for their products for those of other more esteemed regions as for instance, the sale of truffles from Sarladais or from Domme for those of Périgord.

Preservation of the Truffle During Transit.-For the purpose of keeping truffles in good condition during transit they may be placed in moss, fine sand, or powdered chalk. They can be kept in this way for a few days during transit, but should not be long preserved in this manner. Truffles may also be preserved indefinitely by sterilization. It is necessary to do this whenever they are to be sent over long distances or kept for a long time. The methods of sterilizing are not different from those described for ordinary vegetables. Truffles are also preserved by desiccation, but in this case they lose something of their odor and taste and are not so highly esteemed. Finally the truffles are sometimes preserved by cooking them and preserving them in wine or olive oil. (Raymond Brunet, "Manuel Pratique de la Culture des Champignons et de la Truffe.")

Food Value of Fungi.-While the mushroom and the truffle are the principal fungi used as food they are by no means the only kinds. Their value, as has already been indicated, is rather condimental than nutritive. Those, however, who have eaten fresh or well preserved mushrooms or truffles, cooked in the best style of the culinary art, are fully acquainted with their value. The fear of poisoning does much to restrict the use of the wild mushThe fields and forests are full of many varieties of these fungi, especially in the autumn. Very few of the varieties are poisonous, but the conservative gourmand hesitates to consume the fruits of his own activity as a collector. In the hills of the Blue Ridge Mountains near Harper's Ferry I have seen large areas of the forest almost covered with these growths in August and September, but the courage leading to their consumption was wanting.

rooms.

PART IX.

SUGAR, SIRUP, CONFECTIONERY,

AND HONEY.

SUGAR.

The term "sugar" is applied by common consent to the pure sugar commercially prepared from the sugar cane and the sugar beet. These two kinds of sugar are sometimes designated by their own name, as, for instance, the purchaser will ask for cane sugar or beet sugar. When no other name appears the term sugar is applied as above.

In Europe the principal sugar used is that derived from the sugar beet. In the United States the principal sugar is that derived from the sugar cane. Notable quantities of sugar are also found in commerce derived from the maple tree, a small quantity from sorghum, and in Asia a considerable quantity is made from the palm.

Chemically, sugar belongs to the class of bodies known as sucrose or saccharose and is a compound in a pure state consisting solely of carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen, typical of that class of foods of which starch is the most important member, known as carbohydrates. The elements mentioned are combined in sugar in the proportion of 12 parts of carbon, 22 of hydrogen, and 11 of oxygen.

The quantity of sugar consumed by the people of the United States is very large. Excluding molasses, honey, and sirups the quantity consumed in the United States in the year ending December 31, 1905, was 2,632,216 tons. There should be added to this the total quantity of sugar found in the articles of diet which are so common in this country in the form of honey, sirups, and molasses.

Origin of Sugar.-In the earliest times practically the only sugar which was used by man was that stored by the bees, namely, honey. The sugar cane is indigenous to Asia and was not known as a source of sugar in Europe until the 13th or 14th century, when it was brought by Eastern merchants to Europe. The discovery of America and the introduction of sugar cane into the islands adjacent thereto opened up a new field for the culture of that plant and laid the foundation of the great industry which followed. It was

not, however, until 100 years ago that the sugar cane industry assumed anything like the propertions which indicated its subsequent growth. About 1747 sugar cane was introduced into Louisiana and soon thereafter, about 1790, became one of the most important crops of that state. Until the beginning of the Civil War Louisiana produced a large proportion of the cane sugar consumed in the United States. During the Civil War the industry was almost totally destroyed, but since then it has grown until it has assumed greater proportions than ever before but constantly diminishing proportions in relation to the total supply. Louisiana is somewhat too far north for the most economic production of sugar cane, since it is subject to injury by frosts. Sugar cane is a plant which is very sensitive to cold weather and is usually killed by a hard frost. For this reason its greatest development has occurred in tropical countries, especially in Cuba, the Hawaiian Islands, and in other similar localities. At the present time by far the largest part of the sugar made from sugar cane in the world is produced in Cuba and the Hawaiian Islands, the Cuban crop amounting, in round numbers, to 1,200,000 tons and the Hawaiian to about 400,000 tons.

