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DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY. 

 BULLETIN No. 27 (pp. -262). 



The sugar-beet industry, II. W. Wiley (illustrated).— This 

 includes an account of the history of the sugar-beet and the manufact- 

 ure of sugar therefrom in Europe and the United States, mainly con- 

 densed from Special Report No. 28 of this Department and Bulletin No. 

 5 of the Division of Chemistry ; statistics of the beet and cane-sugar 

 industries ; the methods employed in the production of the seed of the 

 sugar-beet ; the varieties of beets grown for sugar ; methods of im- 

 proving these varieties ; the cultivation, harvesting, and storing of 

 the sugar-beet; the soil, climate, fertilizers, and meteorological condi- 

 tions favorable to the sugar-beet ; accounts of recent experiments look- 

 ing to the introduction of the beet sugar industry at the experiment 

 stations in Indiana, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska, and South Dakota; 

 by private parties in Kansas and California ; and under direction of 

 this Department in Nebraska, Illinois, South Dakota, and Michigan ; 

 brief statements regarding the beet-sugar industry in Canada and Eng- 

 land ; an article on the introduction of the beet-sugar industry in the 

 northwestern section of this country, reprinted from Special Report No. 

 28 of this Department; statements regarding the use and treatment of 

 beet pulp; and detailed accounts of the methods and processes employed 

 in the manufacture of beet-sugar. The bulletin is illustrated with nu- 

 merous plates and cuts showing varietie^of beets, implements employed 

 in their cultivation, and machinery used in the manufacture of beet- 

 sugar. There is also a map showing the sections of the United States 

 suitable to beet culture. Foreign sources of information on the sub- 

 ject of the bulletin are freely drawn upon, due credit being given for 

 the material quoted. In the introduction the author earnestly urges 

 the importance of a careful study of the problems yet to be solved in 

 this country before the sugar-beet industry can be profitably carried 

 on here. 



In 80 far as the manufacture of sugar from the matured heet is concerned ^ye are 

 able to start at the present time with the accumulated knowledge and experience of 

 three quarters of a century of investigation. So perfect have the processes of manu- 

 facture become that nearly all of the sugar which is stored in the beet can be secured 

 in merchantable form, and by comparatively inexpensive methods. By the term in- 

 expensive, however, it must be understood that the actual processes of manufacture 

 •are denoted, and not the cost of the machinery. The various processes for the ex- 

 traction of the sugar from the beet, the best methods of clarifying the juice and of 

 evaporating it, and for separating the sugar from the molasses, are thoroughly well 

 understood and are no longer legitimate subjects for public experiment. The great 

 problem in this country is the agricultural one. The selection of suitable soil, the 

 finding of the proper climatic conditions, and instruction in the method of planting, 

 cultivating, and harvesting the beets, are all matters of vital importance. Without 

 a careful study of these subjects, and without the proper knowledge thereof, it will 

 be a hopeless task to introduce successfully the beet-sugar industry into this 

 country. • * » 



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