HAVEMEYER SUGAR-REFINERY, BROOKLYN, N.Y.
CHAPTER XIV
SUGAR AND ITS COMMERCE
The term sugar is applied rather loosely to a large number of substances characterized by the quality of sweetness. In a few instances the name is given to certain mineral salts, such as sugar of lead, but in the main the sugars are plant products very similar in chemical structure to the starches. They are very closely connected with plant growth, and even in animal life, starchy substances are changed to sugar in the process of digestion. Although sugar does not sustain life, it is necessary as an adjunct to other food-stuffs, and it is probably consumed by a greater number of people than any other food-stuffs except starch and water.
Three kinds of sugar are found in commerce, namely—cane-sugar, grape-sugar, and milk-sugar. Cane-sugar occurs in the sap of the sugar-cane, sorghum-cane, certain of the palms, and the juice of the beet. Grape-sugar is the sweet principle of most fruits and of honey. Sugar of milk occurs in milk, and in several kinds of nuts.
Sugar-Cane Sugar.—Cane-sugar is so called because until recently it was derived almost wholly from the sap of the sugar-cane (Saccharum officinarum). The plant belongs to the grass family and much resembles maize before the latter has matured. It is thought to be native to Asia, but it is now cultivated in nearly all tropical countries in the world.
Practically every moist tropical region in the world, the basins of the Kongo and Amazon Rivers excepted, is a cane-sugar-producing region. As a rule it is grown in the states under native rule for home consumption, and in European colonial possessions for commercial purposes. India and China are probably the foremost in the production of sugar-cane sugar, but the product is not exported. Cuba, Java, the Gulf coast of the United States, Mauritius, the Philippine and the Hawaiian Islands produce the most of the supply that enters into commerce.
Beet-Sugar.—During the last quarter of the nineteenth century the demands for sugar increased so greatly that it became necessary either to raise the price of the commodity, or else to utilize some plant other than the sugar-cane as a source. After a few years of experimental work it was found that sugar could be readily extracted from the juice of the common beet (Beta vulgaris). Several varieties of this plant have been improved and are now very largely cultivated for the purpose. Beet-sugar and cane-sugar are identical.