The refining of beet and cane sugar is identical in methods, but beet sugar is never sold "raw" as its unpleasant native twang is only dispelled by complete refining —whereas good raw cane sugar (the "second" or "yellow") has so delightful a flavor that large quantities are sold without any treatment other than sieving and grading. One of the best known trade varieties is the light, large crystal kind styled DEMERARA SUGAR (which see).
Cane molasses and the final uncrystallizable residue of cane-sugar refining are also consumed to the last ounce (see articles on MOLASSES and SYRUP) .
It should be understood that the foregoing is but a superficial description of the art of sugar-making and refining. In actual practice, much experience is necessary to produce the best results—the supervision of each process, especially those of crystal lization, calling for high ability.
The U. S. Department of Agriculture defines Sugar as "the product chemically known as sucrose (saccharose), chiefly obtained from the sugar-cane, sugar-beet, maple or palm"; Stand ard Sugar as "white sugar containing at least 99.5% of sucrose"; Granulated Loaf, Cut, Milled and Powdered sugars as "different forms of Standard Sugars," and Massecpite, Melada.
'Mush-sugar and Concrete as "products obtained by evaporating the purified juice of a sugar-pro ducing plant, or. a solution of sugar, to a solid or semi-solid consistence in which the sugar exists chiefly_in-a crystalline state." Beet Sugar.
The discovery of the value of the beet as a sugar producer is attributed to Margraff, a Ger man scientist, in 1747. He was not, however, able to devise a commercially successful method of extracting the sugar and little more was heard of the idea-until fifty-two years later, when Karl Archard, one of his pupils, submitted a method of extraction to the Institute of France.
The Institute appointed a committee to in vestigate the matter and reported favorably on it, with some reservations as to the cost of manu facture. The result was the starting of the now gigantic beet-sugar industry, for within the ten years following several small factories were erected and put into operation.
A great impetus was given in 1810, when Napoleon I offered a prize of a million francs, or V00,000, for the best method of beet sugar making, and further encouraged home cultivation and manufacture by large bounties. Increased growth and greatly improved methods resulted, but it was many
years before its manufacture was brought to the point of equalling cane sugar in qual ity and appearance—for a long time it held a disagreeably pronounced flavor and was in other respects inferior.
Though the industry was destined to grow to such proportions, it is interesting to note that not even the example and attitude of Napoleon satisfied the scoffers of his generation—they could not believe that the homely beet would ever vie with the tropi cal cane as a sugar producer. The literature of the times contains, for example, a humorous caricature, published in 1811, ridiculing the emperor and his son, the little King of Rome. Napoleon is represented as sitting in the nursery squeezing a beet into a cup of coffee and near him is the King of Rome putting another root to his mouth— his, nurse telling the youngster to "Suck, dear, suck !—your father says it's sugar !" After the downfall of Napoleon the industry languished for many years, but improvements were made from time to time, especially in Germany, and then France also took the matter up again with renewed energy, both nations stimulating manu facturers by liberal government bounties. Later, Russia, Austria, Hungary and other European countries entered the field. Up to 1860 the annual product amounted to only about 150.000 pounds—but by 1889, Europe was manufacturing 1,800,000 to 2,000,000 tons a year. To-day the world's output averages between 7,000,000 and 8,000,000 tons.
The cultivation of the sugar-beet was first taken up in the United States in 1880, American interest having been developed by the exposition of machinery and processes at the World's Fair in Paris in 1878. Congress called for a report on the subject and, following its receipt, farmers in several states added the sugar-beet to their crops— receiving for a time encouragement in the form of bounties by the Federal Government and various State Legislatures. In the beginning, inexperience and want of adequate machinery told heavily against success, but these drawbacks were soon surmounted and the annual United States output now averages more than 400,000 tons.