4.]

OF THE

Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge.

SUGAR.

PUBLISHED EVERY SATURDAY.

[APRIL 21, 1832.

while the inhabitants of China, although possessed of the greatest natural advantages, arising from variety of soil and climate, by which advantages they had so long ago placed themselves in advance of other people, have remained altogether stationary?

SUGAR may be properly reckoned a necessary of life. It is of almost universal use throughout the world. The scattered tribes of North American Indians spend the months of spring in their rude encampments, manuA knowledge of the origin of cane sugar was corfacturing sugar out of the juice of the maple; the five-rectly revealed in the middle of the thirteenth century, and-twenty million inhabitants of the United Kingdom by the celebrated traveller Marco Polo; though it was employ, throughout the year, two hundred thousand tous of shipping to export five hundred million pounds of sugar from their colonies. This enormous supply affords, upon an average, 20lbs. of sugar to each individual of our twenty-five millions of population. Through the natural operation of our commercial power this important article of comfort is placed within the reach of the humblest in the land, although the revenue received by the state from the consumers amounts to 5,000,000l. annually.

veyed to Arabia, Nubia, Egypt, and Ethiopia, where it partially known much earlier. The plant was soon conbecame extensively cultivated. Early in the fifteenth took the lead in its cultivation; thence it passed to century the sugar-cane first appeared in Europe. Sicily Spain, Madeira, and the Canary Islands; and shortly after the discovery of the New World by Columbus, this plant was conveyed to Hayti and Brazil, from which latter country it gradually spread through the islands of the West Indies.

The sugar-cane varies exceedingly in its growth, depending upon the nature of the soil. In new and moist land it sometimes attains the height of twenty feet. It is always propagated from cuttings. The hoeing of a cane-field is a most laborious operation when performed, as it must be, under the rays of a tropical sun. Formerly this task was always effected by hand labour, but, of late years, where the nature of the ground will admit of the employment of a plough, that instrument has been substituted, to the mutual advantage of the planter and his labourers. The planting of canes does not require to be renewed annually; in' such a case the utmost number of labourers now em-' ployed on a sugar plantation would be wholly inadequate to its performance.

When the canes are fully ripe they are cut close to the ground, and being then divided into convenient lengths, are tied up in bundles, and conveyed to the mill. The canes, on being passed twice between the cylinders of this mill, have all their juice expressed. This is collected in a cistern, and must be immediately placed under process by heat to prevent its becoming acid. A certain quantity of lime in powder, or of limewater, is added at this time to promote the separation of the grosser matters contained in the juice; and these being as far as possible removed at a heat just sufficient to cause the impurities to collect together on the surface, the cane liquor is then subjected to a very rapid boiling, The Sugar-cane must be considered as a native of in order to evaporate the watery particles, and bring China, since it has been pretty accurately shown that its the syrup to such a consistency that it will granulate on cultivation was prosecuted in that empire for two thou-cooling. Upon an average, every five gallons, imperial

sand years before sugar was even known in Europe, and for a very long period before other eastern nations became acquainted with its use. For some time after this substance, in its crystalline form, had found its way to the westward, through India and Arabia, a singular degree of ignorance prevailed in regard to its nature, and the mode of its production; and there is reason for believing that the Chinese, who have always evinced an unconquerable repugnance to foreign intercourse, purposely threw a veil of mystery over the subject. Persons have not been wanting, even in modern times, who have approved of this anti-social spirit, as being the perfection of political wisdom;-but is it not a complete answer to their opinion, that every nation which has cultivated commercial relations has been steadily advancing in civilization, and adding most importantly to the sum of its comforts and conveniences?

