THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY IX MICHIGAN. 



THE FAMILY SUGAR BO^YL. 



K. C. KKDZIi;, n. SC, PROFESSOU 01' QIIEMISTRY AT TUE MICIIIGAX AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE 

 AND "FATHER OF THE SUGAR IXDUSTKY IX MICHICAX." 



The hope of securing an abundant supply of sugar for the people of 

 our State, derived from sources within our borders and so ample as 

 to fill all mouths with blessing, has been cherished at the Agricultural 

 College for many years. 



In my early childhood sugar made a very small ]»art of our daily food. 

 Even "muscovado" was "too rare and good for human nature's daily 

 food" in Lenawee in 1830; and as for "loaf sugar," that was only for 

 The tea lable when "company"' smiled on us. Starved for the sweet, I 

 longed for the day when the sugar bowl, filled with blessing and de- 

 light should be on every table of rich and poor alike. Muscovado at 

 12V2 ct'iits and loaf sugar at 20 cents a pound were too costly materials 

 for free use by people who often found it difficult to rub one shilling 

 against another. The occasional mouthful of maple sugar seemed only 

 to aggravate the "sugar tooth*' instead of satisfying an imperious 

 appetite. 



Leaving out of account fhe meagre supply of maple sugar, our State 

 depended on imported sugar and the amount of money sent abroad year 

 by year in payment for sugar arrested the attention of jiolitical 

 economists. 



The (pieslion then arose whether we may not i^roduce our own sugar, 

 and thus provide a more abundant su|)i>ly for our own use and at the 

 same time avoid the ex]Ktrtation of a large sum of gold, came more 

 and more prominently before the public, riimatic conditions forbade 

 the thought of attempting the cultivation of the tro]>ical sugar cane in 

 our State. Attention was therefore naturally turned to sorghum or 

 Chinese sugar cane as the most lioj)eful substitute for sugar cane that 

 could be i-aised in our State. The old assumption that true sugar can 

 come only from the tro])ical sugar cane or from jilants closely related 

 to it. still held sway over the public mind, while in fact two-thirds of 

 tlie world's su])]>ly came from beets. 



SORGHUM AND OTIIKR PLANTS FOR SUGAR. 



Twenty years ago the college undertook investigations on ihe sub- 

 ject of obtaining a su]»])ly of sugar from plants That could be raised 

 in our State. Attention was specially Turned to sorghum or Chinese 



