ON CHEMICAL YIELDING PLANTS 



mented with, and it should attract the attention of 

 some one living in a region where this plant is 

 extensively cultivated. It is well to bear in mind 

 the staminate parent, and to test its strain of 

 productivity. 



The Sugar-Beet 



The possibilities of stimulating a plant to outdo 

 itself in the production of its characteristic carbon 

 compounds are well illustrated by the story of the 

 sugar-beet. 



It was not much over a half century ago that 

 the merits of this vegetable as a producer of sugar 

 began to be seriously considered. 



The fact that sugar-cane grows only in warm 

 climates, and that here is a hardy plant that may 

 be grown anywhere within the temperate zone, 

 stimulated the older Vilmorin brothers of Paris, 

 France, who had learned that the beet produces a 

 sugar chemical identical with that of the sugar- 

 cane, to make inquiry as to whether it might not. 

 be possible to grow the beet on a commercial scale, 

 and extract its sugar in competition with the 

 product of the cane. 



For a long time the attempt was not attended 

 with great success. But it was finally demonstrated 

 that the sugar-beet, even in its undeveloped form, 

 could be made available as a supplier of sugar on 

 a commercial scale, and then the attempt began to 



[163] 



