When the raw sugar, as it is called, reaches the refinery, which is generally a tall building, it is taken to the top story and dissolved in hot water. It then passes through bags which act as filters, and through a great cylinder which contains burned bones, known as bone-black. You remember that I told you that the bones of the cattle were saved. This is one of the uses to which they are put. When the liquid comes out of this bone filter it is a perfectly clear sirup, which is then crystallized.
Fig. 27.—A Sugar Mill.
You know that we buy refined sugar in three forms: granulated sugar, loaf sugar, and pulverized sugar. When granulated sugar is wanted, the crystals are placed in a great drum, which revolves until they are thoroughly dried in the right form. To make loaf sugar, the crystals are pressed into molds, then dried, and cut into the size desired. In powdered sugar they are simply ground to a powdered condition.
Think how much labor is required to produce sugar, and yet you can buy it for five cents a pound.
There are great fields of sugar cane in the Gulf states, in Cuba, in the Hawaiian Islands, in the East Indies, in India, and in other warm, moist parts of the world. We buy a great deal of sugar from Cuba, and from the Hawaiian Islands. To what city do you think the sugar from the Hawaiian Islands is sent?
BEET SUGAR
Although the cane fields of the moist, hot countries yield great quantities of sugar, there are other sources from which this useful product comes. In the year 1747 a German scientist discovered that sugar can be made from beets, and now about two thirds of our supply come from these plants.