Chewing Gum

   Long ago people in different parts of the world discovered that some trees produce a gum which can be chewed and chewed without disappearing. But chewing gum as we know it was first made in the United States.
   At first the gum from black spruce trees was used. It was purified and sweetened. Later the gum from various other trees was tried, and a cheap chewing gum was made from paraffin. Today most chewing gum is made from chicle. Chicle is the sap of the sapodilla tree, which grows in Central and South America. Every year thousands of tons of chicle for chewing gum are shipped to the United States.
   The people of the United States spend millions of dollars a year for chewing gum. Big fortunes have been made by some of its manufacturers.