been described for sugar cane juice. Sometimes at this stage it is also treated with sulfur fumes, but not usually. After clarifying the juice is filtered through bags or filter presses so as to free it from all suspended matter. In order to decolorize it it is then passed through large cylinders filled with bone-black from which it emerges quite or almost water-white. When the bone-black loses its decolorizing properties it is removed from the cylinder and reburned in closed retorts, by which process it regains its power to decolorize the sugar solution. The decolorized juices are next taken into vacuum strike pans, as has already been described in the manufacture of sugar, only of a much larger size. In these pans they are evaporated and crystallized and the sugar separated in centrifugals as described above. After the sugar comes from the centrifugal it is placed in a granulating apparatus, a large revolving drum supplied with a steam jacket from which it emerges dry. Granulated sugar is almost chemically pure, often containing 99.9 percent of pure sugar. The molasses from the centrifugal is diluted, passed through bone-black, and reboiled and a new lot of sugar obtained. Finally when the product becomes so low in sugar as not to yield a white product lower grades of brown sugar are made, which are usually sold without drying and contain considerable quantities of moisture and some molasses. The final molasses which no longer crystallizes is sold usually for mixing with glucose to make table sirup. It contains so much mineral matter in solution as to be hardly suitable for food purposes.

Loaf sugar, cut loaf, etc., are forms of pure sugar which are pressed or cut in the forms in which they appear on the market and then dried instead of being dried in a granulated state as described. Powdered sugar is dry refined sugar reduced to a fine powder.

In the refining of sugar it is quite customary to wash the crystals in the centrifugal with ultramarine blue suspended in water. This is done in order to form with the blue water and the yellow tint, which sometimes accompanies the crystals, a perfectly white appearance, on the optical principle which shows that when a blue and a yellow tint are mixed a white color results. This process is not required for the first-class product coming from the first crystallization and very often dealers require sugar for special purposes which has not been so treated. It would be advisable if all consumers should demand a sugar of the same character.

While the refining of sugar can probably never be abolished it should not be forgotten that the very finest sugar, from a palatable point of view, is that made from the maple or sugar cane without refining in which the crystals retain their natural yellow color. If consumers understood thoroughly the value of a sugar of this kind they would demand it instead of the dead white product which is now in vogue.

As has been stated a raw sugar of this kind could not be used if made from beets.

ADULTERATION OF SUGAR.

471

Sugar Crops of the World.-These figures include local consumption of home production wherever known.

Willett and Gray's estimates of cane sugar crops, Oct. 18, 1906:

Adulteration of Sugar.-In the United States there are few adulterations of sugar practiced. The product has grown so cheap not only in the United States but all over the world that adulterations are no longer a paying process and whenever adulteration ceases to pay it requires no law to prevent it. White sugars have been adulterated from time to time by the admixture of white earth or terra alba (either ground silicate, ground gypsum, or ground chalk). I have never found any adulteration of this kind in an American

white sugar. White flour has also been added to sugar as an adulterant, but that form of adulteration is not known in this country. The only adulteration which is found in American sugar, in so far as I know, is that incident to the process of manufacture which I have described. When sulfur is used in sulfuring the juice before clarifying a trace of sulfurous acid may still adhere to the finished product. When bluing is used the particles of ultramarine blue attach themselves to the sugar crystals and become an adulteration. I have seen sugar so blued that on solution the water would turn blue. Sugar granules are also sometimes washed with salts of tin, a very poisonous compound, and a trace of these salts may still adhere to the crystals. Sugar has also been mixed with dextrose made from starch, in other words, from starch sugar, or as it is ordinarily called, anhydrous grape sugar. This is a form of adulteration which has been little practiced on account of the difficulty of getting a dry starch sugar in commercial quantities. Recent improvements in the manufacture of dextrose have made it more probable that this form of adulteration may be more frequent in the future. As a food product pure dextrose is probably as valuable as sugar, but if it can be made cheaper it would become a fraudulent adulteration or if added in any way without notice its addition is fraudulent and constitutes an adulteration. There is little, however, to fear from this form of adulteration as long as the price of sugar does not go much above 5 cents per pound.

Sugar as a Food.-The food value of sugar is well defined. It furnishes next to oil and fat the most complete food for heat and energy that can be consumed, ranking, of course, as starch in this particular. Sugar is a quickacting food and therefore is especially valuable to relieve exhaustion. It is particularly useful for soldiers on a forced march or for people engaged in any extraordinary effort. A lump of sugar eaten occasionally keeps up the strength and prevents exhaustion. The value of sugar as a food is not appreciated as it should be, since it is valued mostly for its condimental and preservative properties.

SIRUP.

A very common form in which sugar is used in this country is in the form of sirup. The United States more than any other nation consumes viscous liquid solutions of sugar as a condimental food product, especially at breakfast on hot cakes and other articles of diet. Table sirup is an almost uniform article of diet upon the American breakfast table whether in the household, the hotel, or restaurant.

Maple Sirup. Among the sirups, first of all must be mentioned the most valuable and highly appreciated, namely, maple sirup. Maple sirup is the product of the evaporation of the juice of the sap of the maple tree to a consistency in which only about 25 or 30 percent of its weight is water. This is sufficient to prevent the crystallization of the sugar for at least a reasonable

length of time. Maple sirup is best when freshly made, and if kept through the summer should be put in tins and tightly sealed while hot. In this condition it will keep its original flavor almost entirely, whereas if left in barrels or other ordinary receptacles its flavor is impaired. Maple sirup is also made by dissolving maple sugar as occasion may require, but this kind is not so highly prized as that made directly from the maple sap.

FIG. 80.-SMALL PRIMITIVE MILL FOR EXTRACTING JUICE FROM SUGAR CANE FOR SIRUP MAKING.

Analysis of Maple Sirup.-The average composition of ten samples of maple sirup of known purity is as follows:

The study of the ash of maple sirup is an important point in connection with its purity. It is distinctly different from the ash of the sugar cane and