266 The Sugar-Beet in America 
charate of lime, is mixed with sweet water to a consist- 
ency of cream and takes the place of milk of lime in the 
carbonation process. When the Steffen process is em- 
ployed, about ninety per cent of the sugar originally in 
the beet is extracted. The loss of sugar that does take 
place is accounted for in the exhausted cossettes or pulp, 
in the pulp water which surrounds them when they are 
dumped from the diffusion cells, in the cake and wash 
waters from the carbonation presses, and in the waste 
and wash waters from the Steffen process. As the water 
used in washing the saccharate press cake is rich in fer- 
tilizing qualities, it is used for irrigating the lands ad- 
joining the factory. 
“The 6,511,274 tons of beets harvested in the United 
States during the season of 1915 contained an average of 
16.49 per cent of sucrose, of which 14.21 per cent found 
its way into the sacks as white sugar. The difference, 
2.28 per cent, represented the loss in working up the beets. 
As only a few factories, however, were using Steffen 
process, a considerable amount of sugar was left in the 
waste molasses. For the same period, the beets produced 
in California contained 17.82 per cent of sugar, of which 
15.64 per cent found its way into the sacks, showing a 
loss of only 2.18 per cent. This may be accounted for 
by the fact that probably more of the California factories 
were equipped with the Steffen process than the average 
for the United States, and that the purity of the juices of 
California beets was higher than the average for the 
United States. 
“A factory equipped with the Steffen process and run- 
ning on beets containing 17.82 per cent sugar, with a 
