CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 137 



rate would be reduced in proportion to the increase over this quantity 

 in the beets worked. 



It would appear from what has been stated that besides the profit to 

 be derived from working larger quantities of juice under the same ad- 

 ministration, no appreciable saving would be effected in the United 

 States in the cost of transportation, except in the event of working at 

 the rasping- works over 5,000 tons of roots. But it must not be forgot- 

 ten that this system leaves behind all the pulp, amounting to at least 20 

 per cent, the weight of roots, for which the cost of return transportation 

 to the farmer will be saved. 



The following information I have been able to obtain through the 

 courtesy of M. Henri Tilmorin concerning the central factory at Means: 



The cost of working proper amounts to 36 to 37 francs ($7.20 to 87.60) per ton ; it 

 amounts to 40 to 41 francs ($8 to §S.'2Q), including interest on capital and redemption 

 (at.wriissement). 



The total length of pipes is 90 kilometers (55.8 miles). The diameter of the pipes 

 is variable according to the place, the pipes of several rasping- works flowing into the 

 main pipe, that must of course be larger. The smallest are 10 centimeters (4 inches) 

 in diameter, and the largest 20 centimeters (8 inches). 



The cost of laying the pipes, 0.40 franc per meter (80.093 per yard) for the smaller, 

 and 1.50 franc per meter (80.274 per yard). The total cost per kilometer amounts to 

 7,000 francs (81,930.80) per mile. 



The juice runs, or rather is forced through the pipes at a speed of 10 to 15 meters 

 (12.8 to 19 yards) per minute. The cost of working the pumps is only 3 to 4 centimes 

 per ton of juice, but the main expense is derived from the interest on the capital in- 

 vested in the rasping-works and pipes. Of the total expenditure at Meaux (5,800,000 

 francs = SI, 160,000), one-third at least is invested in rasping-works and pipe-lines. 



The cost of carting the roots would amount to about. 0.50 franc (10 cents) per ton 

 per kilometer (equivalent to 16 cents per mile) ; but it must be borue in mind that it 

 is impossible to have roots carted to the factory from a greater distance than 5 or 6 miles 

 (8 to 10 kilometers), while the factory at Meaux requires an amount of roots or juice 

 not to be found within that distance. It is only by means of the rasping-works and 

 pipe-lines that they can obtain a supply of roots. 



The total amount worked has been as follows : 



Tons. 



1876-'77 .' 79,504 



1877-78 90,436 



The factory is intended to work 100,000 tons a year, but they have never succeeded 

 in securing so large a supply. 



The proportion of sugar obtained has been, in 1876-77, 5.81 per cent, of the beets 

 worked : iu 1877-'78, 7.87 per cent, of the beets worked, the roots being unusually 

 good in the latter year. 



The systems for extracting the juice is the next branch of the work 

 under the direction of the manufacturer to which intelligent and suc- 

 cessful effort has been directed to secure economy in the time and means 

 for extracting the sugar from the root. In France that which until 

 later years has found greatest favor and widest application consists in 

 a combination of the rotary rasp, after the invention of Lampadius, for 

 reducing the root to pomace, and the hydraulic press of ordinary con- 

 struction for expressing the juice. But this system involves the em- 



