The World. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1891-1896, 1891-09-25
SUGAR BEET CULTURE
SOME FACTS THiT THE BERKELEY.
COUNTY FARMERS OUGHT
10 KNOW,

Especial to Tue WORLD. ]

lcpecidt 10 thh NohlD.i
LINCOLN, NEB., September 25.-The
Beet Sugar Enterprise, published at
Grand Island, Neb., gives variety Of
concerning the develop
ment Of the beet sugar industry in this
country. An> article reprinted from
the Louisiana Planter describes at
some length the operations of the
Chino Valley beet sugar factory, of
Chino, Cal. The factory is to have
to work $50 tons Of beets per
day, and it is so constructed as to be
easily enlarged to $50 tons. The beets
are fioated from the receptacles into
which they are dumped in a canal
into the factory and into AN
elevator, which conveys them to wash
ing machines. After being cleansed
and freed from stones, the beets fall
into spout and are conveyed by the
elevator to the accumulation on the
third floor. Here they are weighed on
an automatic scale, which records the
quantity of beets worked per day and
during the season. Through dds
charge gate the beets pass to the
slieer below, which is provided with
sixteen sharp knives and which, after
silcing them, discharges them upon the
belt conveyor, which feeds the diffu-
sion battery. The latter contains
twelve diffusion cells Of 1850 gal
Ions capacity each. The cells have
each a heater with d heating surface
Of forty square feet.
The beet pulp, after being discharged
from the cells, is carried to the pulp
presses, and after the pressing the
pulp is emptied into cars outside the
building. The juice from the diffusion
battery runs into a measuring tank and
then passes through two steam heaters.
1t next runs to carbonation tank and
is treated with milk of lime and carbon
ic acid, and is then pumped through a
filter press. After-going through sew
eral similar processes the juice is taken
to the vacuum pan, and the final stage
Of manufacture is reached. The white
sugar produced is dried in gran
ulator, and after passing through a
sieve runs into sacks and is ready for
consumption. From the foregoing it
will be seen that the manufacture of
beet sugar is a complicated industry,
requiring costly machinery and elab-
crate processes. The plans and most
of the apparatus of the Chino Valley
factory were furnished by firm in
Germany, where the manufacture Of
beet sugar is thoroughly understood
and has attained to very large pro-
portions.
The Beet Sugar Enterprise reports
a growing interest in the cultivation of
sugar beets in Nebraska and South
Dakota, and the importation into San
Francisco by the chocolate-makers of
that city of German beet sugar at a
saving Of three-quarters Of a cent a
pound, compared with the cost of do-
smestic sugar. The State Agricultural
Society ofNebraska offers prizes for the
production of sugar beets, and it is
said that the indications are favorable
for large tonnage Of the beets in all
partsof Nebraska-this year. Thefacto-
ries which have been established make
contracts with the farmers who agree
to plant certain acreage in beets, and
the Enterprise says every county in
Nebraska should have beetsugar fac
tory The impetus which seems to
have been given to the industry in the
West may be ascribed IN part to the
bounty of from II to 2 cents per pound
for sugar, according to quality, which
the trainers of the present tariff law
were coerced into giving for the benefit
Of the Western agriculturalistson whom
they imposed so many burdens.