Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 09.djvu/183

LEFT SUGAR BEET 149 SUGARS derived from the Silesian white beet, which was, in turn, a descendant of the sea beet, a common perennial on muddy seashores. In shape, a good sugar beet is long, conical and regular. In weight, after the leaves have been removed, it varies from one to two pounds, and its color may be white, pale pink or grayish. The amount of sugar which it contained was originally only about 10 per cent, of its weight, but this has now been raised, by cultivation, from 16 to 18 per cent. The percentage varies in differ- ent zones of the root, being smallest at the root and greatest at the thick part just under the crown. Before extract- ing the roots are washed free from mud, cut into fine, long shreds, and then extracted with hot water. The juice thus obtained is clarified, concentrated and allowed to crystallize. The ex- hausted molasses obtained as a by- product is frequently mixed with the extracted beet pulp and sold as cattle- food. SUGAR CANE, Saccharum officin- arum, a strong, cane-stemmed grass, from 8 to 12 feet high, producing a large, feathery plume of flowers. It is wild or cultivated in the Southern United States, India, China, the South Sea Islands, the West Indies, and South America, flour- ishing in the zone or belt from the equator to 35° or 40° N. and S. The land chosen for its cultivation is usually a good loam or light clay well manured. The leafy ends of the canes of the pre- ceding season are cut off, or the whole cane is cut up, each piece being made to contain two nodes or joints. Twenty thousand of these are planted on each acre in January and February, the har- vest begins early in December, and the cutting and crushing of the canes are carried on till January or February. There are several varieties of the sugar cane. SUGARS. Sugar is the generic name for a class of substances belonging to the carbohydrate group. They either occur naturally in the animal or vege- table kingdom, or are produced by the action of dilute acids or ferments on another class of bodies known as glu- cosides. As a class, they possess a sweet taste, although the degree of sweetness varies greatly with sugars of different kinds. They are readily sol- uble in water, less soluble and some- times wholly insoluble in alcohol, and insoluble in ether and similar solvents which will not mix with water. Some sugars undergo alcoholic fermentation with yeast, others change from one sugar to another under the action of dilute acids. Many of them are of g^reat value as foodstuffs. Chemically, they consist of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, the ratio of hydrogen to oxygen being always the same as in water, namely two atoms of hydrogen to one of oxy- gen. They are divided into three large groups: (1) The mono-saccharides, hav- ing the formula C^HiaOe. (2) The di- saccharides, having the formula C12H22 On. (3) The tri-saccharides, having the formula CisHaiOie. It will be noticed that the formula for the di-saccharides is exactly twice that of the mono-sac- charides less one molecule of water, H2O; while the tri-saccharides are three times the mono-saccharides, less two molecules of water. All the common sugars belong to one of the first two groups. 1. Mono-saccharides. The best known sugar among the mono-saccharides is Dextrose, commonly knovsoi as Glucose, although this latter name is also ap- plied to other sugars of a similar char- acter. It occurs in large quantities in grapes and hence is sometimes called grape sugar. Hard nodules of this su- gar are frequently found in dried grapes or raisins, and it is a common constitu- ent of sweet fruits, roots and leaves, and also occurs in honey. It is prepared artificially by boiling a solution of cane sugar with dilute acids, and also from starch by similar means, this process being known as "inversion." So-called corn syrup is inverted corn starch. Dextrose crystallizes in warty masses, but is most familiar in the form of syrup. It is less sweet than cane sugar. Fructose or Levulose, is closely allied to dextrose and occurs with it in many sweet fruits and in honey. When cane sugar is inverted by dilute acids, equal parts of dextrose and levulose are pro- duced, the mixture being known as "invert sugar." The other mono-sac- charides are of academic interest only. 2. Di-saccharides. The commonest di- saccharide is Sucrose or Cane sugar. The two chief sources from which it is obtained are the sugar cane and the sugar beet. The former contains 15-20 per cent., the latter seldom more than 16 per cent. It also occurs in many sweet fruits, such as the pineapple, the strawberry, etc. Su- crose crystallizes from water in four- sided prisms. It melts at 160° C., and on cooling solidifies to a glassy mass known as barley-sugar. Heated to high- er temperatures, it loses water and be- comes converted to caramel. It is very soluble in water, at ordinary tempera- tures dissolving in one-third of its weight of water. Sucrose is the chief constituent of maple sugar. Maltose or malt sugar is formed from