cely used, except in the manufacture of rum. The color
of molasses is due mainly to the presence of "caramel" or half-charred
sugar; it cannot be wholly removed by any ordinary clarifying process.

Purified molasses is usually known as "sirup," and much of it is made by
boiling a solution of raw sugar to the proper degree of concentration. A
considerable part is made from the sap of the sorghum-cane, and probably
a larger quantity consists of glucose solution colored with caramel.
Maple-sirup, formerly a solution of maple-sugar, is now very largely
made from raw cane-sugar clarified and artificially flavored.

=Glucose.=--Glucose, or grape-sugar, is the natural sugar of the grape and
most small fruits. Honey is a nearly pure, concentrated solution of
glucose. Grape-sugar has, roughly, about three-fifths the sweetening
power of cane-sugar. Natural grape-sugar is too expensive for ordinary
commercial use; the commercial product, on the other hand, is
artificial, and is made mainly from cornstarch.

Glucose is employed in the cheaper kinds of confectionery in the United
States; most of it, however, is exported to Great Britain, the annual
product being worth about four million dollars. From the fact that it
can be made more economically from corn than from any other grain,
practically all the glucose is made in the United States.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

It frequently happens that the prices of sugar and tin-plate rise and
fall together; show how the fruit-crop may cause this fluctuation.

Which of the possessions of the United States are adaptable for
cane-sugar?--for beet-sugar?

In what ways has the manufacture of sugar brought about international
complications?

What is meant by "Dutch Standard" tests?--by polariscope tests?

FOR REFERENCE AND STUDY

Obtain specimens of rock candy, granulated sugar, raw sugar, and
caramel; observe each carefully with a magnifying glass and note the
difference.

World's Sugar Production.

CHAPTER XV

FORESTS AND FOREST PRODUCTS

Outside the food-stuffs, probably no other material is more generally
used by human beings than the products of the forests. More people are
sheltered by wooden dwellings than by those of brick or stone, and more
people are warmed by wood fires than by coal. Even in steam-making a
considerable power is still produced by the use of wood for fuel.

Neither stone nor metal can wholly take the place of wood as a building
material; in