LOSS IX TONNAGE OF SUGAE BEETS BY DEYING. 7 



EFFECT OF DRYING UPON THE SUGAR CONTENT OF BEETS. 



At the time these experiments were carried on it was imprac- 

 ticable to make tests of the sucrose content of the beets to ascertain 

 the effect of the evaporation that took place, as indicated in the pre- 

 ceding tables. 



After the writer's return to Washington, D. C, some beets were 

 taken from the silo, carefully packed, and expressed to Washington 

 for laboratory- tests. These beets were quite fresh and crisp when 

 received. 



Eight of these beets were sent to the sugar laboratory of the 

 Bureau of Chemistry on January 15, 1913. From each of them a 

 diagonal core was rasped out for analysis. (Fig. 4.) Each end of 



i'l'i. 4. — Sugar beets, sho\ving the method of rasping out a core from individual be€ts to make sucrose 



determinations. 



the hole thus made in the beets was immediately plugged with a 

 rubber stopper, the beets being weighed before and after the core 

 had been taken out. 



The beets were then returned to the writer, who exposed them 

 to a brisk current of air in a well-lighted room at a temperature 

 ranging from 73° to 77° F. for 4| hours, in which time the average 

 lf)ss of weight of the eight beets was 3.76 per cent. The beets were 

 again tunu-d over to the sugar laboratory, where a similar core was 

 taken irom (!ach be(!t for test. This was done shortly before noon of 

 the foUowing day. Meantime the beets had been kept in a cool 

 rliamber. As will })c socn })y Table VIT, the boots lost as mucli wliile 

 in the sugar hdjoratory before being tested as during the exposure to 

 the current of air. 