VOL. I.

tallized sugar, and will be obtained from about one measure, of cane-juice, will yield six pounds of cryshundred and ten well-grown canes.

it is put into the hogsheads in which it is shipped to When the sugar is sufficiently cooled in shallow trays, Europe. These casks have their bottoms pierced with holes, and are placed upright over a large cistern into which the molasses-which is the portion of saccharine the raw sugar in the state wherein we see it in our matter that will not crystallize-drains away, leaving grocers' shops: the casks are then filled headed down, and shipped.

up,

The molasses which have drained from the sugar, together with all the scummings of the coppers, are collected, and, being first fermented, are distilled for the production of rum.

[Abridged from "Vegetable Substances used for the Food of Man." E

These counties may, therefore, altogether be considered | counties still possess the larger population, notwith as exceeding the average population of England and Wales, which, compared to a superficies of 37,084,400 statute acres, gives a ratio of one inhabitant to every two and a half acres. (7.) For some of the remaining counties, the returns are as follows:

York,

Lancaster,

Somerset,

Lincoln,
Devon ;

standing its rapid growth in the north. There is no
coal south of the line, with the exception of compara-
tively inconsiderable beds in Gloucester and Somerset;
and the relative condition of the labouring population in
the two divisions is, in many respects, much contrasted,
as will be seen on reference to the state of pauperism,
of crime, and of other matters about to be noticed.
[To be continued.]

INSTRUCTION OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. THE sixth number of "The Quarterly Journal of Edution," just published, contains a very interesting paper on the curious subject of instructing the deaf and dumb. Most persons are greatly puzzled to know how a child, that can neither hear nor speak, can be taught to read and write, and express the most complex ideas. Some of this wonder may be perhaps removed by the following account of the method persued by the Abbé Sicard, in establishing a connexion in the mind of a pupil between an object and a word:

"Sicard placed before the learner various familiar objects, drawing them at the same time before his eyes on a board. He is then taught to point to the object on being shown the picture. He now tries his own skill in drawing, and is delighted to find that he also is understood by others. When the relation between the actual object and its picture has been well established, the letters of the alphabet are written in a corner of the board, and the pupil is desired to take notice of them. The name of the object is then written round its picture. This is a great mystery to the pupil, and his astonishment is increased when the instructor rubs out the picture, leaving only the letters. While the pupil is wondering what this may mean, the instructor shows the letters to a third person, who immediately selects a corresponding object from among a number. This process is repeated, and the student himself is al lowed to find, that when he draws the same uncouth characters, he is equally successful in directing the atten tion of a third person to the object, and this also when he places the letters in one horizontal line. He is then made to find out this effect will not be produced, if the order of the letters be deranged. This discourages him, but not for any long period, since his memory of impres sions produced by the eye is unsually keen, owing to his peculiar situation. The pictures are now dropped, and the name of every new object is given to him in ordinary characters, not that he has any notion what connexion the component parts of his new symbols have with the sounds which occur in spoken language; he has no idea of sound, or at least of articulation, and he looks at a

and the following six are, in that respect, of the least word, such as table, as a whole, conventionally used to importance, viz.

Hertford,

Bedford,

Huntingdon,
Westmoreland,

Monmouth,
Rutland.

represent a certain piece of furniture. Our reader, if he really can read, as the epitaph says, does the same thing. He also reads by words, not by syllables or letters, for The value of the property assessed, compared with any one particular letter, he passes from word to word, at one glance, and without being conscious of recalling the numbers of the people, is a good test of the state and, in simple sentences, almost from paragraph to pa of agriculture in a given district. Thus, if Bedford-ragraph. The only difference between the child who is shire, with a population of 95,400, is assessed at only deaf and dumb, and any other who is not, is, that the £364,277 real property, and a Scotch county (Berwick-latter is already familiar with a sound which stands be shire), with only one-third of the population of Bedfordshire, is assessed at considerably more than two-thirds of real property, the inference is, that there is some imperfection in the state of things in Bedfordshire. The contrast between the English and Scotch agricultural counties will be shown hereafter under the head of

Scotland.

tween the object and its written symbol. The pupil is
thus enabled to learn the written names of every thing
which can be placed before his eyes. The adjective or
quality of an object remains to be taught."

well explained in the article to which we refer.
This process is much more complicated; but it is

(9.) If we divide England into North and South, by a line drawn from the Wash in Lincolnshire to the Severn, them from a small island in the northern waters, barren and The Persians think that all foreign merchants come to the total population of the eighteen counties north of the desolate, which produces nothing good or beautiful; "For line will appear to be 6,180,581, and of the twenty- why else," say they, "do the Europeans fetch such things two counties south of it 6,958,755; so that the southern I from us, if they are to be had at home."

