Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1884-06-06
WHERE THEY COME FROM.

| WHERE THEY COME FROM.
There Is an old question and answer
which many Of the young readers of the
Observer have heard. The question is,
"What are little girls made of Pr and
the answer is: "Sugar and spice and
everything NICE" shall not repeat the
couplet relating to boys. make the
quotation only as an introduction to a
little talk about some of the common
articles which are always on the break
fast or dinner-table. If were to ask
where they all came from you might at
first think it very easy question to an
swer. You would say that part of them
came from the field and part from the
garden and some from the grocery.
This answer would be correct as far as
it goes; but it would not go far toward
explaining the matter. Indeed, the
wisest man could hardly give COM
plete answer to the question, for to do
so he would have to tell how n seed
which has been cast into the ground
and covered deeply under the heavy
soil bursts Its covering and sends up a
tender little shoot Tito the sir, there to
grow and spread and blossom and bear
the fruit which came to the table to-day.
Men have found out many curious and
wonderful things in the life history of
plants, but what that life is and how
thiiigs. grow and blossom none have
ever beefi able to explain.
So we will not trouble ourselves with
those questions. but will try and answer
some plain ones. Amotig other things
that you had to-day was sugar That
came from the store, to be sure, direct
to your home, but if you should ask the
merchant where he obtained 1.-THE would
| probably answer, at some large ware
house In the great city. And if you
| should go there and ask the man Of
whom he bought it where he found the
sugar he would probably tell you that
it came to him from the refinery. l
have not space to describe to YOU the
whole process by which the dark stuff
that comes to the refinery is changed
into fine white or crushed sugar. How
it is at first dissolved In tanks of hot
water and then filtered into iron watts
| filled with charcoal, which frees IL from
impurities, after which it is made ready
for market. But if YOU should still be
inquisitive about the sugar and should
ask the refner where he obtained the
raw material he would be likely to tell
you that it came to him In ship from
some far-away place, from Louisiana or
the West Indies. In those parts, where
no frosts ever come and no cold winter
winds ever blow, are great plantations
OF sugar-cane, a plant which, while
growing. looks something like our In
dian corn, and from which most of our
sugar is made. The sugar-cane may
also be found in other Southern States
and in various parts of the world where
the climate is hot. The stems of the
cane are long, sometimes ten or twelve
feet high, and nearly filed with n
| sweet, Juicy pith. At certain Seasons
'hese canes are cut and bound together
In bundles and taken to the mill, where
the canes are passed through heavy iron
rollers that squeeze nearly all the Juice
Uttt of them. The juice then passes into
q reservoir, from which it is drawn into
large vessels and boiled until il becomes
thick by being crystalized. It is then
allowed to cool and is put into casks for
shipment to the refineries. of which 1
have already spoken.
There are other kinds of sugar besides
that which comes from the sugar-catie.
Some of it is made from the Juice of
beets, some from grapes and some from
the sap of the maple tree. All kinds of
| fruit and many other substances have in
them sweet juice which II pressed out
and reduced 10 solid form would be
sugar. The sap of the sugar-maple,
as any child knows, yields delicious
| sugar.
But let us go back to the table again,
and see what we can find out about
such common articles as cloves and Gin
namon and other spices that are used
10 make food pleasant to the taste. IL
you ask the merchant about these he
will tell you very much the same story
that he did about the sugar. He will
| say they came to him from the great
storehouse in the city. And if you go
there again, you will be told that they,
too. came from far away, thousands
and thousands of miles. The best Gin
namon comes from the island of Cey-
Ion, of the southeastern coast of Hin
doostan, in the Indian Ocean. The
cinnamon tree sometimes grows to the
height of twenty feet. 1t has pretty
flowers of silky-gray color. The bark
is taken from the young branches, which
are cut at certain seasons of the year,
and stripped of their outer coating.
The strips of bark are exposed to the
hot sun, and in drying are curled
up into the little quilts that you
have seen. The finest cloves come
from the Spice Islands, group in the
Pacific Ocean, between Borneo and New
Guinea, not far from the coast of Asia.
The cloves are the fower-buds of the
Glove tree, which often grows to the
height of forty feet. 1t is beautiful
tree, and its leaves and stalks give
off a pleasant aroma, and are sometimes
used as well as the buds. 1t is a very
important article of commerce, and
thousands of pounds of the little buds
are gathered annually and shipped to
all parts of the globe.
The nutmeg comes all the way from
| the East Indies and from South Amer
| lea. II is the kernel of the fruit of the
nutmeg tree, which grows to height
| of about twenty-five feet. The fruit
which incloses the nutmeg is of the size
and appearance of small pear. Inside
of this fruit is thin covering to the
nut, which is the mace of commerce,
also used as spice; enclosed in the
mace Is hard nut, and when the shell
is cracked open, out comes the nutmeg,
which thus has three separate cover
ings.
Ginger is brought over the seas for
our use from the East Indies and other
tropical countries. It is made from the
roots Of q little plant which never grows
more than three or four feet high. The
roots are taken up when the stems have
withered, and are prepared for the
market either by seefhing and scaldipg
IN boiling water or by boiling and
washing. When dried 1t is ground IN
mills 70 fine powder for use.
Blaclr nea mar the most cornu,on lind