The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1903-12-11

GROWERS VISIT THE SUGAR BEET
FACTORY.
One Hundred Rock County Farmers See
Sugar Made at Menomonee Falls.

| About twenty-five sugar beet growers
! in this vicinity boarded the early train
last Thursday morning for GAINESVILLE
where they were joined by sixty farmers
| living in that locality and special train
! was provided to carry the party to Ne
| nomonee Falls to visit the beet sugar
making plant of the Wisconsin Sugar
| Co. The excursion had been arranged
| by Mr.. Stark, representing the company,
| who had extended invitations to all the
! beet raisers of this section of the state,
| believing that a personal visit to the
sugar making plant would promote mu-
tual relations between the producers
and manufacturers. With the addition
that came upon the train at Milton and
Whitewater the excursionists numbered
a few over a hundred people. Editor
Coe of the Whitewater Register and
representative Of The Reporter also &C.
companied the excursion. A short stop
was made at Milwaukee while the train
was made up to take the party over the
northern division via Granville Junction
to Menomonee Falls, about a 20 mile run
which was reached shortly after noon.
Mr.. Wagner, president of the Wisconsin
Sugar Co., was on hand to welcome the
party, and after dinner provided for the
visitors, nearly three hours were given
to an inspection of the plant.
The process of converting sugar beets
into granulated sugar to the uninitiated
is apparently simple one. A stream of
beets hoated into one end of a big build
ing and stream of white granulated
sugar came down the chutes at the other
side, and yet the process is so intricate
that it can scarcely be explained in an
intelligent manner in this column. IN
derneath the large storage bins outside
the factory runs a ditch that carries
stream of warm water into which the
beets are dumped and hoated along into
a big vat in the basement of the factory,
which is stirred by machinery until the
beets are washed clean. They are then
elevated by an endless belt and dropped
into an automatic weigher that dumps
into the slicers. These. machines are
fitted with plates holding knives and are
made to revolve, like turbine wheel,
the weight of the beets above forcing
them through the knives, slicing to
about quarter of an inch in thickness.
Another belt carries the sliced beets into
large iron digesters each holding several
tons. The pulp is here mixed with
water and steam and permitted to stand
for several hours until the sweetness of
the beet is literally soaked out. This is
known as the diffusion process, and to
stranger is the most astonishing thing
about the whole business of sugar max
ing. That water will soak the sugar out
of the beet seems unnatural, but it does
it so completely that not more than
per cent. of the sweetness is left in the
pulp after the diffusion is completed.
Now, having got the sweetness out of
the beets, the next thing is to dump the
pulp outside the factory with carrier,
and all that remains is to separate the
water from the sugar. The solution is
now pumped to upper stories into tanks
where the next process is chemical one.
Lime water and carbonic acid gas are
introduced into the solution and stirred
and this action separates the impurities
in the solution which is next forced
through filtering presses very much like
the press used in the pottery here sew
eral years ago. AS the solution comes
through the canvas bags it is clear and
colorless, but is again filtered through
muslin until it is free from every lmpur-
ity. A little bluing is next introduced
to give the sugar white color, and the
liquid is ready for the boiling process.
This is done in a vacuum where the air
has been extracted so that the evapora
ton is done at lower temperature. 1t is
here that expert knowledge of sugar
making comes into observe when the
syrup has reached the stage of granula-
tion-when it is dropped into the pans
below. From here the dark brown
masses of half granulated sugar and
syrup are drawn into the 'centriticals."
These machines representing the or
binary milk separator bowls, have
fine wire mesh sides, extracting the mo-
lasses, leaving only the white clean crys-
tails of sugar attached to the bowl. All
that is left now is to pass the sugar
through revolving drier and it is ready
to be sacked Or barrelled. The molasses
is again boiled and run through the cen
triticals as long as any portion will crys-
talize and the remaining product sold
for syrup Or feed.
This in brief is the process of sugar
making at this plant. The factory is
consuming from 500 to 900 tons of beets
per day-nearly train load of raw ma
terial. The general estimate is that a
ton of beets will produce barrel of su
gar, so 500 barrels of sugar is about the
T. run of the plant each "a hours The
seasons run, consuming over 5000 acres,
is expected to yield more than 100000
barrels of sugar. The beets on hand and
those undelivered will keep the factory
going until close to March 1st. The
beets were slow in ripening this year
which gave them late start, or the fac
tory would be farther along with it's
work.
One object the Wisconsin Sugar Co.
had in inviting the growers to visit the
plant was to demonstrate to them by
personal inspection how utterly impossi-
BILE it was for the company to accept all
the beets grown at the harvest time.
When the farmers could see acres of
beets dumped along side tracks, exposed
to the weather, and hundreds of cars on
the tracks between Milwaukee and the
factory, which the factory was unable
to receive, they could readily see it was
impossible for the company to provide
sheds 20 care for the seasons crop at one
time. In the future growers who wish
to continue the business must prepare
to hold their beets until the factory can