122 FEEDING WITH SUGAR BEETS, SUGAR, ETC. 



ping continues. Under these circumstances 60 per cent, of the 

 water of the cossettes is separated, which is a fraction more than 

 that which can be removed by mechanical pressing. According 

 to Wicke the residuum thus obtained contains 8.5 per cent, of 

 dry substances. On the other hand, Bodenbender, who has also 

 made some experiments in endeavoring to drain this water from 

 the product, has obtained strained cossettes containing 85 per 

 cent, water. In these same pulps the water is reduced to 50 

 per cent, after siloing, which would tend to confirm the argu- 

 ment of Schotter, who declared that this pressing was not nec- 

 essary when the residuum was not to be kept for more than 

 eight months. He claimed that after this time, pressed or not 

 pressed, the residuum always had the same composition. 

 Cossette presses. The straining method has very little practical value for large 

 factories, and it is now customary to submit the cossettes upon 

 leaving the battery to considerable mechanical pressure. To 

 accomplish this an almost unlimited number of cossette presses 

 has been invented, but the results obtained with each of these 

 are approximately the same. 



When first introduced they gave a residuum containing 9 per 

 cent, of dry substances. Little by little the improvements re- 

 sulted in an increase in this percentage, owing to a greater quan- 

 tity of water being expressed. As a result the dry matter 

 remaining in the best known apparatus is 15 per cent., and it 

 must be understood, too, that this is by no means the limit that 

 such machines may attain. 



Excessive There are, however, certain obstacles to be overcome, which 

 ure< in a measure prevent the progress that one might expect. Ex- 

 cessive pressure would reduce the cossettes to a paste, and this 

 would be objectionable, as one looks for a certain dry pulveru- 

 lent condition of the product ultimately desired, which consist- 

 ency the cossettes generally possess after leaving the typical 

 presses and in which form the product may be easily handled. 

 Furthermore, this paste product would pass through the per- 

 forated iron filtering surfaces of the presses, and would, under 

 such circumstances, obstruct their proper working. An exces- 

 sive pressure would also decrease the percentage of nutritive 

 elements, as some would be carried out with the sweet water es- 

 caping when the sides of the beet cells are broken open. 



