The Bamberg herald. [volume] (Bamberg, S.C.) 1891-1972, 1915-07-01
MAKING SUGAR ANCIENT.
Over S5OO,OOO, 900 Spent Annually
for Candy and Sweetmeats.

it would seem, and growing sugar
cane is an industry so old that it
antedates the Christian era by many
centuries. At least that is what We
gather from an article by Edward
Albes in the May number of the
monthly bulletin of the Pan-Ameri-
can Union, Washington, which gives
a comprehensive account Of the cane
sugar industry in the Americas, and
incidentally embodies 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 orig
inated''-he writes-"for nowhere
has it been found in it's wild state.
1t has been a cultivated product for
many centuries, and the first mention
to be found in writing records is in
the sacred books Of the Hindus. l
have crowned thee with a shooting
sugar cane, so that thou shalt not
be adverse to me- was written many
centuries before the Christian 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 too
busy killing off the inhabitants, and
in these written documents, accord
ing 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 county before 800 B. C.
LAS to the manufactured product
Of the cane, the first kind of sugar
of which mention is made was a con-
centrated juice called CUR in India
('gud' in Sanskirt,) and this seems
to have been known as a feed from
prehistoric times. That its manu-
facture was a we'll established indus
try in India in the seventh century
is attested by the old Chinese ency
clopedia, the Pen-tsao-kang-mu,
which states that the Emperor TAFT
sung, who reigned from 627 to $50
A. D., sent some of his people to
Behar to learn the art Of sugar max
ing. The manufacture Of sugar even
in the early centuries Of the Chris
tian 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 recrystallization,
and incidentally how to make great
variety of sweetmeats, or candy, out
of the product.
The author tells of the introduc-
ton of the cane into Sicily by the
Arabs in 7O3, whence it 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
the Indian Ocean. The Crusaders
found extensive sugar cane planta-
tions in Tripoli, Mesopotamia, Syria.
Antioch, and Cyprus, and by the
fourteenth century the cane was be-
ing cultivated in every part Of the
known world where soil and climate
were propitious.
1t came to South America by be-
ing introduced into Brazil by the
Portuguese, who brought it from
Madeira, and thence it spread toI
nearly all the other countries of that
continent, Columbus is said to have
brought it to the island of Santo Do
mingo, 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 being sent toI
the jesuits from Santo Domingo. in
1851, some English authorities CIV
ing the date as 1877.
Although practically all Of the
countries of the Pan-American Union
cultivates the cane, Cuba is the
greatest producer of cane sugar, not
only in the western hemisphere, but
in the world. The total production
of the western hemisphere for the
1914 season amounted to 4.919,-
S14 tons, of which Cuba producer
2.597,732 tons, or nearly 50 per cent.
The total cane sugar production of
the world was 9.773.34S tons, and
deducting the 2,262,6OO tons pro-
duced by India and locally consum-
ed. it is seen that Cuba produces
nearly So per cent. of the cane sugar
that is available in the markets of
the world.
The United States is the greatest