40 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
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 twelve pounds may be 
sugar, and three pounds matter not sugar. If we divide the number of pounds of 
sugar (12) by the total pounds of solid matter (15), we get .80, which sum is called 
the co-efficient of purity; that is, beet juice with 15 parts solids, 12 of which are 
sugar, is said to have a co-efficient of purity of 80. If the sample of juice contains 
16 parts solid matter and 12 parts sugar, as before, then the co-efficient of purity is 
only 75. 
When reducing the beet juice to make sugar, each pound of foreign matter, not 
sugar, keeps at least one pound of sugar from crystallizing. This true, we se2at once 
that the manufacturer desires beet roots not only carrying much sugar but also with 
a high co-efficient of purity. Immature beets, those grown on soils rich in vegetable 
matter or fertilized with fresh barnyard manure, those grown on land recently cleared 
from the forest, or on drained swamp lands, are all liable to carry a great deal of 
solid matter not sugar in the juice, and consequently are quite unsatisfactory to the 
sugar manufacturer. Large beets are likewise always poor in sugar. The leaf stems 
of the beet, as well as the crown of the beet root itself, also carry much foreign mat- 
ter. In practice, the manufacturer recovers about 7 out of every 10 pounds of sugar 
contained in the beet root. 
It should be added that the appareut co-efficient of suiiey of the juice is fre- 
quently misleading, since it takes no account of the nature of the non-sugars present. 
The real purity of the beet is also to be distinguished from the apparent purity of 
the juice. The real purity of the beet is obtained by dividing the percentage of 
sugar in the beet by the total solid matter therein; the apparent purity of the juice 
by dividing the percentage of sugar therein by the apparent percentage of solids as 
indicated by the Brix spindle. 
QUALITY OF THE BEET SUGAR. 
Whenever the subject of beet sugar is brought forward the first inquiry usually 
made is, ‘‘Is beet sugar white like other sugar and does it not have a peculiar taste?’’ 
In its very beginning, when struggling for recognition in Europe, the beet industry 
was handicapped by the claim that its sugar was not equal in quality with that yield- 
ed by the cane plant of the tropics. England did not wish to recognize any competitor 
with the cane sugar of her dependencies. In brief, to answer the questions asked 
above, the refined sugar from the beet root equals in all particulars that yielded by 
the cane plant. Enormous quantities of beet sugar are now being shipped to this 
country from Europe, mainly Germany, and the chances are more than even that the 
persons who question the purity and flavor of beet sugar are using it daily in their 
tea and coffee. 
HOW BEET SUGAR IS MADE. 
The large illustration on Page 80 gives an admirable view of the interior of the 
Chino beet-sugar factory, which will help to make clear this description of the proc- 
ess of manufacture. First, the beets are brought in by the farmers and deposited in 
large sheds with V-shaped bottoms, which are connected with the factory by means 
