granulate sugar is a post civil war invention. to have sugar granulate, you have to cook it at high pressure (and lower temperature) to boil off enough of the water.. (at high tempertures, the sugar carmelizes)
so up until 1860 or so, sugar was formed into a loaf.. about 12 to 18 high, not quite a cone shape but rather a parabula.. (or like sugar loaf moutain in Brazil) to keep it fresh, it was wrapped in blue paper (and restoration villiages still alway have one or two sugar loaves to show off..)
the sugar was cut with giant scissors, sugar scissors, and then pounded in a mortar with a pestel to make it granulated... so a sugar cone is a sugar loaf is solid white sugar, waiting to be be cut and pounded into granulated sugar..
now days, you can buy block or cube sugar.. but people still say one lump or two? since sugar for coffee and tea was lumpy.. no sense in spending hours to make granulated sugar when lumps would melt in hot beverages..
