SUGAR BEET PULP AS A FOOD FOR COWS. 



Tlie cultivation of the sugar beet and its subsequent manufacture 

 into sugar lias left upon the hands of the manufacturer a large 

 mass of material which causes more or less inconvenience because 

 of its great bulk, and the consequent difficulty of readily and 

 cheaply disposing of it. This material is commonly known as beet 

 pulp. It comes from the sugar factory through an operation which 

 is briefly as follows : As soon as the beets are washed they pass 

 through a knife bearing machine which cuts them up into small 

 round strips about the size of wool-twine. The beets thus cut are 

 then placed in large upright cylinders through which hot water is 

 forced and the sugar thereby dissolved out of the beets. After the 

 sugar has been carried off in solution by the water, the remaining 

 portion of the beets (called beet pulp or residue) is of no further 

 use to the manufacturer and is carried away to any convenient 

 dumping ground. In passing through such a soaking process it 

 will be readily imagined that the residue contains a large amount of 

 water unless the water in some manner be pressed out. As a mat- 

 ter of fact, some of the water is taken out but so much remains 

 that beet pulp as we obtain it contains ninety per cent or more of 

 water. 



Whether the beet residue containing so much water as it does on 

 coming from the factory has any feeding value, is a question which 

 the sugar manufacturer wishes solved before lie can dispose of it to 

 cattle feeders or dairymen, and which the latter desire some light 

 upon before tliey purchase it in large quantities. In the continental 

 countries of Europe where the beet sugar industry has attained 

 large proportions, and where there is a greater scarcitj^ of fodder 

 than in America, beet pulp is largely used in feeding animals, and 

 various means have been resorted to to preserve it for such purpose. 

 Sometimes it is thoroughly pressed and dried. It may be fed in 



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