398 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



next year. Ironi iiiaiiv voiinji men, who had i^nw into ladorv wuiU as 

 h('l|K'rs. came ai)i)li(ations to enter the sujrar scliool. Many of these 

 men liad but a very slijiht knowled^^e of the chemistry of the i)rocess 

 by which sujiar is extracted, and in orih-r to undei'stand it and he of 

 better service and capable of tilling; bett<'r ])(»sitions in the work of 

 the factory these men needed more time than our reguhir coih'ge 

 students, wlio liad taken the full course in chemistry. 



To meet the demand of this class of men, we len<.^thened the course to 

 six months, bejiinninji January 1. IJMH and continuing:' it to July 1. 

 EiulUeen men comitleted the work and all of them are now employed in 

 ;^[ichi*:an factories, filling positions as beet testers, assistant chemists, 

 etc. 



Tlie work of chemical instruction in the school is purely elemen- 

 tary. Its aim is to make clear a knowledge of the process by which 

 sugar is obtained from beet juice. The student also is taught how 

 the various steps in the process are controlled by chemical analysis. 

 He makes these analyses himself and tlius learns how the factory su- 

 perintendent is guided in his work, and can therefore render to him 

 more intelligent assistance. The object we seek to attain by our course 

 of instruction is two fold, viz., to give Michigan young men an oppor- 

 tunity to work into the business understandingly, and to help the manu- 

 facturer by supplying him with intelligent trained men. 



The efforts of the College to train this class of men has been fully 

 appreciated by Michigan sugar factory managers. There is a demand 

 for more men this year than we can supply and it seems plain that if 

 all the factoi-ies now projected for next year are completed and put in 

 operation the call for trained men will be still more urgent. 



HOW THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY IS GROWING. 



BY RAY STANXAKD BAKER, M. A. C, CLASS '89. 



[From Review of Reviews, March 1901, by permission.] 



''The Evolution of Human Diet" is one of the fascinating books that 

 is yet to be written. When it does appear it will contain much that is 

 curiously interesting about sugar and how it has invaded the world's 

 pantry. A chapter on this subject might well be given the title, 

 "Sugar vs. Pork." It seems odd to link together such foods as sugar 

 and pork, and yet the more sugar man eats the less pork he needs, each 

 serving the same purpose in the human system, that of fuel to supply 

 heat and energy. Fifty years ago sugar was a rare luxury, of poor 

 quality and high price; our grandfathers obtained the heat and energy 

 which their bodies required largely from pork and other fats. Then 

 sugar grew cheaper, it was a vegetable i)i'oduct pleasant to the palate, 

 easily kept and pure in quality, and the consumption of it grew in 



