CHAPTER II 



DEVELOPMENT OF THE BEET-SUGAR 

 INDUSTRY 



The beet-sugar industry has grown in a century from 

 nothing to its present enormous proportions. It is a 

 significant example of the appUcation of science to the 

 needs of mankind. With the demand for sugar exceed- 

 ing the supply and increasing faster than could be satis- 

 fied from known sources, new and better methods of 

 securing sugar were sought. By applying the principles 

 of plant-breeding to the sugar-beet — a plant formerly 

 having only a low percentage of sugar — the quantity of 

 sugar that can be extracted from a ton of beets was 

 increased several fold. The same incentive has also led 

 to the application of the principles of chemistry and 

 physics to the manufacturing of sugar. \Vhen the in- 

 dustry first began, beets low in sugar were the only kind 

 obtainable, and even this little sugar had to be extracted 

 by imperfect processes; but as time went on the beets 

 were improved and the processes perfected, until at pres- 

 ent sugar can be obtained from the beet at a fraction of 

 the cost of a hundred years ago. 



EARLY USE OF SUGAR 



The use of sugar as an important food is confined to 

 modern times ; formerly it was known only as a medicine 



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