641 



of nutrients, calculated for percentages of dry substance, in the press 

 residue, it is practically much more valuable for feeding- than the wet 

 diffusion residue. The explanation is found in the very watery char- 

 acter of the diffusion residue and in the loss it suffers in keeping. 



The effort to remove the water from diffusion residue by pressing has 

 proved unavailing. The only help seemed to be in drying. Through 

 the efforts of Maercker and others, the Association of German Beet 

 Sugar Manufacturers ( Verein der fleutscher Rilbenziickerfabrikanten) 

 was induced to take the matter in hand and ottered a prize of 10,000 

 marks ($2,500) for the best process for drying diffusion residue. This 

 prize was given to Messrs. Biittner and Meyer for a drying apparatus 

 which was invented by them and which proved very efficient. To test 

 thoroughly the questions of the relative feeding values of the wet and 

 dry residue, a series of investigations were undertaken by the Halle 

 Exi)eriment Station in cociperation with a number of beet sugar farmers 

 and manufacturers. [These experiments were in continuation of those 

 described in the Experiment Station Record, vol. iii, p. 557.] 



The investigations consisted of studies of the chemical composition 

 and digestibility of the wet and dry residue and the changes which 

 the former undergoes in keeping j observations of the working and the 

 efficiency of the drying apparatus ; and experiments in which the feed- 

 ing values of the wet and dry residue were compared by eight trials 

 with milch cows, fattening oxen, and fattening sheep on different farms. 

 At the same time the results of practical exi^erience regarding the dry- 

 ing of diffusion residue were collated from twelve different sugar facto- 

 ries. The results of the whole investigation, with the chemical and 

 physiological considerations involved, and statements of the practical 

 outcome and the ways in which the results may be most advanta- 

 geously utilized in the drying and feeding of the diffusion residue, are 

 clearly and concisely set forth in a volume of 168 royal octavo pages, 

 published in August, 1891, under the title of Wesen und Verwertung der 

 getrockneten Biffusions-Biickstdnde der Zuckerfahriken, by M. Maercker 

 and A. Morgen. In the judgment of the authors, the results of the 

 investigation are in every way favorable and they are already confirmed 

 by numerous practical tests, so that the introduction of the system of 

 drying the diffusion residue appears to be a noteworthy advance and 

 of far more importance than was anticipated by those who cooperated 

 in the experiments. 



It is hardly probable that the results could have any such value for 

 us in the United States in the immediate future, even if the sugar-beet 

 industry should prove as successful as is hoped by many persons, 

 but the investigations are nevertheless of decided interest to chem- 

 ists and physiologists as well as to practical feeders, and are valu- 

 able to our stations as an illustration of a successful cooperative effort 

 by workers in the laborat<>ry and those in the factory and on the farm, 

 19378—2^0. 9 5 



