Farmers' Bulletin, No. 93, United States Department of Agriculture, by Mary Hinman Abel, goes fully into sugar as an article of diet, and I hereby acknowledge my indebtedness in quoting from it. The United States consumes sixty-four pounds of sugar per capita per year. The world probably consumes eight million tons per year. We have cane sugars, grape sugars, fruit sugars, and milk sugars. The sugars chemically are carbohydrates. Cane sugar is the chief sugar we use. Grape sugar is less sweet than cane sugar. Commercial glucose is dextrose made by hydrolizing starch. Milk yields from 4 to 5 per cent. of milk sugar. Honey we know comes from the honey bee. Its fine flavor, when pure, comes from the volatile bodies of the flowers from which it is made. Glycogen is a form of sugar found in the muscles and in the liver. The so-called cane sugars are found in the stems and roots of all grasses, in the sugar canes and sorghum, in beets, sweet potatoes, the saps of trees, as the sugar maple, etc Sugar cane and sorghum, beets and maple-trees are the chief sources commercially.

Only within fifty years has sugar become the staple article of diet it is to-day. Before that time it was rather a luxury. The refining of sugar has been brought to such perfection that we may say that refined loaf sugar is nearly or quite chemically pure. Within certain limits we can now look on sugar as the equivalent of starch that has been digested and made ready for absorption. To enter the system sugar is converted into dextrose before it is absorbed as nourishment. Now it furnishes heat and energy to the system. It is becoming more and more a recognized necessary article of diet in the ration of the soldier and the hard worker. It takes the place of too much starchy food which supplies the same needs, but calls on the system for more work in its digestion to prepare it for the same duties performed by sugar. In cold weather diet sugar is an important staple and in hot weather diet it is even of greater importance.

Athletes in hard training long for sugar. With them it is rapidly consumed in the system, and so it is with mountain climbers and such. Sugar is fattening, and with those inclined to put on fat its use must be guarded. Its flavor makes it craved by most persons, and this flavor is apt in many cases to cause it to be used in excess. Miss Abel speaks of sugar as formerly regarded only as a condiment. Had it no other use saccharin and dulcin, which are not foods, might supplant sugar. But this cannot be, for sugar has its place as a food.

The use of sugar may be abused. It may be absorbed more rapidly than it can be assimilated, if too much is eaten, and thus overload the system and cause indigestion or overloading of the excretory organs. Too much concentrated solution of sugar may also cause trouble. Large amounts of sugar and sweetened foods are apt to ferment in the stomach and intestines and cause great harm and discomfort A healthy adult can consume about one-quarter of a pound of sugar in twenty-four hours. Beyond this trouble may ensue. Miss Abel says there is no proof that sugar is harmful to the teeth and there is no evidence that it produces gout and such troubles. In candy pure glucose is no longer considered an injurious adulterant. The aniline and other coal-tar products as coloring matters in cheap candies are more doubtful.

Shall we give the baby sweets in the shape of candies, lump sugar, etc.? While the baby is nourished almost altogether on milk, say up to one year, he gets all the sugar he needs from the milk he takes. As soon as he is old enough to digest the starchy foods in the shape of the cereals, he gets his carbohydrate supply from these. Up to this time he does not need sugar in pure form unless he cannot digest sufficient of carbohydrates to give him sufficient heat and energy. Watch him here, and perhaps a little pure sugar or a little pure candy may help him. The trouble with sugar is, it may cause him to decline his cereals and his milk, which would be better for him than sugars. As a rule, do not sugar the baby's oat meal and other porridges up to two years of age. If he does not get along on porridges plain, try him once in a while with a little simple sweetened pudding, or a lump of sugar, or a little pure candy to help out as an acceptable change in the flavor of his otherwise monotonous diet. In general cooking do not use too much sugar; do not overload the natural flavors and destroy them with the flavor of sugar. After all, study your case. In the underfed, sugar may help out; in the hard-worked it may do the same. In eating, practise moderation in all things; practise moderation in sugar.