AMERICAN BEET SUGAR. 31 



great fertilizing value. It is dangerous to allow them to be used for stock feed ; 

 they must be plowed under as soon as possible after the beets are removed from 

 the field. 



I give the following extract from a Traite de la Culture de la Better ave a sucre, 

 by G. Bureau, showing the estimation in which beet tops are held for fertilizing 

 purposes in older beet-raising countries : 



"On a well conducted farm the beet tops and leaves should be well looked after. 

 We have shown that the leaves and tops of rich sugar beets equal 50 per cent, of 

 the weight of the roots. If we take, for example, a yield of 50,000 kilos, of beets 

 to the hectare (22 6-20 tons to the acre),- with, say, 25,000 kilos, (n 3-20 tons per 

 acre) of tops and leaves, the latter will contain 95 kg. of nitrates, 63.75 k g- of 

 phosphoric acid and 270 kg. of potash (or say, 85 Ibs. nitrates, 57 Ibs. of phos- 

 phoric acid and 241 Ibs. of potash to the acre). 



''On account of their richness in nitrates, phosphoric acid, potash and other 

 more or less useful elements, the beet tops are an excellent fertilizer, and in every 

 instance should be restored to the field that produced them by plowing them 

 under while green. Different experiments have proved that it is better to plow 

 them under green than dry. 



"If the beet tops are not restored, the value of the elements lost to the land may 

 be estimated as follows : Phosphoric acid at 0.50 fr., potash at o 25 fr., nitrate at 

 1.50 fr. per kilo., or say a loss of 241 fr. per hectare for a yield of 50,000 kilos, of 

 beets ($19.50 per acre for a yield of 22 6-20 tons)." 



It is therefore, a serious mistake to underestimate the benefit of beet tops as a 

 fertilizer. They are of great value, and every farmer that restores them to the 

 soil realizes a double profit in the chemical and physical improvement of his land. 



"We speak of the per cent, of sugar in the juice and the coefficient of purity. 

 Let us understand the meaning of these terms. A hundred pounds of sugar beets 

 contain about 95 pounds of juice. This juice not only contains sugar, 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 12 pounds may be 

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

 sugar (12) by the total number of solid matter (15) we get 0.8, which sum is 

 called the coefficient of purity ; that is, beet juice with 15 parts of solid, 12 of 

 which are sugar, is said to have coefficient of purity of 80. If the sample of juice 

 contains 16 parts solid matter and 12 parts sugar, as before, then the coefficient of 

 purity is only 75. When reducing the beet juice to make sugar, each pound of for- 

 eign matter, not sugar, prevents at least 3 to 5 percent, of sugar from crystallizing." 



THE FOLLOWING ACCURATE AND STRICTLY UP-TO D4TE EXPLANATION OF HOW 

 SUGAR IS MADE WILL DOUBTLESS INTEREST MANY : 



A SHORT DESCRIPTION OF THE PROCESS OF EXTRACTING BEET SUGAR is 

 as follows : The beets are delivered by wagon and weighed, the weighed beets 

 are unloaded in storage bins with sloping bottoms, through which runs a stream 

 of water confined in a flume with a movable covering ; the beets are allowed 

 to fall into this flume, the water floating them to the factory, where they 

 fall into an elevator, which drains the water and elevates the beets to a washer ; 

 here they are subjected by means of propeller arms to a thorough washing, after 



