Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-06-17
MAKING SUGAR ANCIENT INDUSTRY

The world has had sweet tooth"
for many ages. People have been eat
ing sugar from time immemorial it
would seem, and growing sugar cane
is an industry so old that it antedates
the Christian era ny many centuries
An article rs Edward Albes In the
Monthly Bulletin of the Pan American
Union gives comprehensive account
of the cane sugar industry in the
Americas, and incidentally cInbodies an
interesting resume OF what Is actually
known OF the history of the industry
throughout the world from the very
dawn OF civilization TO the present.
Scientists admit they do not know
Just where the sugar cane originated"
he writes. FOR nowhere has it been
found in its wild state. II has heen
cultivated product for many centuries,
ana the tirst mention 10 be found in
written records is in the sacred books
OF the Iiindus. j have crowned thee
with shooting sugar cane, SO that
thou shalt not he averse to me- was
written many centuries before the
ChrlStian era. In the train of Alexander
the Great during his Asiatic conquests
were some observant persons who made
notes of what they saw, when not busy
Killing off the inhabitants. and in these
written documents, according to later
writer's who fell heir to them. is told
the story of a reed growing in India
which produces honey without bees
Thus sugar cane was evidently we'll
known in that country before $50 b. G.
AS to the manufactured product of
the cane, the first kind OF sugar OF
which mention is made was con-
centrated cane Juice called CUR in
India cgud' in SanskriO, and this
seems to have been known as a food
from prehistoric times. That its manu-
facture was we'll esta blished industry
in India in the seventh century is at
tested by the old Chinese encyclopedia.
the Pen tsao-kang- which states
that the Emperor T'ai-tsung, who
reiened from 627 to ESQ A. D., sent
some of his people to Behar to learn
the art OF sugar making. The manu-
facture Of sugar even in the early
centuries OF the Christian era was not
restricted to the mere evaporation of
the juice Of the cane to dryness, for
the Arabs and Egyptians had soon
learned how to purify raw sugar by re-
disqualification, and incidentally how to
make great variety of sweetmeats,
or candy, out of the product"
The author tells of the introduction
Of the cane into Sicily by the Arabs in
703, whence 1t was taken to Africa, TO
Spain and all along the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea, as we'll as to the
islands and borders of tho Indian
Ocean. The Crusaders found extensive
sugar cane plantations in Tripoli, Meso-
potamia, Syria. Antioch and Cyprus, and
by the fourteenth century the cane
was being cultivated In every part OF
the known world where soil and climate
were propitious.
1t came to South America by being
introduced into Brazil by the Portu-
guese. who brought 1t from MADEIRA
and thence II spread to nearly all the
other countries Of that continent. Co
lumbus is said to have brought 1t to
the Island Of Santo Domingo, whence
it spread TO Mexico and Cuba. 1t was
introduced into the other islands of the
West Indies as soon as they came
under European domination. The first
sugar cane came to Louisiana by heing
sent to the Jesuits from Santo Domingo