142 CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



ployed. The pomace is distributed upon it and it is caused to pass over 

 the smaller rollers, being brought into direct contact with the larger 

 roller. The pulp falls from the belt after passing between the larger 

 rollers, and is collected in a recipient below. In later days, when it has 

 been found that work with all presses may be rendered much more 

 effective by mixing the pulp with a certain proportion of water and 

 repressing, the pulp from Poizot's press of latest design falls into a 

 mixer into which a constant spray of water flows, and it is here thor- 

 oughly mixed with the water and distributed at once to the belt of a 

 second press. This preparation for second pressing is an entirely auto- 

 matic operation, and the two presses and the mixing may easily be super- 

 intended by the same individual. 



The Manuel and Socin press depends upon the same principle, but the 

 system of rollers is arranged horizontally and consists of five pairs of 

 cylinders of the same size. The distance between the cylinders of each 

 pair varies respectively according to its distance from the point of sup- 

 ply. The pressure exerted by each pair of rollers is governed by a 

 strong steel spring the power of which may be increased or diniiuished 

 at will by means of a screw regulator. 



The Leroy press is described by a writer in La Sucrerie Indigene (XII, 

 367) in the following terms: 



The Leroy press, constructed by Messrs. Mariolle Brothers, of Saint Quentin, is pro- 

 vided with rollers and an endless sheet upon which pulp is distributed by means of a 

 special apparatus called the preparatettr, founded upon the same principle as the press 

 properly so called ; that is to say, in the preparateur the material coming directly from 

 the trough of the rasp and equally distributed upon an endless sheet is submitted to 

 an energetic preparatory pressing by means of a series of rollers gradually approach- 

 ing each other more and more in such a manner as to distribute upon the press only 

 pulp partially exhausted of its juice. 



The endless sheet is here a thin sheet or steel pierced with a large number of small 

 holes, forming the filtering surface for the juice. In the press the endless sheet is of 

 the same nature, but it is doubled, as it were, by a woolen sheet, upon which the pulp 

 to be pressed is distributed. Good filtration of the juice is thus assured, and at the 

 same time almost all the fatigue is referred to the metallic sheet. This steel sheet is 

 very useful, and the price is not very high. It is, besides, easily repaired in ease of 

 accident. 



Mons. V. Pieron has devised a press that is more simple in construc- 

 tion than any yet described. It consists of a screw arranged horizon- 

 tally within a perforated cylinder of copper, and the whole hermetically 

 inclosed in an envelope of cast iron provided with internal channels 

 for flow of the juice. The blades of the screw are of copper, and the 

 axis of bronze. The blades are in sections, and may readily be removed 

 and cleaned. The pulp to be pressed is forced into the cylinder by 

 means of a strong pump, and is carried by the revolving screw toward 

 the other end. When it first enters the press the pulp is submitted to 

 very slight pressure, but the pressure increases as the pulp approaches 

 the other end, where it is forced out through a valve so arranged that 



