SUGAR BEETS. 
22 EXPERIMENTS WITH JHUI'. 
CHEMICAL ANALYSIS. 
Preparation of the Sample —The beets were washed and 
dried with a towel; then weighed, the top and small root¬ 
lets cut off, again weighed and this loss carefully 
noted. Three average beets were taken and quartered 
parallel to the axis; a quarter from each beet was selected, 
and successive slices made lengthwise of each quarter were 
taken, in all amounting to 200 grams (about 4-10 lb.); 
this was reduced to a fine pulp by grating, and afterward 
pulverized in a mortar; the juice was extracted by a strong 
filter press, and the marc moistened with boiling water, 
the pressure renewed and this operation repeated until 
all soluble matter had been extracted and the residue was 
dry, care being taken to avoid undue diluting of the solu¬ 
tion. We have found the best results from solutions con¬ 
taining from 1-2 to 3-4 of a per cent, of sugar ; the col¬ 
oring matter was precipitated by tannin and acetate of lead; 
it was filtered and the grape sugar determined as before de¬ 
scribed under potatoes. The sugar in the beet is princi¬ 
pally cane sugar, containing a small per cent, of grape 
sugar; the cane sugar was inverted (process of hydrolysis) 
by heating the solution with dilute (1 to 5) hydrochloric 
acid, on the water bath for fifteen minutes; about a drop 
of the dilute acid was used for each c. c. of the sugar solu¬ 
tion. The solution was neutralized with sodium carbon¬ 
ate and the sugar again determined; the difference be¬ 
tween the results gives the per cent, of cane sugar pres¬ 
ent in each variety. 
The per cent, of cane sugar is 95-100 of the grape 
sugar produced by inversion of the cane sugar. 
NAME. 
Grape 
Sugar. 
Cane 
Sugar. 
Total 
Sugar. 
Loss on 
Dressing. 
Excelsior. 
.11 ... 
... 9.47 .. 
... 11.83 . 
... 9.58 . 
.... 7 .... 
Lane’s Imperial. 
.25 ... 
... 12.08 .. 
_ 12 _ 
Vilmorin. 
... .21 ... 
. . 11.18 
11 39 
11 
Imperial Improved. 
.10 ... 
... 8.73 .. 
... 8.83 .. 
7 
