Sugar and Other Sweeteners
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SUGAR AND OTHER SWEETENERS 177 drawn up at the conferences : Con- vention on the Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone; Convention on High Seas; Convention on Fishing and Conservation of the Living Re- sources of the High Seas; and Con- vention on the Continental Shelf. Sugar and Other The conventions require ratification by 22 nations in order to become binding in full force upon the con- tracting parties. The United States Sweeteners has ratified all four conventions. The Conventions on the Continental Shelf and Territorial Sea and Contiguous by JOHN C. SCHOLL and Zone have been ratified by 21 nations LESLIE C. HURT and require one more ratification. The Convention on High Seas entered into force in September 1962. Agreement was not reached at either conference on fishery limits and SUGAR, which we get from sugarcane the breadth of the territorial seas. and sugar beets, is a major carbohy- These questions remain controversial; drate food. various countries claim territorial seas Sugarcane is native to New Guinea and fishery limits ranging from 3 to and was found there sometime before 200 miles. The United States officially 8000 B.C. It later spread to India, recognizes a 3-mile limit for territorial China, and other areas. seas and fishery jurisdiction. Many Columbus introduced sugarcane into countries, however, have abandoned Santo Domingo (Dominican Repub- the 3-mile limit. Iceland, for example, lic) on his second voyage in 1494. It claims a 12-mile fishery limit. Norway spread from there to Cuba and to claims a 4-mile territorial sea and a other West Indian, Central American, 12-mile fishery limit. The Soviet and South American areas. The pro- Union claims 12 miles for both duction of sugar from cane became a territorial waters and fisheries. Canada major industry by 1600 in tropical in May 1964 extended its fishery America. limit from 3 to 12 miles. Chile, A German chemist, Andreas Marg- Ecuador, and Peru claim a fishery graf, proved in 1747 that the sugar in limit of 200 miles. beets and the sugar in cane are identi- cal. A half century later, eff'orts were SIDNEY SHAPIRO has had 25 years'" made to capitalize on the discovery. experience in fisheries, mainly in the The King of Prussia became interested international field. In ig^y he was in developing an industry to obtain appointed Chief, Branch of Foreign Fish- sugar from beets and financed the eries, Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, first beet sugar factory in 1802. the Department of the Interior, He has A few years later Napoleon also saw served on United States delegations to possibilities in sugarbeets. Beet sugar international fishery meetings and to con- made at a small factory at Passy pro- ferences of the Food and Agriculture vided energy for his armies at a time Organization. Ht was a marine biologist when a naval blockade had cut on with the Bureau^s Hawaiian staff and French supplies of cane sugar. He the Fisheries Division of the Occupation decreed that 79 thousand acres be Forces in Japan. He is a graduate of plarited to beets and that six experi- Cornell University, Columbia University, mental stations be established to help and the University of Michigan. farmers and landowners. The beet used 712-224°—64- -13 178 THE YEARBOOK OF AGRICULTURE 1964 then was the Silesian beetroot, from total crop is planted each year. Plant- which modern strains of sugarbeets ing is usually done by setting out a have developed. section of cane stalk, from which a Many small beet sugar factories were new plant sprouts. built in France, but after Waterloo, in Sugarcane for the production of sirup 1815, prices collapsed as large vol- was first successfully grown in the umes of cane sugar came in from the United States by Jesuits about 1751. Indies. A year later only one sugar mill Some years later sugar was produced remained in operation. Laws aimed at from cane in Louisiana. The planta- equalizing competition with the Indies tion system became highly developed brought a recovery in France. around New Orleans. The Spanish- American War dealt sugar a setback in THE FIRST ATTEMPT to establish sugar- Cuba, and a few years later the mosaic beets in the United States was made by disease seriously affected the industry James Ronaldson of Philadelphia in in Louisiana. Men at experiment sta- 1830. He was instrumental in estab- tions found ways to control mosaic, lishing the Beet Sugar Society of Phila- and the industry was revived. delphia. Sugarbeets were first grown Sugarcane needs well-prepared and in the United States in 1838 at North- well-drained soils. The land should be ampton, Mass., and White Pigeon, flat, broken to a depth of 6 to 8 inches,^ Mich. Neither venture was