Sugar, or the Sugar-Cane, in botany: A genus of the digynia order, belonging to the triandra clas of plants; and in the natural method ranking under the 4th order, Graminae. There is no calyx, but a long down; the corolla is bivalved. There is but one species of this genus, viz. the officina. It is a native of Africa, the East Indies, and of Brazil; from whence it was introduced into our West India islands soon after they were settled. The sugar-cane is the glory and the pride of those islands. It amply rewards the industrious planter, enriches the British merchant, gives bread to thousands of manufacturers and seamen, and brings an immense revenue to the crown. For the process of making sugar, see Sugar.

Sugar, formerly a luxury, is now become one of the necessaries of life. In crop-time every negro on the plantations, and every animal, even the dogs, grow fat. This sufficiently points out the nourishing and healthy qualities of sugar. It has been alleged, that the eating of sugar spoils the colour of, and corrupts, the teeth; this, however, proves to be a mistake, for no people on the earth have finer teeth than the negroes in Jamaica. Dr Alston, formerly professor of botany and materia medica at Edinburgh, endeavoured to obviate this vulgar opinion: he had a fine set of teeth, which he ascribed solely to his eating great quantities of sugar. Externally too it is often useful: mixed with the pulp of roasted oranges, and applied to putrid or ill-disposed ulcers, it proves a powerful corrector.