Beet Sugar. The fact that beet sugar is contained in the common garden beet was first discovered by a German chemist, Margraff, in 1747. This important discovery remained dormant for nearly half a century when one of Margraff's pupils, the son of a French refugee from Prussia, named Achard, resumed the researches which had been started by Margraff and obtained results which were then regarded as of an astonishing character. Achard's statements were the subject of doubt and of ridicule and even his French co-laborers, members of the academy doubted the accuracy of his work, while thinking it of sufficient interest to look into further. A commission consisting of some of the most important members of the Academy of Science, among them Chaptal and Vauquelin, investigated the matter and announced that the attempt to make sugar was unsuccessful but thought perhaps the maple tree might be grown in France. Nevertheless the commission modified the methods of Achard and obtained better results. This was the beginning of that long series of investigations which has resulted in the establishment of a beet sugar industry, making in round numbers six million tons of sugar per year, a quantity considerable greater than that produced from the sugar cane. The name of Chaptal has been mentioned as belonging to the commission which was appointed to study Achard's process because it was through the influence of Chaptal, who had then become a Count, that the Emperor Napoleon on January 15, 1811, issued his decree establishing the beet sugar industry as a national industry of France and granting a subvention thereto. This decree ordered that one hundred thousand hectares should be planted in beets in France. Both the taxes and the octroi were withdrawn upon all sugar produced from beets for a period of four years. There were also to

BEET SUGAR.

457 be established, according to the decree, four central beet sugar factories, and it was ordered that the crop of sugar beets in 1812 and 1813 should reach two million kilograms of raw sugar. The disastrous Russian campaign and the subsequent fall of the Napoleonic dynasty interrupted but did not destroy the industry.

The establishment of an industry by imperial decree is perhaps a novel method of procedure and gave rise at that time to a caricature in which the Emperor Napoleon and the young King of Rome figured as the most important characters. The Emperor was represented as seated in the nursery with a cup of coffee before him into which he was squeezing the juice of a beet. Near him was seated the young King of Rome voraciously sucking a beet root while the nurse standing near and steadfastly observing the process is saying to the youthful monarch-"Suck, dear, suck, your father says it's sugar."

By reason of the embargo laid on commerce by England the cane sugar coming from tropical islands had been kept out of the continent, so in order to supply the deficiency the Emperor Napoleon issued the decree mentioned. Due to this impetus the industry grew rapidly in France even after the fall of the empire and in the course of 20 years had assumed proportions of commercial importance. About this period German scientists became interested in the matter and by studies directed to the improvement of the sugar in the beet and methods of manufacture laid the foundation of a great industry in Germany which has outclassed the similar industries of all other countries. The production of beet sugar in the United States was only a few thousand pounds in 1879 and during that and succeeding years a number of factories were built. All of these, however, were unsuccessful except one which was located in Alvarado, California, and which has been continuously operated ever since. In 1884 the U. S. Department of Agriculture undertook anew the investigation of the conditions which were favorable to the sugar beet industry and as a result of these investigations a new start was made on a more substantial basis. The industry has since then extensively grown in importance until at the present time as much sugar is made from the sugar beet in this country as from the sugar cane. In order that an adequate idea of the magnitude of the sugar industry in the world may be had a statistical table is submitted on page 471, showing the production of sugar in the world during the year 1906.

The first important report on the beet sugar industry in the United States was made by McMurtrie as a special report No. 28 on the culture of the sugar beet, issued in 1880 by the Department of Agriculture. It is there recounted that two Philadelphians, as early as 1880, became interested in the beet sugar industry which was then in its infancy in Europe. Eight years later David L. Child undertook in a small way the production of beet sugar

in Northampton, Mass., and issued a small work on the subject, entitled "The Culture of the Beet and the Manufacture of Beet Sugar." He reports that he had grown beets that would yield 6 percent of sugar which cost not more than 11 cents a pound. He made in all about one thousand, three hundred pounds of sugar.

The first factory of any considerable size in the United States was erected in 1863 at Chatsworth, Ill., but this proved to be a financial failure. A beet sugar factory was erected in the Sacramento Valley, California, in 1869, and after various vicissitudes a permanent factory was established at Alvarado,

FIG. 68.-CORRECT POSITION OF A MATURE BEET IN THE SOIL.-(Farmers' Bulletin 52.)

as has already been mentioned. In 1874 as much as 1,500,000 pounds of beet sugar were made in California. In 1870 and 1871 New Jersey and Massachusetts enacted legislation exempting from taxation for a period of 10 years all property devoted to the production of beet sugar. Factories were established in Massachusetts and in Delaware later on, but these all suffered financial reverses. It was not until the latter part of the 80's that the beet sugar industry in the United States was placed upon a paying basis, and even since that date many ventures in the manufacture of beet sugar have resulted in financial loss and in the abandonment of the factories.

Conditions of Cultivation.-The sugar beet in the United States does not