The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1915-07-04
SUGAR CANE
AN ANCIENT INDUSTRY
Mention Of Product in Records
Long Antedating tho
Christian Era.

GROWING sugar cane - an industry -
old that II antedAtss ne Christian sr
by many centuries. according to an ar
ticie BY Edward Albes IN the May num-
Der Of the monthly bulletin Of the Pan
American Union.
~"sciensasts admit they DO not know
Just where the g cane originated"
Mr.. Albes writes. for nowhere has II
been found IN it, Wild stase. II has
been . cultivated product for mani
centuries. and the INST mention % -
found In written records 10 in h ~
cred books OF tho Hindus. q have
crowned thee with q shooting sugar q n
80 thai thou shalt NOT be averse to me-
was written many centuries before the
Christian era. In the train OF K
der the Great during his Asiaic con-
quests were some observant persons WIKI
made notes Of what they saw. when not
too busy killing Off the inhabitants. n
In these written documents. according to
later WRITER'S who fell heir to them. 10
told the story OF a reed growing In India
which produces honey without bees
Thus sugar zane was evidently we'll
known in hat country before 500 B. c,
"As to the manufactured product Of
the cane, the first kind of sugar Of
which mention Is made was a conoen-
trated cane Juice called CUR in India
cgud' in Sanskrit). and this seems to
have been known as a food from pre-
historic times. That its manufacture
was a we'll established industry in In.
dia in the sevenh century Is attested
by the old Chinese encyclopedia, ehe
Pen-tsao-kang-pu. which states that
the Emperor Tai-tsung. who reigned
from CIT to $50 A. D.. sent some OF his
people TO Behar to learn the art Of
sugar making. The manufacture 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 lea rned how to
purity raw sugar by capitalization,
and incidentally how to make a great
variety OF swectmeats or candy out of
the product"
The author tells OF the Introduction
of the cane into Sicily by the Arabs in
1o3, whence II was taken TO Africa, TO
Spain and all along the coast OF the
Mediterranean Sea-, as well as to the
islands and borders Of the Indian
Ocean. The Crusaders found extern
sive sugar sane plantations in Tripoli,
Mesopotamia, Syria, Antioch and Cy-
prus. and by the fourteenth century
the cane was being cultivated in every
part of the known world where soil and
! climate were propitious.
II came to South America by being
introduced into Brazil by the Portu-
guese. who brought IL from Madeira,
and thence Il spy cad to nearly all the
other countries " that continent. CO.
lumbus Is said to have brought II to
the island OF Santo Domingo, whence
is spread to Mexico and Cuba. II was
introduced into the other stands OF the
West indies as soon as they came IN
der European domination. The first
sugar cane came to Louisiana by being
sent TO the ,Jesuits from Santo Do
mlngo in 1851. some English authorities
giving the date at 1877.
Although practically all OF the coun-
tries OF the Pan-Amerlcan Union cult
vate tho cane, cuba II the greatest pro-
Queer of cane sugar not only In the
western hemisphere but In the world.
The total production OF the western
hemisphere for the 19l3-l4 season
amounted to 4.gly,sl4 tons OF which
cuba produced 2,597.732 tons, or nearly
80 per cent, The total a sugar pro
duction of the world was 9.773.34S ions
and deducting the 2,262, 800 tons pro-
duced by India and locally consumed
IT is seen that Cuba produces nearly
30 peC cent. OF the cane sugar that Is
aNallhble IN the markets or the world.
The United States Is the greatest
sugar consuming country of the world
In 1913 It's total consumption amounted
to 3,Ii3,l3? tons-including cane, beet
and maple, This IN a per capita con-
sumption or S5f pounds per annum
Much of this IL consumed in the form
Of candy, over $500, 900. 900 being spent
for that sweet commodity In the United
States every year. New York IL the
largest candy consuming centre In thu
world, and to supply that city alone II
would take Ave trains Of nifty cars
each loaded to tho limit with candy
every week in the ear II 1t had to b,
shipped In on q railroad.