354 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



inherent value of the product from the standpoint of its composi- 

 tion. There is a distinct opportunity for securing from blackstrap 

 molasses products of great value compared with the present low 

 price of the molasses. Work directed toward a more profitable 

 manner of utilizing blackstrap molasses has been activeh' under way 

 during the past year and important progress has been made. 



Beet-sugar investigations. — In furtherance of the work already 

 under way, the investigations of the past year have been carried 

 forward, with the object of obtaining more accurate knowledge of 

 the objectionable organic nonsugar substances which are extracted 

 from beets in the juice with sugar. This material varies in 

 quantity, depending on the character of the beets, and is a primary- 

 factor in causing the sugar losses under investigation. The necessity- 

 for storing a large proportion of sugar beets after harvesting and 

 before working the beets in the factory is predominantly associated 

 with these sugar losses. There is a very great difference between 

 the ease with which sugar can be extracted from unstored beets and 

 the difficulty encountered in the case of stored and deteriorated 

 beets. In addition, the total recovery of sugar from unstored beets 

 is greater than that from stored beets. Furthermore, there are 

 distinct indications that cultural conditions, such as type of soil and 

 degree of maturity, predominantly determine the deterioration which 

 sugar beets undergo in storage. As the net result is to reduce the 

 value of sugar beets as an agricultural crop, the successful solution, 

 of this problem is of great economic imjwrtance. 



Distinct progress has been made toward the solution of the prob- 

 lem. For this purpose it was necessary to devise and install equip- 

 ment for reproducing on a small scale the factory operations 

 employed in boiling and crystallizing beet liquors. Apparatus was- 

 also developed for more accurately determining the effect of the 

 impurities in beet liquors on properties such as hydrogen-ion con- 

 centration, viscosity, solubilit}' , and rate of crystallization of sucrose^ 

 and on the form and size of the sugar crystals. 



As a by-product of the investigation as a whole, there was de- 

 veloped a much more accurate analytical method for the determina- 

 tion of sucrose, and incidentally raffinose, in beet products in 

 connection with factory control of sugar recover^'' than has hereto- 

 fore been available. This is most important in view of the fact that 

 cost control of the entire processes of growing and handling beets 

 and extracting sugar therefrom depends on an accurate knowledge 

 of the quantity of sugar in the beets and the yield obtained. This 

 method was tried out in actual practice by a representative of the 

 bureau in one of the western beet-sugar factories during the season 

 of 1922, and the results obtained permitted more accurate detection 

 and estimation of sugar losses. The efficiency of the Steffen process 

 now used in this country for the desugarization of beet molasses 

 was more full}'^ studied and the extent of known and unknown losses 

 of suffar was more accuratelv determined. 



INSKCTICIDE AND FUNGICIDE INVESTIGATIONS. 



As crop production becomes intensified new biological problems 

 arise in the attempt to maintain an equilibrium which will be of 

 benefit and profit to man. Some of our most acute agricultural 

 problems originate from insect depredations or from plant diseases 



