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[COR] The Academy for the Science of Sugar, Jameston, Celestia
Darnok posted a topic in Brethren of the Brick Seas
"Calm down kids, calm down" ... Mrs. Hoover had a bit of trouble with her class today. The children could not be blamed though, for they were excited to see the Academy for the Science of Sugar - science and sugar, what more could a Corlander child ask for?The class had been invited for a tour of the academy, since its purpose was not only to research all things related to sugar - sources, refinement, uses - but also to inspire the youth to a future in the academic field. Mrs. Hoover and her class waited in front of the gates, being greated by two friendly Corrington guards. First an overview over the whole facility: the main building had two wings, on the area around it were a couple of fields with different plants. On the left side of the main building there also was a small greenhouse, and on the backside there was a stack of bee hives. The tour began in the main building. The first stop was the library, where one of the scientists was working on a book about "exciting news in the fields of sugarcane research". The bookshelves were already crammed full with books about every possible aspect of sugar, and a table in the rear of the library was covered with maps of the best regions for certain plants. The next stop was in the laboratory, were another scientist explained his work. "Greetings, young ones. What we have here is our experimental laborator. We examine different plants and their content of sugar. In the storage spaces behind me you can see some: a grass called stevia, and two different types of sugarcane. On the table in front of me I have some sample of fully grown stevia plants, sent to us by a farmer on the island of Argentia. He is interested in whether this type of plant is one to be rumoured to be extremely sweet. In the jar on the other side of the table you can see some sap from agave plants from that same island. The question remains which is the sweeter one of both. I hope we will find out soon!" One of the pupils was curious: "And what is it in that red cup?" "That is my coffee, kiddo." Leaving the main building through the back door, the group came to the bee hives. "Do not be scared, they do not harm anybody as long as they are not provoked. Note how the different hives are marked in different colours. We keep these bees to study the honey they produce. Honey is a great sweetener, so of course we are interested in its properties!" The greenhouse had been set up to study certain orchids, some of which had very sweet nectar. They needed special care, even in the already warm climate of Celestia. Moving past two small fields - the farmer from Argentia had provided seeds, so here some young agave and stevia plants were being grown for future studies - the class came to some small fields of sugarcane. But was it? A third scientist - even if she looked more like a farmer - explained: "There are different types of sugarcane plants, and we try to find out which type grows best in what places. Here we have one field with a variant being grown on Lacryma, and right next to it another type from Tiberia. As you can see, the sugarcane from Tiberia grows smaller, and we have found out it also produces less sugar." "You may wonder why we do not just plant the other type of sugarcane everywhere. Well, it is not as easy. Tiberia is not the best environment for sugarcane. But we are working on the problem. If you turn around, you can see a field of beet. This might be the future of sugar for the Mainland. We have found this type of beet growing well almost everywhere, and it has small amounts of sugar in it. By selective breeding we hope to increase its sugar levels, thus providing a source of sugar that grows in the Mainland. THis way we would not have to transport it all over the Brickseas, greatly reducing prices back there. There is some way to go, but the first results are promising!" As they leave, the children where even more excited than before. Sugar rules! ==================================================================================================================== A large education property for Jameston. I tried to cover as many areas of "sugar studies" as possible in that timeframe. A study hall, a laboratory, experimental fields - which you will find at any faculty of agricultural sciences - and combine it with the things I already know about the BotBS world. The decision to use the sugarcane build from @Simon_S was due to me having the parts needed - that it was on Tiberia and provided a nice IC reason for shorter plants was just the proverbial ising on the cake. I would have liked to include some more details about bees and sugar beet, but the level of knowledge in that time period was not advanced enough. Fun fact: sugarbeet was a thing only from 1801 onwards, prior to that it was either honey, fruits or sugar from sugarcane as sweetener. @Ayrlego: I will license the property (large education for Jameston) in a minute, you promised mucho monies. In this case 460DB if I am not mistaken. And some inside joke at the end: