40 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



but various other substances, largely mineral matter, which are a great hindrance,, 

 causing serious losses of sugar during the manufacture. A hundred pounds of average 

 beet juice will carry about 15 pounds of solid matter, of which twelve pounds may be 

 sugar, and three pounds matter not sugar. If we divide the number of pounds of 

 sugar (12) by the total pounds of solid matter (15), we get .80, which sum is called 

 the co-efficient of purity; that is, beet juice with 15 parts solids, 12 of which are 

 sugar, is said to have a co-efficient of purity of 80. If the sample of juice contains 

 1(3 parts solid matter and 12 parts sugar, as before, then the co-efficient of purity is 

 only 75. 



When reducing the beet juice to make sugar, each pound of foreign matter, not 

 sugar, keeps at least one pound of sugar from crystallizing. This true, we se3 at once 

 that the manufacturer desires beet roots not only carrying much sugar but also with 

 a high co-efficient of purity. Immature beets, those grown on soils rich in vegetable 

 matter or fertilized with fresh barnyard manure, those grown on land recently cleared 

 from the forest, or on drained swamp lands, are all liable to carry a great deal of 

 solid matter not sugar in the juice, and consequently are quite unsatisfactory to the 

 sugar manufacturer. Large beets are likewise always poor in sugar. The leaf stems 

 of the beet, as well as the crown of the beet root itself, also carry much foreign mat- 

 ter. In practice, the manufacturer recovers about 7 out of every 10 pounds of sugar- 

 contained in the beet root. 



It should be added that the apparent co-efficient of purity of the juice is fre- 

 quently misleading, since it takes no account of the nature of the non-sugars present. 

 The real purity of the beet is also to be distinguished from the apparent purity of 

 the juice. The real purity of the beet is obtained by dividing the percentage of 

 sugar in the beet by the total solid matter therein; the apparent purity of the juice 

 by dividing the percentage of sugar therein by the apparent percentage of solids as 

 indicated by the Brix spindle. 



QUALITY OF THE BEET SUGAR. 



Whenever the subject of beet sugar is brought forward the first inquiry usually 

 made is, "Is beet sugar white like other sugar and does it not have a peculiar taste?" 

 In its very beginning, when struggling for recognition in Europe, the beet industry 

 was handicapped by the claim that its sugar was not equal in quality with that yield- 

 ed by the cane plant of the tropics. England did not wish to recognize any competitor 

 with the cane sugar of her dependencies. In brief, to answer the questions asked 

 above, the refined sugar from the beet root equals in all particulars that yielded by 

 the cane plant. Enormous quantities of beet sugar are now being shipped to this 

 country from Europe, mainly Germany, and the chances are more than even that the 

 persons who question the purity and flavor of beet sugar are using it daily in their 

 tea and coffee. 



HOW BEET SUGAR IS MADE. 



The large illustration on Page 30 gives an admirable view of the interior of the 

 Chino beet-sugar factory, which will help to make clear this description of the proc- 

 ess of manufacture. First, the beets are brought in by the farmers and deposited in 

 large sheds with V-shaped bottoms, which are connected with the factory by means 



