SUPPLEMENT. 33 



The extra expense necessary to procure niore than 80 per cent 

 of the juice dhninislies largely its value, nevertheless improved 

 methods are constantly sought and are doubtless attainable. 



The press method and Roberts'* modification of warm and 

 cold maceration of the fresh beets have apparently the warmest 

 advocates. It would be a vain attempt on my part to treat here 

 in a becoming manner on these questions. I propose to leave 

 that task to some future occasion, when the manufacture of 

 beet-sugar will be discussed. The supply of labor, fuel, and 

 water, the condition of the sugar market, &c., control, as every 

 manufacturer is aware, in such a degree the choice of appara- 

 tus and modes of operation, that very little information could 

 be gleaned from a general discussion without some detailed ex- 

 planation. To the farmer, the vegetable refuse, as press-cake 

 and like substances, is of prime importance, and the various 

 modes of abstracting the juice from the beet roots affect him 

 only in so far as the value of the refuse for feeding purposes is 

 concerned. A comparison of the composition of the juices 

 obtained by means of a powerful hydraulic press and by Roberts' 

 maceration, (or the dialytic mode), can aid in understanding 

 this question of which I shall have to treat somewhat more in 

 detail hereafter : — 



I. 



Beet juice procured by the aid of a hydraulic press contains : — 



II. 



Beet juice procured by Roberts' diffusion apparatus with an 

 addition of 15 per cent of water, contains : — 



* Roberts claims to secure 94 per cent of the juice by adding but 15 per cent of 

 water, and carrying on the first osmotic maceration at 87 to 80 degrees centigrade, and 

 the remainder at a common temperature. 



