very extensively. The season lasts from four to six weeks. In New England it begins the latter part of March and in Ohio and Indiana in February. The trees are bored and a tubular spile driven into the wood through which the sap escapes into the bucket or other receptacle. [Figs. 77], [78], and [79] are typical scenes in a small maple orchard during the season, showing tapping of the trees and collection and boiling of the sap. The sap of the maple tree is extremely bright and clear and requires no clarifying. It is usually evaporated in open kettles or pans, the vacuum process not being employed. The crystallization takes place at the final moment of evaporation and usually the whole mass is sold as sugar, forming what is known in the cane sugar industry as concrete. Maple sugar is never refined, since in the process of refining the peculiar flavor and odor which give it its chief value would disappear. The quantity of maple sugar made in the United States is almost negligible from a commercial point of view, amounting annually to only about 10,000 tons. Perhaps a greater quantity of maple sap is used in the form of sirup than of sugar.
Fig. 79.—Boiling the Maple Sap.—(Courtesy Forest Service, Department of Agriculture.)
Refining of Sugar.
—All kinds of raw sugar but maple are refined before entering commerce. The public taste has demanded a pure white sugar and in so far as beet sugar is concerned the refining process is a necessity, inasmuch as raw beet sugar has a very disagreeable soapy taste and odor which render it unfit for consumption. On the other hand raw cane sugar is aromatic, fragrant, and delicious to a far greater degree in the raw state than when it is refined, since after the refining process it is difficult to distinguish the product of the beet juice from that of the sugar cane.
Process of Refining.
—The manipulation attending the refining of sugar is a somewhat simple one, but experience has shown that it can only be done economically in very large establishments, many of which cost millions of dollars. The attempt to refine sugar on a small scale makes the product too expensive to compete commercially with the product of the large refinery. The raw sugar is first mixed with water and melted and reduced to the condition of a sirup. In this state it is treated with lime and clarified as has been described for sugar cane juice. Sometimes at this stage it is also treated with sulfur fumes, but not usually. After clarifying the juice is filtered through bags or filter presses so as to free it from all suspended matter. In order to decolorize it it is then passed through large cylinders filled with bone-black from which it emerges quite or almost water-white. When the bone-black loses its decolorizing properties it is removed from the cylinder and reburned in closed retorts, by which process it regains its power to decolorize the sugar solution. The decolorized juices are next taken into vacuum strike pans, as has already been described in the manufacture of sugar, only of a much larger size. In these pans they are evaporated and crystallized and the sugar separated in centrifugals as described above. After the sugar comes from the centrifugal it is placed in a granulating apparatus, a large revolving drum supplied with a steam jacket from which it emerges dry. Granulated sugar is almost chemically pure, often containing 99.9 percent of pure sugar. The molasses from the centrifugal is diluted, passed through bone-black, and reboiled and a new lot of sugar obtained. Finally when the product becomes so low in sugar as not to yield a white product lower grades of brown sugar are made, which are usually sold without drying and contain considerable quantities of moisture and some molasses. The final molasses which no longer crystallizes is sold usually for mixing with glucose to make table sirup. It contains so much mineral matter in solution as to be hardly suitable for food purposes.
Loaf sugar, cut loaf, etc., are forms of pure sugar which are pressed or cut in the forms in which they appear on the market and then dried instead of being dried in a granulated state as described. Powdered sugar is dry refined sugar reduced to a fine powder.
In the refining of sugar it is quite customary to wash the crystals in the centrifugal with ultramarine blue suspended in water. This is done in order to form with the blue water and the yellow tint, which sometimes accompanies the crystals, a perfectly white appearance, on the optical principle which shows that when a blue and a yellow tint are mixed a white color results. This process is not required for the first-class product coming from the first crystallization and very often dealers require sugar for special purposes which has not been so treated. It would be advisable if all consumers should demand a sugar of the same character.
While the refining of sugar can probably never be abolished it should not be forgotten that the very finest sugar, from a palatable point of view, is that made from the maple or sugar cane without refining in which the crystals retain their natural yellow color. If consumers understood thoroughly the value of a sugar of this kind they would demand it instead of the dead white product which is now in vogue.
As has been stated a raw sugar of this kind could not be used if made from beets.
Sugar Crops of the World.
—These figures include local consumption of home production wherever known.
