MILK SUGAR 217 



formed by the evaporation of the whey. A druggist, 

 to whom these crystals were shown, predicted that, if 

 the product could be manufactured in quantities, it would 

 become an important article of commerce. In the first 

 half of the nineteenth century, milk sugar was being manu- 

 factured by very crude methods in Switzerland, Holland 

 and Germany. The sugaring processes occupied about 

 fourteen days and the product then contained many im- 

 purities. But there was great demand for even this 

 impure product and the industry grew. Switzerland con- 

 trolled the milk sugar industry, and supplied the markets 

 of the world. In time the United States became the chief 

 customer of Switzerland, taking about three-fourths of the 

 $60,000 worth annually exported from that country. 1 



The first attempt to manufacture milk sugar in this 

 country was made in 1881 by Dr. Gerber. He worked 

 for about two years in Little Falls, N. Y., and then gave 

 it up, declaring that, on account of the poor quality of 

 milk produced in the United States, Switzerland need 

 never fear competition in the milk-sugar industry from 

 that source. 



However, by 1890 the milk-sugar industry was fairly 

 well established in this country and was developing 

 rapidly. American improvements in the process of pro- 

 duction have made possible a product of much higher 

 purity than the sugar formerly imported from Switzerland. 

 To-day milk sugar is exported from this country to Europe 

 and has to a considerable extent replaced the Swiss product. 



Milk-sugar Making in the United States. Alvord, in 



1897, reported four or five milk sugar factories in Illinois, 



New York and Ohio, using whey from neighboring cheese 



factories, for which they paid from 4 to 7 cents per hun- 



1 Alvord in United States Dept. of Agriculture Yearbook, 1897. 



