The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-12-05
SUGAR OUT IN NEBRASKA
LARGE SUGAR MANDATORY
ATGR md ISLAND.


Pays the Nebraska Farmer Better
Than Corn or Whset.
From the Chicago Inter Ocean.
GRAND ISLAND, NEB., Nov. 25.-Beet
sugar is something that consciously or I'M
consciously interests every one from the
President down TO the poorest tramp. The
grave senators in well rounded periods take
delight in informing their admiring con-
stituents that the red beet was first intro
duced into England in 1888, and the white
in 1870. and that 1t was 1850 before Mar
croft discovered that the vegetable con-
sained sugar, and 1893 before Karl Franz
Achard presented a quantity Of the dainty
article TO the French Institute In 1888
some !, 800 pounds of the sugar were made
at Northampton. Mass. and In 1879 The
first factory was established at Alyarado,
Cal, followed by one at Watronville, in
the same state, in 1887, and by the large
mandatory at Grand Island in 1885, The
dainty young ladies would open their eyes
in establishment if they could go into one Of
these sugar beet factories and see the pom
6erous machinery that Is used and the COM
MEX processes the common vegetable
passes through until there is left only the
sparkling white crystals ready to be con-
verted into the dearly loved toothsome bon
hons and caramels.
10 the good old days of maple sugar it
was in boisterous March that the sugar
maker was busiest; but the beet sugar fac
tory remains silent during the year until
fall Then, as soon as the farmer begins to
gather the vegetables the wheels of the ma
Chinery begin to turn, and for from sixty to
ninety days work without ceasing day or
night. This great factory at Grand Island,
Neb., 1853 miles west Of Omaha, was the
first to prove that 1t pays to raise beets and
make sugar from them. Although this is
only the second season that it has
been IN operation,
THE PRACTICAL SUCCESS
of the industry is no longer questioned, and
it has been demonstrated to every ones
satisfaction that it benefits farmer, laborer,
mechanic, business man and capitalist
alike. Henry Oxnard, the president, man
eger and brains of the company, is young
man of rare spirit and enterprise. Possessing
q handsome fortune, be has Travelled all over
France, Germany and the United States,
and made himself master Of his
dearly loved work in all its
scientific delicacy, as we'll as in its broad
commercial bearings. 1t was a treat to be
personally conducted by him through the
haf-mile of processes from the receiving
bins to the sugar ready to ship That the
factory is an immense one may be guessed
when it is stated that the main building is
S00xl00 feet and 60 feet high, built Of brick,
iron and stone in substantial way that
will keep 1t standing for ages monument
TO the enterprise, pluck, and energy of
those who had confidence in American
soils and American industry. This build
ing contains Ill carloads OF machinery i'm
ported from Austria, Germany and France,
as well as thirty carloads of American
make. Outside are vast storing sheds,
engine house with batteries of boilers giving
1000 horsepower; lime kilns burning lime
and manufacturing carbonic acid gas;
pump houses where 100000 gallons
Of water, enough to supply a city of
10000 inhabitants, are pumped daily from
a system of twenty-seven drive wells
The capacity Of the plant is 800 tons Of
beets per day, or forty-two tons of sugar
every twenty-four hours. The beets when
received from the farmer have had their
leaves and tops sliced of. but 60 into the
bins as dirty as they left the soil. At the
receiving bins hand labor ceases and
machinery taxes hold Of the poor beet which
has to go through the following process:
First, washing and scrubbing; second,
weighing; third, slicing into little curled
strips, two to four inches long, and not as
large around as a pencil; fourth, soaked
IN water in the diffusion battery until
IHh SUGAR. ID OlSSOLNED
out AT this point the shreds of vegetable
are relieved from further duty and only
the LIQUID rom the battery goes through
the rest of the steps. The shreds of beet
look as if they had indeed "been through
the mill" as they are ignominiously pitched
out Of doors, TO lie there in huge heaps
until the farmer takes a notion to shovel
them into his wagon as food for his COWS.
The poor beets have so far been carried
.k.l.z
Of water, then grabbed by huge bucket
wheel, thrashed by long wooden arms set in
spiral along O shaft, whlrled until dizzy in
an Immense cylinder, where whirliug
brushes hunt out the last speck Of dirt, car
Iied TO the top Of the building in elevator
buckets, and mingled at last in a cylinder
armed with knives that cuts a ton of beets
into shreds IN three minutes. Still they have
TO be soaked in eleven or twelve waters in
the formidable diffusion battery before they
lose all their sweetness.
This battery, which gives name to the
latest, most scientific and profitable method
OF sugar extraction, is series of twelve up
right steel cylinders feet in diameter and
feet high, arranged in a circle. AS soon
as they are filed with the shreds of beet
they are closed air tight, hot water is forced
IN at the top Of No. l, passes out at the bot
tom, goes to the top Of No. 2, through it,
and so on around the circle until it is satur-
ated with all Of the sugar It will dissolve.
FROM THE DIFFUSION BATTERY
the sugar saturated liquid is pumped into
tall iron tanks and mixed with pure, newly
made milk of lime. The lime uniteS with
the organic acids and other impurities of
the beet juice, forming solid substances
that can be removed by flyer, leaving the
pure sugar still in the form of syrup. To
ald the solidifying the gas from the lime
kllns Is turned back into these "carboniz-
Ing tanks" The filters through which the
sYrups passInext are large complicated af-
Ialrs, filling long rooms, and are operated
unoer tremendous pressure. The thin,
amber colored molasses that finally escapes
me gigantic pressure of the long series Of
niteTs Is pumped into condensing boilers
ANS battery Of condensing boilers is con-
hected with great air pump which re-
moves the air and steam pressure inside
sne boilers permitting the syrup TO boil at
from 1853 to l40s, Fair. Then the
condensed syrup is pumped into the
vacuum pans" great upright cylinders,
AZ teet In diameter by IL in hight,
provided with glass windows, sam
peers, ar pumps and lot more attach
nehts Tor aiding the operator. In these
pans" the condensed mass becomes pastY
mass OF sugar crystals and molasses that is
.aKen up by iron buckets and dumped into
sne centrifuRals," that are worked on the
same principle as the cream separators.
ttney are iron boxes feet in diameter by
ntgn, containing vertical sleeves that travel