Willett and Gray’s estimates of cane sugar crops, Oct. 18, 1906:
| Crop Begins: | 1906-07. | 1905-06. | 1904-05. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| United States | — | Louisiana | September | 265,000 | 330,000 | 335,000 |
| Texas | September | 14,000 | 12,000 | 15,000 | ||
| Porto Rico | January | 230,000 | 213,000 | 145,000 | ||
| Hawaiian Islands | November | 395,000 | 385,000 | 382,576 | ||
| Cuba, crop | December | 1,250,000 | 1,175,000 | 1,163,258 | ||
| British West Indies | — | Trinidad, exports | January | 50,000 | 55,000 | 31,000 |
| Barbados, exports | January | 43,000 | 49,680 | 41,600 | ||
| Jamaica, crop | January | 18,000 | 18,000 | 16,000 | ||
| Antigua and St. Kitts | January | 24,000 | 24,000 | 24,000 | ||
| French West Indies | — | Martinique, exports | January | 35,000 | 33,000 | 29,986 |
| Guadeloupe | January | 36,000 | 36,000 | 36,000 | ||
| Danish West Indies | — | St. Croix | January | 13,000 | 13,000 | 11,000 |
| Haiti and San Domingo | January | 50,000 | 50,000 | 47,000 | ||
| Lesser Antilles, not named above | January | 13,000 | 13,000 | 13,000 | ||
| Mexico, crop | December | 110,000 | 105,000 | 107,038 | ||
| Central America | — | Guatemala, crop | January | 8,000 | 8,000 | 7,640 |
| San Salvador, crop | January | 6,000 | 6,000 | 5,588 | ||
| Nicaragua, crop | January | 5,000 | 5,000 | 4,235 | ||
| Costa Rica, crop | January | 3,000 | 3,000 | 2,305 | ||
| South America | — | Demerara, exports | Oct. & May | 120,000 | 121,693 | 101,278 |
| Surinam, crop | October | 13,000 | 13,000 | 13,000 | ||
| Venezuela | October | 3,000 | 3,000 | 3,000 | ||
| Peru, crop | October | 140,000 | 150,000 | 150,000 | ||
| Argentine Republic, crop | June | 140,000 | 137,308 | 128,104 | ||
| Brazil, crop | October | 260,000 | 275,000 | 195,000 | ||
| Total in America | ...... | 3,244,000 | 3,233,681 | 3,005,608 | ||
| Asia | — | British India—Exports | December | 30,000 | 15,000 | 30,000 |
| Siam (cons’n 30,000 tons, mostly imported) | ...... | ..... | ..... | ..... | ||
| Java, crop | May | 950,000 | 993,900 | 1,008,900 | ||
| Japan (cons’n 260,000 tons, mostly imported) | ...... | ..... | ..... | ..... | ||
| Philippine Islands, crop | December | 160,000 | 135,625 | 106,875 | ||
| China (cons’n large, mostly imported) | ...... | ..... | ..... | ..... | ||
| Total in Asia | ...... | 1,140,000 | 1,144,525 | 1,145,775 | ||
| Australia and Polynesia | — | Queensland | June | 170,000 | 170,000 | 147,688 |
| New South Wales | June | 20,000 | 20,000 | 21,525 | ||
| Fiji Islands, exports | June | 40,000 | 40,000 | 47,000 | ||
| Total in Australia and Polynesia | ...... | 230,000 | 230,000 | 216,213 | ||
| Africa | — | Egypt, crop | January | 60,000 | 65,000 | 60,000 |
| Mauritius | August | 200,000 | 188,364 | 142,101 | ||
| Reunion | September | 30,000 | 30,000 | 30,000 | ||
| Total in Africa | ...... | 290,000 | 283,364 | 232,101 | ||
| Europe | — | Spain | December | 15,000 | 14,512 | 18,592 |
| Total Cane sugar crops (W. & G.) | ...... | 4,919,000 | 4,906,082 | 4,618,289 | ||
| Europe Beet sugar crops (F. O. Licht) | September | 6,570,000 | 6,954,000 | 4,708,758 | ||
| United States Beet sugar crops (W. & G.) | July & Oct. | 345,000 | 283,717 | 209,722 | ||
| Grand total Cane and Beet Sugar—Tons | ...... | 11,834,000 | 12,143,799 | 9,536,769 | ||
| Estimated decrease in the world’s production | ...... | 309,799 | ..... | ..... | ||
Adulteration of Sugar.
—In the United States there are few adulterations of sugar practiced. The product has grown so cheap not only in the United States but all over the world that adulterations are no longer a paying process and whenever adulteration ceases to pay it requires no law to prevent it. White sugars have been adulterated from time to time by the admixture of white earth or terra alba (either ground silicate, ground gypsum, or ground chalk). I have never found any adulteration of this kind in an American white sugar. White flour has also been added to sugar as an adulterant, but that form of adulteration is not known in this country. The only adulteration which is found in American sugar, in so far as I know, is that incident to the process of manufacture which I have described. When sulfur is used in sulfuring the juice before clarifying a trace of sulfurous acid may still adhere to the finished product. When bluing is used the particles of ultramarine blue attach themselves to the sugar crystals and become an adulteration. I have seen sugar so blued that on solution the water would turn blue. Sugar granules are also sometimes washed with salts of tin, a very poisonous compound, and a trace of these salts may still adhere to the crystals. Sugar has also been mixed with dextrose made from starch, in other words, from starch sugar, or as it is ordinarily called, anhydrous grape sugar. This is a form of adulteration which has been little practiced on account of the difficulty of getting a dry starch sugar in commercial quantities. Recent improvements in the manufacture of dextrose have made it more probable that this form of adulteration may be more frequent in the future. As a food product pure dextrose is probably as valuable as sugar, but if it can be made cheaper it would become a fraudulent adulteration or if added in any way without notice its addition is fraudulent and constitutes an adulteration. There is little, however, to fear from this form of adulteration as long as the price of sugar does not go much above 5 cents per pound.
Sugar as a Food.
—The food value of sugar is well defined. It furnishes next to oil and fat the most complete food for heat and energy that can be consumed, ranking, of course, as starch in this particular. Sugar is a quick-acting food and therefore is especially valuable to relieve exhaustion. It is particularly useful for soldiers on a forced march or for people engaged in any extraordinary effort. A lump of sugar eaten occasionally keeps up the strength and prevents exhaustion. The value of sugar as a food is not appreciated as it should be, since it is valued mostly for its condimental and preservative properties.