Cane Sugar Handbook

Abstract

This, the tenth edition of this handbook, is subtitled: "A manual for cane sugar manufacturers and their chemists". Most of it is concerned with the manufacture and refining of sugar cane. It is arranged in sections, with chapters by various authors, as follows: Sugar and sugarcane, Raw sugar manufacture and refining, and Analytical procedures and chemical control. There are many reference tables and a bibliography.The first section, Sugar and sugarcane by J.E. Irvine, and especially the first chapter, entitled Sugar cane, will be of most interest to readers of Horticultural Abstracts. It covers the history and origin of the crop, seedling production and variety development, diseases and pests, growth and culture, harvesting, cane handling, transport and deterioration and the harvest and processing season. A table shows the grinding season in the cane sugar producing countries. The second chapter is Composition of cane juice, arranged under trash and cane, sugars and other carbohydrates, sucrose, glucose, fructose, inversion, starch, gum and dextran, mineral constituents, pH and acidity, organic acids, protein, colorants and minor constituents. It is followed by a chapter on Economic aspects of the sugar industry, which includes paragraphs on historical aspects, world production and prices, price adjustments for quality, the nature of sugar, sugar metabolism and sugar for other than human consumption.Since it first appeared in 1889, this handbook has maintained its position as an essential reference work for all those concerned with the cane sugar industry. This edition continues the high standards of information and production of its predecessors. D.O'D. BOURKE