ROOKS.

may be provided nearer home, with less honesty indeed, but some degree of address. Away they go, therefore, to pilfer as fast as they can; and wherever they see a nest unguarded, they take care to rob it of the very choicest sticks of which it is composed. But these thefts never go unpunished; and probably, upon complaint being made, there is a general punishment inflicted. I have seen eight or ten rooks come upon such occasions, and setting upon the new nest of the young couple, tear it in pieces in a moment.

alacrity is often too great in the beginning; they soon THIS is the season in which rooks are carrying on the grow weary of bringing the materials of their nest from most active employment of their lives. They are build-distant places, and they very easily perceive that sticks ing and repairing their nests. Every one who has lived in the neighbourhood of a rookery must have had his attention awakened to these noisy workmen. Rooks nestle in large communities. Ten or twelve nests are sometimes to be seen on the same tree; and there are frequently considerable numbers of trees thus loaded with nests, all contiguous to each other. Though they usually select tall trees, they do not so in every case. In the garden of the Royal Naval Asylum, at Greenwich, a rookery is established upon some low trees, although there are many fine lofty elms in the park hard by, upon which not a single rook's nest is to be seen. It is not improbable that they have been influenced in their selection by a love of the noise of the boys in the play-ground of the Asylum. In the middle of the town of Dorchester is a large rookery, which has been established for many years, upon some high trees in a small garden which forms the playground of a boys' school. As there are many higher trees in more retired situations in the immediate neighbourhood of the town, it would seem very probable that the birds are in some measure attracted by the bustle and clamour of the school.

Goldsmith has given an animated account of his own observations on the proceedings of these birds:

"At length, however, the young pair find the necessity of going more regularly and honestly to work. While one flies to fetch the materials, the other sits upon the tree to guard it; and thus, in the space of three or four days, with a skirmish now and then between, the pair have fitted up a commodious nest, composed of sticks without, and of fibrous roots and long grass within. From the instant the female begins to lay, all hostilities are at an end; not one of the whole grove, that a little before treated her so badly, will now venture to molest her, so that she brings forth her brood with patient tranquillity. Such is the severity with which even native rooks are treated by each other; but if a foreign rook should attempt to make himself a denizen of their society, he would meet with no favour; the whole grove would at once be up in arms againt him, and expel him without mercy."

At Newcastle a rookery does or did exist at no great distance from the Exchange, and it is recorded that a pair of the rooks, after an unsuccessful attempt to establish themselves in the rookery, took refuge on the Exchange spire; and, though they continued to be persecuted by individuals from the adjacent colony, they succeeded in building a nest on the top of the vane, undisturbed by the noise of the populace below. They returned and built their nest every year on the same place till 1793, soon after which the spire was taken down.

