266 The Sugar-Beet in America 



charate of lime, is mixed with sweet water to a consist- 

 ency of cream and takes the place of milk of lime in the 

 carbonation process. When the Steffen process is em- 

 ployed, about ninety per cent of the sugar originally in 

 the beet is extracted. The loss of sugar that does take 

 place is accounted for in the exhausted cossettes or pulp, 

 in the pulp water which surrounds them when they are 

 dumped from the diffusion cells, in the cake and wash 

 waters from the carbonation presses, and in the waste 

 and wash waters from the Steffen process. As the water 

 used in washing the saccharate press cake is rich in fer- 

 tilizing qualities, it is used for irrigating the lands ad- 

 joining the factory. 



"The 6,511,274 tons of beets harvested in the United 

 States during the season of 1915 contained an average of 

 16.49 per cent of sucrose, of which 14.21 per cent found 

 its way into the sacks as white sugar. The difference, 

 2.28 per cent, represented the loss in working up the beets. 

 As only a few factories, however, were using Steffen 

 process, a considerable amount of sugar was left in the 

 waste molasses. For the same period, the beets produced 

 in California contained 17.82 per cent of sugar, of which 

 15.64 per cent found its way into the sacks, showing a 

 loss of only 2.18 per cent. This may be accounted for 

 by the fact that probably more of the California factories 

 were equipped with the Steffen process than the average 

 for the United States, and that the purity of the juices of 

 California beets was higher than the average for the 

 United States. 



"A factory equipped with the Steffen process and run- 

 ning on beets containing 17.82 per cent sugar, with a 



