The daily gazette., 1876-03-02
RIVALS OF CANE SUGAR.
From the journal OF Commerce.

From the journal OF Commerce.
The Press is giving kindly notices of
new industry at the West. 1t is the
manufacture of mulasses from corn
The published descriptions of the pro-
duct make ones mouth water. II is
nice, clear, golden, and like maple
syrup to the taste. This would be a
treasure il all these qualities are truly
assigned and the price of the paragon
cheap. But the writer's, in their en-.
thusiasm, forgot to mention the cost of
manufacture, and leave us in doubt
whether the new industry ought to be
encouraged or net. 1t is new only in the
process-the conversion of corn starch
into molasses being an old story, as su-
gar refiners hereabout know to their
| cost. Some years ago an ingenious
gentleman appeared among that
shrewd and eRterprising class of our
| fellow citizens with a process for turn
ing the starch of csrn into crystalline
| sugar. This he claimed to be fully
equal to the yield Of the cane or the
beet root, and cheaper than either
DaLzled by the eloquence of this per-
son, and giving too ready credence
to the specimens" and other "proofs's
that he effered,a number of prominent
sugar men took stock liberally in the
scheme, ahd, what was worse, paid for
it. A timely warning in the Journal
| Of Commerce aXposed the pretepsions
Of the inventor, and nipped a most lu-
crative speculation in the bud. We
pointed out the improbability-or, as
confident chemists would say, the i'm
possibility-of the discovery of any
method by which the amorphous, COM
pact, jujube-paste-lik substance of
| sweet nature made from the starch of
| corn or potato could be transformed
into the true, purely saccharine crys-
tails obtained from the juice Of the
sugar cane, the beet and the maple
tree. The difficulties of the metamor-
| phosis are inherent in the nature of
things and are believed by the highest
authorities to be insurm0untable.-
This opinion is not absolutely conclu-
sIve, but it should suffice to make men
shy of investing in any attempts to
work the wonder. There will be time
enough for business men to put money
in such projects after they have been
demonstrated to an impartial commi g.
sion of chemists. While the specula-
tor, in the case under notice could not
perform miracle, he did succeed in
producing from corn an article of
syrup. and the deluded sugar refiners
and brokers hoped for some time that
! this part of the process would "let
them out even" The syrup was clear
and fine looking; but had less than half
the saccharine properties of common
molasses, sugar house, maple or any
other variety. 1t was mostly water,
and that element is not cheap at the
price paid for it in this coumpound.
The corn syrup pleased neither the
palate nor the pocket, and, what was
still worse, it would not keep, as it
sourcd soon after delivery, and its
manufacture was soon abandoned in
| despare. We will not PREJUDICE the
repetition of the eexperiment-in which
the processes may be simpler and less
expenslve-in Indiana; but, whatever
the success of the new operation may
be, there is no likelihood that it will
make any impression on the market
for cane molasses and syrups. Unless
the cane crop Should fail, that will
| doubtless continue to be the main de-
pendcnce for the sugar and m0lasses
/ products Of this country. The subsitu-
ties have feebly competed with it for a
time, and have row quite passed
away. Great things were once expec-
ted of sorghum. Northern and Wes-
tern famers at one time went into its
cultivation madly. Misinformatien
with regard to its properties seemed to
be universal. The Government inne.
Gently lent itself to the illusion, and
encouraged the people everywhere to
raise the new staple, supplying seeds
to all applicants. Sorghum turned out
worthless for sugar manufacture, as
only small proportion of the sac
charine substance is capable of crystal
liZation, 1t is still raised to some ex-
tent for the yield in molasses, which is
inferior to the produce of the cane. 1t
is made by farmers chiefly for their
own use, and is not an article of COM
merce. A variety of the best give cry
stallIne sugar equal to that Of the cane,
and it is an important crop in parts Of
Europe, where cane sugar is expensive
and labor is cheap. In this country
the cultivation of the sugar beet has
not been found SO profitable. 1t is
carried on to limited degree in tho
West and Northwest, and it is grow
ing interest in California. But it
never has disturbed, and probably
never will distrub, in this country the
supremacy of the sugar cane as the
great national source of sweets.
|