Arizona republican., 1909-08-16
SACCHAR|NE
 DISCUSSION Relative Merits of Beet and
 Cane Sugar AUTHORITATIVE EVIDENCE
Result of Experiments By Prof. G. W. Shaw, Pub lished in a Bulletin Is sued By the Department of Agriculture.

Pertinent to the general discussion of the relative merits of beet and su- gar cane sugar, a question in which this valley mas a special interest, is the following article, written by Prof c. w Shaw. Prof. Shaw is a spe- cialist of the agricultural college and experiment. station of the state of California, and has had a wide ex- perience in connection with beet su- gar production. The article shows the result of his experiments and is reproduced from Report No. 90 on the progress of the beet sugar industry in the United States, pub lished by the United States depart ment Of agriculture.
 The relative merits of sugar from beets and that from cane have been a moot question ever since beet su- gar has become such an important factor in the sugar market. The friends of sugar from cane early in the days of the beet-sugar industry maintained that beet sugar was re- plsive. iIl-flavor, Unlocking. and entirely inferior to cane sugar. A soon as it was found that sugar, white and pure from a technical standpoint, could be made in the beet-sugar factory directly from beets. and that this sugar would an alyze as close to 100 per cent as the product from cane, the friends of the latter advanced other argu- ments, especially to the effect that beet sugar could not be used for various purposes for which the older cane product had long been em- plOyed Even today the question is often under discussion. On account of this. and the numerous statements made in public meetings and in the columns of newspapers that beet sugar can n6 be safely used for purposes of fruit preserving and canning. and the fact that this idea is quite prevalent among housekeep- CTS, cannery men, and cOnfcctionerS, certain experiments were undertake en in the canning of fruit and the making of jellies, using beet sugar and checking the results against the same kinds of fruits prepared in the same manner with cane sugar.
 The Sources of the SugaT.-The sugar from cane was purchased from the Western Sugar Refinery, San Francisco, Cal, and was guaranteed to be from cane. The sugar tested 99.7 per cent pure sucrose. The beet sugar was made directly from beets grown at Oxnard. Cal, and was manufactured by the A m e r
 manufactured by the American Beet Sugar Company. the sugar having been donated by that company for the purposes of this test Analysis showed this sugar to be 99.S per cent pure sugar and thus fully equal to the cane product in sugar value. Both of these sugars had been "blued" with utranarine. after the common practice in sugar manufac- ture. and thus were not different from the sugar found on the mar ket
 The Fruit and the Method.-The fruit used in the experiments com prised berries. apricats, plums. peaches. and pears. Each of these was preserved in different strengths of sirup in the ordinary methods of canning employed in the commercial canneries, as well as after the meth ods followed in the household prac- tice of canning and jelly making.
 Tn the cannery the method Of procedure was to make up con centrated sugar solution by dissolv- ing $50 pounds of sugar in tanks, then reducing portions of the con centrated solution to the desired den sity. as shown on a spindle. In the case of apricots, both peeled and un- peeled fruit were put up after the ordinary cannery methods, and in the regular course of work with sirup showing 40 per cent sugar; with green gage plums 10 per cent sirup was'used; with pears, 10, l5, 20, 30. 40, and 5 per cent sirup was used: and with peaches 40 per cent sirup. In most instances all these strengths were used both in the case of sugar from cane and sugar from beets. but in the case of one cannery only beet sugar was used.
 Tn the making of the sirup some difference was noted in the action of different grades of sugar. The beet sugar caused the more frOth in the making of sirup, but further investi- gation led to the conclusion that this was due to the finer granulation of the beet sugar. This was proven by the use of cane sugar of about the same granulation in another batch of sirup, in which case the same frothing oc- cured as with the beet product. This 1...s Loo,, ,,,+o1 ;r ,tI,ar inctoncoc op1