"I have often," says he, amused myself with observing their plan of policy from my window in the Temple, that looks upon a grove where they have made Rooks appear to be fond of the metropolis; for, bea colony in the midst of the city. At the commencement sides the rookery in the Temple gardens, which has of spring, the rookery, which, during the continuance of been long abandoned, there was an extensive colony in winter, seemed to have been deserted, or only guarded the gardens of Carlton Palace, which, in consequence of by about five or six, like old soldiers in a garrison, the trees having been cut down, removed in the spring now begins to be once more frequented; and in a short of 1827 to the trees behind New-street, Spring-gardens; time all the bustle and hurry of business is fairly com- and there is a colony in the trees near Fife-house, at menced. Where these numbers resided during the the back of Whitehall. There was also, for many years, winter is not easy to guess, perhaps in the trees of a rookery on the trees in the church-yard of St. Dunhedge-rows, to be nearer their food. In spring, how-stan's in the East, a short distance from the Tower. ever, they cultivate their native trees; and in the places where they were themselves hatched, they prepare to propagate a future progeny. They keep together in pairs; and when the offices of courtship are over, they prepare for making their nests and laying. The old inhabitants of the place are all already provided; the nest which served them for years before, with a little trimming and dressing, will serve well again; the difficulty of nesting lies only upon the young ones, who have no nest, and must therefore get up one as well as they can. But not only are the materials wanting, but also the place in which to fix it. Every part of a tree will not do for this purpose, as some branches may not be sufficiently forked; others may not be sufficiently strong; and still others may be too much exposed to the rocking of the wind. The male and female, upon this occasion, are for some days seen examining all the trees of the grove very attentively; and when they have fixed upon a branch that seems fit for their purpose, they continue to sit upon and observe it very sedulously for two or three days longer. The place being thus determined upon, they begin to gather the materials for their nest, such as sticks and fibrous roots, which they regularly dispose in the most substantial manner. But here a new and unexpected obstacle arises. It often happens that the young couple have made choice of a place too near the mansion of an older pair, who do not choose to be incommoded by such troublesome neighbours; a quarrel, therefore, instantly ensues, in which the old ones are always victorious. The young couple thus expelled, are obliged again to go through the fatigues of deliberating, examining, and choosing; and having taken care to keep their due distance, the nes begins again, and their industry deserves commendation. But their i

THE WEEK.

years

Henry VI.) so early as 1589, when he was only twentyfive years old. It is certain that some of his happiest productions-for example, his Romeo and Juliet,' his Richard II.,' and his Richard III.'were printed in 1597; and they may have appeared on the stage some considerable number of years-occasionally also appearbefore. He continued to write for the stage for a ng as a performer; and at length, having secured by retired to his native town, where he purchased a small his exertions a fortune of two or three hundred a year, estate, and spent the remainder of his days in ease and honour. He died here, as already mentioned, on his

in the year 1616, at the age of fifty-two.

April 22.-Easter-Day.-Easter, the anniversary of our Lord's Resurrection, is directed to be celebrated on the first Sunday after the full moon that happens next after the 21st of March. If the full-moon happens on a Sunday, Easter-Day is the Sunday after. This being the fourteenth day of the first Jewish month, corresponds in the Jewish calendar to the first day of the week after the Passover. The time at which this day must happen varies with the year; but the limits within which it must fall are the 22d of March and the 25th of April inclusive, making a period of thirty-five days. Easter governs the other movable feasts. For example, Septuagesima Sun-Shakspeare," says Dryden, " was the man, who, of all day is the ninth, and Shrove-Sunday the seventh, before Easter; Whit-Sunday is the seventh, and Trinity-Sunday the eighth, after Easter. The ceremonies with which Easter continues to be celebrated in Catholic countries, and the universal joy which is manifested by the people on its arrival, to terminate the fasting and mortification of Lent, are highly interesting. Among Protestants, as well as Catholics, on the Continent, Easter is considered the chief festival of the Christian Church, and the fact of its celebration on the same day

by Christians of all denominations adds something to its solemnity.

April 23.-St. George. Those who have met with that book of wonders, called 'The Seven Champions of Christendom,' must have learned enough of the fabulous history of this Saint to render it unnecessary that we should say much about it. Those who have not had that school-boy gratification may well spare the trouble of seeking for it in their maturer years. We need not enter into these legends further than to say, in the words of an old ballad,

"Read in old stories, and there you shall see

modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them, not laboriously, but luckily. When he describes anything, you him to have wanted learning, give him the greater commore than see it—you feel it too. Those who accuse mendation; he was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he looked inwards, and found her there." Besides his plays, Shakspeare and especially of a collection of sonnets, of great sweetwas the author of several other poetical productions, ness and beauty-two of which, as they are not much known by common readers, we have given in another column.

