Rensselaer Republican, Volume 17, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1885 — Beet Sugar. [ARTICLE]

Beet Sugar.

The process of m^ QU f ac {;Qj-2Bg sugar from beets was discojv Qre( j i n 1747 by a German chemist. Jjt was not practically developed, hovever, until 1800, when Napoleon, having laid an embargo on the import of Great Britain’s colonial products, ordec e d the chemists of France to devote theijr especial attention to the making of sugar from beets. Under the pressure of necessity it was soon found possible to produce an excellent article, and begj sugar-making became a profitable industry. More than half the sugar no v used in Franoe is made from beets in h er own factories, a total of 60,000 tons, large amounts are made in Germany ( Belgium, and other continental couritvjfeg. The kind of beet preferred for ibis use is the white Silesian, of which there are several varieties, all of yielding a jnice very ri<,b in the saccharine quality. The pe r of this beet in Europe i B f rom twelve to fifteen tons; jt requires a light, dry .oil, and a dry atmosphere. Five \ tons of roots

produce about j 500 pounds of coarse sugar; about one-half can be made into the refined product, the rest is used for molasses. When their leaves begin to die the beets are dug, the heads cut off, and the roots are thrown together and covered to protect thejn from light and froßt but they should not berleft in the heap any great length of/time, as fresher the root the more re®slfPp aoes its sugar crystalize in manufacture. In the factory the beets are first washed clean in a cage revolving in water, then grated to a pulp by powerful rotating machinery, and the juice forced out of the pulp by hydraulic pressure. Another method is to cut by machinery the root into small squares and extract its saccharine element by infusion in hot water. When the juice is obtained, by either method, lime water is added to it and it is then boiled. To remove any excess of lime the liquor is then filtered through animal charcoal, or a current of carbonic acid is passed 4 through it, a chemical combination precipitating carbonate of lime. The liquor is then filtered ready for the refining process, Which is essentially the same as that used for cane sugar, that is repeated filtration, and concentration by evaporation until the granulating point is reached. —lnter Ocean.