The New Orleans daily Democrat. [volume] (New Orleans, La.) 1877-1880, 1878-06-23
AGRICULTURE.
THE SUGAR CANE: Irs ORIGIN ANB
HISTORY.
ITS Introduction into America-Varfeties
KnOwn-Hts AntagOnists-Beet
Rect, Glucose, Etc.
By F. 4RMANT.


Thesugaf cane, an Eastern Asiatic plant, wa
known In Europe at the time of Alexander tn
Great, and perhaps at that time some rougl
specimens Of its products, syrup and sugar
were known by few, but it was not vel
known until the fifteenth century.
NearGhus, commander of the Macedonian
conqueror's fleet, Is mentioned by some
authors as having brought sugar cane from
India to Greece 300 years before the Christian
era, but It's value and utility were not appre
| ciated fully then, since we have no further
mention of 1t In the annals OF subsequent cen
| turtles.
During the ninth century of the Christian
era the Saraeens, having conquered Rhodes
Cyprus, Sicily and Crete, introduced the sugar
cane into those possessions and later In Spain,
where It's cultivation become quite extensive
In Valencia, Granada and Murcla.
So for, however, the cultivation and making
Of sugar were restricted within those bounda-
ries. and had not been subjected to the inves-
tigation and trials Of occidental or Christian
industry
Everything in the form of data, on the other
hand, tends to show us that the Chinese and
Indians cultivated the sugar cane during the
remotest period OF their chronology, and that
1t was q native of their soil since it's subse-
quent propagation was made to various parts
of the world with stock secured from Eastern
Asia.
From that section the cultivation of the
valuable plant was extended westward, with
the Arabs, whose subsequent conquests and
expeditions TO the west carried it from Arabia
Felix towards the Christian world.
The sweet reeds mentioned by P1lny and
Dloscorides, etc, wae possibly the sugar
cane, but 1t would not be wise to make the as
sumption positive on such vague assertions
as theirs.
During the thirteenth century 1250--the
daring Venetian navigator and explorer,
Marco Polo, visited Bengal, whence he car
ried provision of cane to Venice and thus
gave the start Of the sugar industry In
Europe to his native place, where its manu-
facture became leading industry. The voy-
ages Of Marco Polo became the signal for
rapid settlement of the Arabian and Persian
coas is by hosts of energetic and enterprising
traders, who exchanged their manufactures
and goods for the Indian and Chinese pro-
ducts, among which sugar cane and sugar
figured largely. It was then that the India
or Western China sugar cane found its way
to Arabia Felix, whence the Moors drew the
supply and stock for their colonies.
From Arabia the sugar cane was trans
planted in Egypt, Nubia and Ethiopia, where
the production soon attained considerable
proportions.
Notwithstanding its partial introduction In
Europe by the Moors, It was not until the
Crusaders had oyerridden Syria and Arabia
that the sugar cane and It's sugar were well
known by Europeans and became an article
of appreciated utility with them.
Albertus Agnensis, follower Of Louis de
valois (St. Louis, reported In his Chronicles
the discovery of large Gene fields In Syria. by
the Crusaders and Jacques de Vitry, curate
OF Argenteuil, returned from Palestine to
France with o quantity of sugar cane which
he distributed among several monasteries.
and H. was he who first made known the pro-
cess OIL boiling resorted to by the Arabs for
the conversion Of their cane juice into the
sweet paste designated az sugar.
Experiments on the cultivation Of the new
plant were Immediately begun, in the neigh |
borts ood Of Aries, In Provence, at the Grande |
Chartr,,use, in Sicily. William II, King of |
Sicily, gave the monks If st. Bennett mill |
for grinding sugar; and during the same CEN |
tury, in the year 1920, Henry, Regent of Por- |
tuga1, discovered Madeira, where he intro |
dnced cane from Sicily, while few years |
afterwards some Arabian stock was imported |
to the Canaries.
Meanwhile the manufacture Of sugar |
loais had attained great perfection In Venice |
thereafter became an article OF prime neces- |
sity.
CANE CULTURE WEST OF EUROPE.
In 1920 trials made In the Canary Islands |
proved quite successful and the immediate |
of the cane in these and In the |
Azores, by the Spaniards and Portuguese, be- |
came source of large income for their in |
habitants.
From that period till 1900 the cultivation of
the sugar cane was limited to Asia, Arabia |
Felix, Eastern Africa, Sicily, Cyprus Gambia, |
Spain and The Azores and Canary Isles.
CANE IN AMERICA.
In 1900 the Spaniards planted the first cane
In Saint Domingo from the Canary Island
stock, and thence 1t was soon cultivated In the |
French and English West Indies; this variety |
being. the Canary" among us 1.-THE Creole
cane"
century BougairVnle imported from Ocean |
lea the 0tGhette, which superseded largely the |
Creole or st. Domingo cane, and the British |
likewise imported several varieties OF the ,
same stock in Antigua.
CANE IN LOUISIANA.
In 1851, under the administration of the Mar |
quis de Vaudreuil, Governor, the sugar cane |
was introduced from st. Domingo In Lousi- |
ana, and cultivated first by the Jesuits, on |
the right bank of the Mississippi river, some |
ten mites below the city.
The cultivation was successful, but the at |
tempts to make sugar were negative until |
1874, when Eiienne de Bore made the first |
graduated sugar.
From that period onward the production of |
sugar from the sugar cane In the various |
North and South American colonies increased |
80 rapidly and their produce was 80 superior |
to that of the Arabs and Indians that they |
at once enjoyed the monopoly Of this import |
ant production, which they still control.
VARIETIES OF CANE.
There are no less than forty-six known va |
rieties OF the sugar cane produced from the |
original species of India and China. Those |
varieties that seem to be native t. different |
localities are, however, to be found exactly |
similar In the medium of their original pro-
tuction, but admitting their independent orig
nallty, We will here enlist them sepa-