174 FEEDING WITH SUGAR BEETS, SUGAR, ETC. 



was frequently looked upon with a certain misapprehension. 

 The arguments advanced showed that a very indefinite idea was 

 possessed by those discussing the question, and for this reason 

 they need not all be mentioned here. 



It is interesting, however, to call attention to the farmers' 

 assertion that it was paradoxical to assert that a handful of the 

 dry product could have the same nutritive value as a bucketful 

 of the moist substance from which it was made. These argu- 

 ments occasioned numerous agricultural gatherings at which 

 the entire question was discussed upon a very practical basis. 

 The rural press of the country took up the question and the 

 actual outcome has been that dried cossettes are now con- 

 sidered as a staple commodity upon the German market. 



The principal To Maercker and Morgen is justly due the credit of having put 

 promoters, aside, through their numerous publications, all the erroneous 

 assertions of many of the would-be scientists who attempted to 

 cry down this valuable product. 



Before mentioning exactly in what the practical solution of 

 cossette drying consists, it is important to insist upon the 

 necessity of these cossette dryers producing a product which 

 shall contain the greatest profitable proportion of dry sub- 

 stances; and from this standpoint one may notice that since the 

 cossette desiccating appliances were first introduced, the per- 

 centage of dry matter contained in the pressed cossettes has 

 risen from 12 per cent, to 16 per cent., which means that 



Limit of press- there is 30 per cent, less water to be evaporated than there was 

 ing. formerly, this phase of the question representing considerable 

 fuel economy. 



In the chapter devoted to siloed cossettes, w r e discussed the 

 efforts made to reduce the water in pressed cossettes and conse- 

 quently to increase the percentage of dry matter. The limit of 

 16 per cent, should not be exceeded for the simple reason that 

 there would always follow a considerable loss of dry substance 

 in the sweet water running from the presses. No solution other 

 than the customary pressing has been found. 



When one considers the enormous volume of cossette residuum 

 leaving the average beet-sugar factory, it will be seen that it 

 would be by no means practical to run this product through 



