BEET SUGAR.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10587, 18 October 1910, Page 6

BEET SUGAR.

I LOW SUGAR IS MADE. (Bv "Homo Counties."- in the' London Daily Chronicle.) AYliilc in other parts of the country people are still talking about beet sugar factories, the factory which only a few months ago it was proposed to start in Essex is already being proceeded .with. At the little port of Maldon a site of 26 acres has been acquired, and the factory and refinery will be at once erected and equipped, ready to receivenext year's crop of 'East Anglian beet. The building will be on such a scale

that the faetoi\ will be aWo to deal \wth 1000 tons <)t .sugar beet dailj, and tile lohnery with 100 tons of raw sugar. ITechnica'llv, the great advantage that the factory i\ill have is that it will be something else than a sugar factor}'. The beet sugar season, o'r as it is called in" the trade, thc.sugaii campaign, during v Inch the beetsOarV hurried -from \ the farms to the factory and at breakneck speed turned-into sugar —aVord on-.the reason for this in a moment-b----lasts only from the beginning of October to'the end .'of. December'..- ' If.*a""su"gur factory does no more than manufacture 1 sugar, it must be shut do\vri>Vfor" nine months in a year. beet sugar -machinery is" expensive,"and.there is a big building and a'lot of land to pay

for, which altogether. \w,ril eat "up the most of £IOO,OOO, it is plain that wolfing thiee months out of the twelve this is" very had business. The pull the new yentuie vill have is this that when the factory is not making sugar it lull be lehnmg raw sugar. Apart altogether from a beet sugar factory, theie is probably more thin sufficient room m tins countij for'a beet sugar refincrj 'No one knows, how man> acies of beet have been pi own in East Anglia this a cai, but a large acreage" lias' undoubtedly been put under this crop Those who aie unacquainted with beets may, easily pass a field which*is growing the ciop without suspecting what it really is Instead of the dark icdleavfd scai let beet of our gaidens, the sugai beet is a plant with, the leaves ot a lnangel-wiuzel and the loot, propeilv bulb, of a paisn.p It; is a lathei p(uions fact tli.n> while the gnrdjnei is always seiupulous so to handles-the beet in digging it up that it shall not be set "bleeding," the sugai beet has its top cut oil in the hai vesting. i The greatest tioublc that gioweis ol beets will have is not in growing them, hut in getting them oil their ground l?aisnips aie bad enough to hit out of the giound, but beets In icason r i certain &ule roots, aie woise, and a ' )t of the East Anglian giound on which they will be glown is sometimes pretty sticky in the autumn It is not only that the beets aie difficult to get out of the giound Thej must be lifted m a ( hnny It is a lace pgamst fio'st on the'part, not only of the faimer but of the beet sugar makei ■ When the beets aie delivered to the factoiy tho-s aio piled up on gieat concrete "slopes, and "a touch ot fiost is fatal It is impossible to have them under* covei, fpi then they would heat and spoil The ( onlv thing to do is to woik like mad to turn them into sugai At the Ilollaiidia factory one may sec during the cmpa.gn a stack of beets piled up as big .is a scoio of haystacks It is an oNtiaoidivaij sight. The bulbs arc hurncd ashoie bv uanes and eioiy other available method, and inside the factois the staft is working all daj aud all night. i an ingenious device, which will no doubt be adopted at Maldon, the beets float themselves from the great heaps in cle\eily planned gutteis light into the tactoij. This swimming aunngcment Miot onl\ gets the bulbs indoois quiLkh and chc.'ph, but it cleais them of some of' their dirt. Think of 1000 toil! of beets swimming into the laitoij evei% 21 horns' Once inside, the 'wn.iming beets aie caught m a gu-at water wheel which talc bos them m its olappus and ti .nstcis thein to a chute All tins time tht\ aie being cleaned Next the brets aie automaticlllv raised to the toj) of the building, whcie again without lntciiupting then lomnev for a moment, they are automatical weighed, half a ton at a tune, somewhat m the wav m which milk -s weiglied as it is pouied into a r-ieanieij fiom the farmeus' clmrns After tliaL the fust thing that happens to the beets is to be sliced The\ come out from the machine m n.iiiow little stnps ioui oi five inches long, and fall into a tianspoitei, which diops them into what are called diifuscrs. These aie nothing but a low of giant teapots, each of winch holds about thiee tons All the teapots are joined together, and aftci the lust blew moic hot watei is put in until the bcet-tca it, diawn about a dozen times o\ei. The lefuse fioni the teapot is, when drv, the beet pulp winch is used foi cattle food

The raw juice goes into measuring tanks and then to" another floor to be purified. This is done- with lime and carbonic acid. Such ah •■'■' enormous amount of lime and carbonic acid arc needed in a single campaign that the limestone is burnt on the premises. In the process the required carbonic acid is given off. I think the iiollandia factory gets through 4000 tons of limestone in three months. It will bo plain that the choice, of a site for the East Ariglia factory was not an easy business. The building had to be where there was cheap water carriage, riot only lor limestone but for at least a proportion of the beets. There is also another consideration which has to be borne in mind in building a beet sugar factory. There is an enormous amount of water wanted for the washing of the beets. This water has not only to be got, but to be got rid of.' When it; Hows from the factory" it contains a considerable percentage of proteid, and may bo a' nuisance if it cannot ,be conveniently handled. At the liollandia factory I noticed that the effluent was allowed to flow over land which was afterwards planted with fruit trees.