The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-06-22
SNEETJ00TH Of
WORLD ACES OH
Making Sugar An Ancient As
Well As a Modern
Industry

Tor many ages People have haar
eating sugar from time immemorj.f
1t would seem, AND growing SUI
cane is an industry so old that il AM
dates the Christian era by ~,
centuries. At least that is what va
gather from an article by Edwart
Albes in the May number Of ma
monthly Bulletin Of the Pan American
Union. Washington, D. c.. which
gives a comprehensive account If -"
cane sugar industry in the Americas
and incidentally embodies an Interest.
ing resume Of what is actuall kroU,
OF the history Of the industry throurh.
out the world from the very daon IL
civilization to the present.
scientists admit they do not know
just where the sugar cane originated
Wrltes-"for nowhere has it been
found in it's wild state. 1t has been .
cultivated product for many Centuries
and the first mention to be found In
written records is in the sacred books
of the HinduS. Il have crowned thea
With a shooting sugar cane. so that
thou shalt no be averse to me vas
written many centuries before the
Christian era In the train of Alex
ander the Great during his Asiatic
ConqueSts were some observant per-
sons who made notes of what thev
Od " WICI " tOO DuSN hlIllnS OIL the
inhabitants, and in these written docu-
ments, according to later writers who
fell heir to them, is told the story II
a reed growing in India which pro
Guces honey withou bees. Thus
sugar cane vas evidently well known
in that country before 800 B. c.
LAS to the manufactured product
Of the ane the first kind Of sugar 81
which mention is made was a con-
centrated ane juice called CUR in
India sgud' in Sanskirt) and this
seems to have been known as a food
from prehistoric times. THAI it's
manufacture was a we'll established
industry In India in the seventh cen
fury is attested by the old Chinese
encyclopedia, the Pen-tsao-kang-mu.
which states that the Emperor Tai
tsung, who reigned from 627 to $50
A. D., sent some of his people to
Behar to learn h art Of sugar maxi
ing. The manufacture of sugar even.
in the early centuries of the Christian
era was not restricted to the mera.
evaporation of the juice Of the cane
to dryness, for the Arabs and Egyp+
tlans had soon learned how to purity
raw sugar by recrystallization, IN in-
~cidentally how to make a great yarietx
Of sweetmeats. or candy, out Of tbs
product"
The author tells of the introduction
Of the cane into Sicily by the Arabs ir
7c3, whence it was taken to Africa, to
} Spain, and all along the coast Of tho
islands and borders Of the Indian
5 Ocean. The Crusaders found exten-
sive sugar-cane plantations in Tripoli.
MesopQtamia, Syria, Antioch, and
Cyprus, and by the fourteenth cen-
tury the cane was being cultivated li
( every part Of the known world whera
: soil and climate were propitious,
!, 1t came to South America by beng
: introduced into Brazil by the Portu-
guese. who brought it from Madeira.
= and thence it spread to nearly all the
: other countries Of hat continent
Columbus is said to have brought II
to the island of Santo DOMINGO
4 whence it spread to Mexico and Cuba
It was introduced into the other IS
: lands of the West Indies as soon a
they came under European DONNA
ton. The first sugar cane came y
Louisiana by being sent to the Jesull
from Santo Domingo, in 1851, SOM
English authorities giving the date q
1897.
Although practically all Of ~
countries Of the Pan American lnloi
cultivate the cane, Cuba is the greats
producer Of cane sugar. not only u
the western hemisphere but in IT.
world. The total production OF 70
western hemisphere for the 1872
season amounted to 4,919,814 tons 2
which Cuba produced 2,597,732 tons
z. or nearly So per cent. The total cane
sugar production Of the world wa
9,773,348 tons, and ~deducting the 4
2G2,600 tons produced by India an
l locally consumed, 1t is seen that ~
produces nearly 35 per cent OF w
. cane sugar hat is available in 7.
markets of the world.
The United States is the create
: sugar consuming country Of H.
world. In 1913 its total consumptIo
g amounted to 3,743,139 tons-incIu1
ing cane, beet and maple. This IS
per capita consumption Of S5.4 pouno
per mum. Much Of this is consuHlt
IN in the form Of candy. over $5o0,oVV