EXTRACTION OP SCGAR FROM BEETS. 325 



ARTICLE II. 

 On the Method of Rasping the Beet Roots 



The beets, when well cleansed, are submitted to the 

 action of a rasp, by which their fibrous substance is 

 reduced to a pulp. The rasp is worked either by a horse, 

 or by a stream of water. The rapidity of its motion should 

 be equal to four hundred revolutions upon its axis in a 

 minute. 



The rasps used by me, are sheet-iron cylinders, fifteen 

 inches in length, and twenty-four in diameter, having their 

 surfaces furnished with ninety iron plates armed with saw 

 teeth, and fixed by screws perpendicularly to the axis of 

 the cylinder and throughout the whole length of it. 



The beets being pressed against the rasp, by means of a 

 piece of wood held in the hand, are immediately torn in 

 pieces. The pulp falls into a box lined with lead, which 

 is placed beneath. The table upon which the beets des- 

 tined to the rasp are placed, is so near the instrument as to 

 allow only sufficient space between for the passage of the 

 pulp. 



The operation of rasping must be conducted expedi- 

 tiously, otherwise the pulp begins to turn brown, fermen- 

 tation takes place, and the extraction of the sugar is 

 rendered difficult. By the use of two rasps, put in motion 

 by the same horse, I have reduced 5000 pounds of beets to 

 a pulp in two hours. The pulp should not contain any 

 portion of roots that have not been acted upon by the 

 instrument. 



Compression will not in any degree supply the place of 

 rasping. The strongest presses can never extract from 

 beets more than from ^ to ■f'^p^ of their juice, whilst the 

 pulp, if properly managed, will yield from -^ to -j^. 



ARTICLE IIL 



On the Extraction of the Juice, 



As fast as the pulp falls into the box placed under the 

 rasps, it is put into small bags made of very strong cloth 



28 