successful, and disked into rows 4 to 5 feet apart. although the Massachusetts factory Planting usually is done in the United operated until 1841. Fifteen beet sugar States in late summer and early fall. factories built between 1838 and 1879 Fall-planted cane should be covered in Maine, Massachusetts, Delaware, with 7 to 9 inches of soil to protect it Michigan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Utah, from cold. and California failed, mostly because In the spring the soil is removed to of a lack of technical knowledge* within 2 to 3 inches of the seedcane. The first successful operation in the Several shallow cultivations are needed United States is credited to E. H. Dyer, throughout the season to control weeds whose plant, built in 1870 at Alvarado, and provide good growing conditions. Calif., was well established by 1879. Fertilizer should be applied when the The industry then spread to other cane is 8 to 12 inches high, followed States. By the turn of the century 30 by shallow cultivation. Flame cultiva- factories were operating in 11 States. tion often is used to destroy young Some 60 factories were operating in weeds. Chemical weedkillers have been the United States in 1963. fairly successful. Sugarcane is harvested in Louisiana SUGARCANE, a tropical plant, is a pe- as late in the season as feasible to allow rennial grass of the genus Saccharum, the maximum accumulation of sucrose. The commonest species is Saccharum In hand harvesting, still practiced officinarum (the noble cane). The cane in some countries, leaves are stripped, stalk grows from the plant cane, or the tops are removed, and the stalks ratoon, each year. New plantings must are cut at ground level. Cutting is done be made every 2 or 3 years in Louisi- with a cane knife or machete. The ana, 5 to 8 years in Cuba, and slightly stalks are cut close to the ground, less often in a few other parts of the because the juice from the lower inter- world. nodes contains more sugar than the Cane customarily is harvested once middle and top. Cane is milled soon a year, except newly planted cane and after harvesting. cane in irrigated areas, such as Hawaii, In Hawaii, Louisiana, and Australia, where it is harvested at intervals of mechanical harvesters are used widely. about 18 months. Successive plantings Machines for use in many other coun- are arranged so that only a part of the tries have been developed. ÔUGAR AND OtHËIt SWEETENERS 179 SüGARBEETS are produced in tem- or basket, revolves within an iron perate climates. Europe, the Soviet casing, which cá:tches the molasses Union, and the United States are the that is spun off. The unwashed sugar major producers. remaining in the basket is known as Sugarbeets grow on a wide variety raw sugar. Standard raw sugar is 96 of soils at elevations from below sea percent sucrose. Most sugar for world level up to 7 thousand feet. Beets are trade contains 97 percent or more of relatively tolerant of alkali soils. They sucrose. International trade in sugar improve soil conditions for following generally is in this form, because most Crops as their roots extend 6 to 7 importing countries prefer to use their feet in the ground. Crop rotations that own refineries for refining sugar. include beets are beneficial to the soil. Refining removes practically all the Byproducts—tops, pulp, and molas- remaining impurities in the raw sugar ses—are fed to cattle and sheep. in the following general steps : Remov- Sugarbeets are cultivated between ing the film of molasses from the raw the plants and between the row. The sugar crystals; a repetition of the sugarbeet crop is planted each year. clarification process that is carried on Thinning of young plants used to be in making raw sugar; passing sugar laborious, for many seedlings grow liquor through bone char or other from one seed, but a new type of types of charcoal to remove color and seed, the monogerm, produces a single other impurities; crystallization, to plant and saves work of thinning. form crystals of sucrose in the juice; The harvesting of sugarbeets in the separation of sugar crystals from the major producing regions is done mother liquor by means of centrifugal mostly by machines. The old way was machines ; removal of remaining mois- to loosen the beets with a tractor- ture by heat. drawn beet lifter, pull them by hand, slice off the crown and leaves, and PROCESSING SUGARBEETS into sugar is pile them for scooping into a wagon or somewhat different. The beets are truck. Machines now handle all steps washed at the factory and cut with re- in one operation. Harvest in most volving knives into thin strips, which sections lasts about 3 months. are known as cossettes, or chips. The cossettes are soaked in hot water in a THE FIRST STEP IN MAKING cane sugar continuous diffusion process.