April 25.-The birth-day of OLIVER CROMWELL. This extraordinary man was born at Huntingdon, in 1599, and was the second son of Sir Henry Cromwell, of Hinchinbrook. Of so eventful a life as his we can in this place merely note the leading epochs. He entered Parliament in 1625, as representative for the town of Huntingdon. It is a curious circumstance that in 1634 the future Lord Protector was actually on the point of How St. George, St. George, he made the Dragon flee." leaving England for America, along with the celebrated St. George was lucky in being patronized by Edward John Hampden, when the vessel in which they_had III., who invoked his aid at the battle of Calais, in embarked was detained by orders from the Court. From 1349, and instituted the order of the Garter in his the meeting of the Long Parliament, in 1640, which honour. England's 's war-cry, from that period, has been led almost immediately to the commencement of the St. George!' and Shakspeare calls it, in his Richard civil wars, Cromwell, who sat in the House for the town III., "our ancient word of courage." A good deal of of Cambridge, appears as one of the most conspicuous expense was bestowed upon Saint George, on this his characters on the popular side both in debate and in the day, in the times when our ancestors were fond of doing field. Although he had reached, his forty-second year honour to images. In an ancient history of the town before he ever drew a sword, from the battle of Marstonof Reading, there is a curious account of the charges moor, in 1644, at which he was present as Lieutenantof decorating the figure of the Patron Saint, with his General of horse, to the battle of Worcester, in Septemhorse and the dragon, which required, for these adorn-ber, 1651, his military genius displayed itself in Engments, three calf-skins, two horse-skins, four pieces of clout leather, planks, iron, and other substantial garniture; besides a coat for St. George himself, with roses, bells, girdle, sword, and dagger.

66

land, Scotland, and Ireland, by a crowded succession of the most brilliant achievements. In April, 1653, he openly seized upon the supreme power in the state by entering the House of Commons with a party of soldiers, April 23.-This day is a memorable one also in pulling the Speaker from the chair, ordering his men the calendar of genius, being at once that of the to take away that bauble," as he called it, the mace, birth and that of the death of SHAKSPEARE; and also and locking the doors. On the 16th of December, in that of the death, the following year, of his illus- the same year, he was formally invested in Westminster trious contemporary Cervantes, the author of Don Hall with the dignity and authority of Protector of the Quixote. At present we confine ourselves to a short Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland— notice of our great dramatist. William Shakspeare was in other words, with the sovereignty of the nation. His born at Stratford-upon-Avon, in Warwickshire, in the administration of the government was characterized by year 1564. What credit we ought to give to the stories the same vigour and ability which had distinguished the which tradition has handed down to us of his earlier years, previous part of his career; and he not only repressed be difficult to say. After a somewhat wild youth whatever remained of the late confusions, and rehe appears to have come to London when he was about stored a state of perfect internal tranquillity; but, twenty-two years of age, having been, however, already by the firm and lofty tone which he adopted towards some years married. His circumstances at this time are foreign powers, he elevated England to a height of insaid to have been so destitute that he was wont occa- fluence and glory which, since the time of Elizabeth, sionally to perform the very humble service of holding she had never approached. In other respects, howthe horses of persons who came to the play at the ever, his government was little better than a mere destheatre door. He is also reported to have officiated in potism-that is to say, every thing was conducted solely the capacity of call-boy or attendant to the prompter.according to his will and pleasure; and if justice was From this low condition, however, he was not very long in emerging. It has even been conjectured that he produced his first dramatic composition (the First Part of

it

may

generally administered between man and man, learning protected, manufactures and commerce encouraged, and public order ably maintained, these blessings were due