MICHIGAN BEET SUGAR IN 1900. 391 



mfr tilt* beet i)ilcs witli dirt, ami aflciwards i'einovinj>- willi pick and 

 shovel the frozen coverinji', has deterred many farmers from beet gi'ow- 

 in<i'. To obviate this serious difficulty, the Benton Harbor factory will 

 undertake to receive all beets as fast as farmers can deliver them this 

 year, or will ]>ay the expenses of jiittinj;. 



I am constrained to believe that tln.^ wide extension of the beet 

 growing at Kay City is due in no small degree to the most excellent 

 stone roads radiating far out into the country in all directions, from the 

 factories. Beets are hauled in long distances at small expense, simply 

 becaus(^ one driver with a three-horse team hauls not one ton, but ])ossi- 

 bly four, or even five, tons. The lack of similar thoroughfares is certainly 

 hindering the proper growth of the busines elsewhere. At Alma the 

 fa(;torv is conti-ibuting funds to aid the farmers in building and main- 

 taining the gravel roads leading to the factory. 



Over fifty per cent of the beets are hauled to the factories on cars 

 which brings them from stations along the various lines from points up 

 to forty miles from the factory. The beets are hauled to the station 

 when loaded on wagons. Good roads are therefore needed and now 

 demanded about the distant towns and villages where the beets are 

 grown. In this way the helpful influence of the factories on the charac- 

 ter of the roads is widelv extended. 



DOMESTIC SUPPLY OF SUGAR FOR MICHIGAN. 



K. C. KEDZIE, D. SC, LL. D., PKOFESSOR OF CHEMISTRY AT THE MICHIGAN AOIII- 



CULTUKAL COLLEGE. 



Abstract of a paper read by invitation before the U. S. Industrial 

 Commission in ^Vashington, D. C, May 15, 1900, b}^ R. C. Kedzie. M. S., 

 M. D., D. Sc, LL. D.: 



The hope for a domestic supply- of sugar for our people has been 

 cherished in ^lichigan for years. In 1880 the Board of Agriculture 

 bought a good supply of seed of sorghum (amber cauej and distributed 

 among the farmers for trial, and in 1881 the legislature passed "An act 

 to encourage the manufacture of sugar," exempting from taxation for 

 five years the ai)y)nratus used in making sugar from cane, and offering 

 a bounty of two dollars for every hundred ])Ounds of sugar thus made. 

 Under this law ten tons of sugar were made from sorghum and 1404 i>aid 

 as bounty. But it was found that sorghum, as grown in our State, was 

 not profitable for making sugar, b(M-a\ise the ])ro])()rtion of glucose to 

 sucrose was too large to permit jtrofitable manufacture of crystallized 

 sugar. 



SUGAR BEETS. 



Attention was then turned to the sugar beet as a more promising 

 material. In 1890 the College imported n)ore than 400 pounds of the 

 seeds of each of four kinds of sugar beets cultivated in Uuro})e, being 

 the best kinds raised in Euroi)<\ -^lore than 1,(500 i)ounds of sucli 

 seeds were given t(» our farmers, with directions for i)lanting, culti- 



