260 The Sugar-Beet in America 



the temperature is cool at the time of harvest and where 

 severe cold is not experienced, large uncovered heaps are 

 to be preferred to all other methods of storage, since 

 little expense is involved and the loss of sugar is slight. 

 Beets are not injured by temperatures slightly below 

 freezing when they thaw out slowly ; consequently, only 

 those lying on the very outside of the heap will be injured 

 by frost. A light frost will result in no injury whatever. 

 Care must be taken to see that these heaps do not 

 begin to heat. If heating begins, the pile must be opened 

 and the decaying beets removed. 



Beets stored at the factory are placed in V-shaped bins, 

 the bottom of which is a flume covered with removable 

 boards. By taking out these boards one at a time, the 

 beets drop into a swift stream of water and are carried 

 to the factory. 



WASHING AND WEIGHING 



The first step in preparing the beets for the factory is 

 to remove rocks, sand, weeds, and other foreign material 

 that might interfere with slicing. This foreign material 

 is removed by a set of special devices shown in Fig. 31, 

 after which the beets are carried up to the washer. The 

 mechanical washer consists of a tank in which arms keep 

 up an agitation in such a way that all dirt not removed 

 while the beets were being carried by the stream of water 

 into the factory is washed off. The beets after being 

 thoroughly cleaned are elevated to a scale which weighs 

 and records automatically. They are now ready to be 

 sliced. 



