CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 125 



load. In actual practice the representative of the farmers selects the 

 best specimens he can find, and the superintendent of the factory takes 

 the worst specimens obtainable. 



The roots thus selected are then weighed, the adhering dirt and the 

 useless portion of the tops and leaves that may remain removed, and 

 the difference in weight found by a second weighing is accepted as a 

 basis for calculation of the tare to be applied to the entire crop to be 

 delivered. The manufacturer has, however, always the right to demand 

 a new determination of the tare, if at any time during the delivery of 

 the roots he considers them in worse condition than at the time of the 

 first determination. 



After the same manner the quality in the new system is determined. 



In the first place, the rate to be paid according to the density of the juice 

 is fixed in the contract between the supplying and receiving parties, and 

 this is generally 61 per ton of 2.200 pounds of beets, the juice of which 

 has a density of 1.055. The scale of the densimeter used in the estima- 

 tion of values is so divided that the figures representing what are tech- 

 nically called degrees of richness may correspond with the hundredths 

 figures representing the specific gravity. Thus, 5 degrees in the scale 

 of richness means a density of the juice equal to 1.050, and 5.5 to 1.055. 

 A beet giving a juice having a density of 1.055 is considered of good 

 average quality, and will contain about 11.2 per cent, of sugar, and this 

 root will yield in manufacture about per cent, of merchantable sugar. 

 It would be better, or, rather, more nearly correct in this work, to make 

 at the same time an estimation of the organic and mineral impurities : 

 but this would require special knowledge not possessed by the farmer, 

 and the value, as determined, would be by no means as manifest to him, 

 nor would it be as readily accepted by him. By the method proposed in 

 the use of the densimeter, he is able to participate in the estimation of 

 the quality, and he can much more readily understand it. 



A juice having a density of 1.055, or of 5.5 degrees, is considered of 

 very fair quality, and this degree has been adopted by many as that 

 upon which the price of $1 per ton of 2,200 pounds shall be based. The 

 variations of price for degrees above and below this standard degree of 

 richness is determined and settled upon in each contract ; but it is in 

 general, where the system has been adopted, 4 francs (SO cents) for each 

 degree; that is, for each degree above the standard, 5.5, this amount is 

 added, and for each degree below the standard the same amount is de- 

 ducted. But this standard of values, depending upon the degrees of 

 density above and below o.o, has been the subject of earnest discussion, 

 for it has been found that the same relation between the density of the 

 juice and its sugar content does not always hold good for degrees above 

 and below the figure adopted. 



The commission established to determine the readiest means of esti- 

 mating the value of the root for commercial purposes acknowledged this 

 fact, and that while the reading of the instrument might correspond to 



