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Show 1 To Keep Sugar Beets From Losing Valuable Element By Drying Doth the sugar beet farmer and tho manufacturer of beet sugar may save money If beets are properly 1 piled bo that evaporation Is reduced. The Bugar beet farmer who Is delayed de-layed In getting bis crop marketed may keep his beets from evaporating to a great extent by leaving them In l datively largo piles and by covering cover-ing tho piles w th beet tops. A now bulletin ot tho U. S. Department of Agrlculturo (No. 193) entitled "Loss In Tonnago of Sugar Uecta by Drying," Dry-ing," outlines what Is probably tho best practice In harvesting sugar beets, as follows: With a sultablo beet plow or digger, dig-ger, tho beets aro first torn from their root anchorage nnd lifted several sev-eral Inches In tho soil which Is at tho samo tlmo loosened. As soon as several rows have been dug, laborers, labor-ers, pull tho beets entirely out ot tho ground by hand throwing thoso from five, seven, or nine rows Into piles nt convenient distances apart In tho lino of the center row. Another Anoth-er squad of laborers Immediately follows fol-lows and tops tho piled beets, throwing throw-ing the tops to ono sldo of tho pl'o of beets. Finally tho wagon cornea, and the beets nro loaded Into It and nt orcc hauled to tho factory gcalt-s. It la thus possible to haul tho first load within nboufc nn hour after the digging la begun. Most beet growers, however, aro not nblo to organUo tho work bo well. For ono reason or nnothcr several sev-eral days may elapse beforo tho beets reach tho scales. After tho beets aro torn from their root system, transpiration still continues but tho wntcr thus lost Is no longer replaced by tho roots. Evaporation also takes piece from tho underground portion of tho beets In tho now loosened sol. After tho beets hnvo been pulled, tho J evaporation Is greatly augmented, whether or not tho beets hnvo been topped are thrown Into open piles of no great bulk, remaining thero until un-til loaded into wagons. Tho system of harvesting outlined nbovo makes It practicable for tho beets to bo gathered in IUea which would average ono fourth of a ton oven moro. Tho beet tops can then bo easily and rapidly placed over tho p!lib and they will rcduco considerably considera-bly tho evaporation from tho beets. When beots are sold at n flat rato tho water content la of tho highest Importnnco to the farmer since ho is entitled to sell by weight tho full notmal content of water. Deterioration Deteriora-tion of sucroso does not occur In appreciable quantity during tho short periods ot storage under consideration. considera-tion. In selling h's beets to tho factory tho farmer In most coses Is allowed to contract cither nt a flat rato per ton for nil beets containing abovo tho stipulated minimum ot sucroso or ho may nccept a sliding scnlo of payment pay-ment whereby tho prlco per ton Is modified nccording to tho nctunl average av-erage sucroso content of his beets. Somo sugar companies offer a bo cnlled slid ng scale, which Is In re-al'.t re-al'.t two separato flat rates ono for nil beets up to n certain pcrcentngo of sucroso, nnd n slightly higher rato for nil nbovo thnt percentage. The following Ib a fair example) of prices under tho sliding scale: Flvo dollars for beets containing 10 per cent of sucroso and 30 cents a ton for every additional 1 per cent of sucrose, with n deduction of 23 cents a ton for every 1 per cent less than 1C unt 1 tho acceptable minimum Is reached. Under this system it will bo seen that tho Increment of sucrose is paid for nt practically the eamo rato per cent as tho basal prlco of T5 for 1C per cent beets. Fractions of 1 per cent nro pnld at tho samo rato. An example of the flat rato would bo ?5 a ton for all beets testing 1- per cent of sucroso or moro. It is at once evident that any ordinary or-dinary loss In weight duo to a delay of ono day or overal dnys between dirt; ng and weighing Is, under tho sliding scale, reasonably well compensated com-pensated for, and that tho loss i" that tlmo duo to chemical changes Is practically negligible, provided tho sucroso test is mode from beets tnk-en tnk-en when they nro delivered and are weighed and not from n sample tahen from tho field Just beforo or immediately immedi-ately after tho crop Is dug. Tho slld'ng scale would probably also bo fairly equltablo In dealing with beots that have been plied under un-der tho sugar company's Instructions for ono or two weeks. Tho farmer who, whothor or not from cholco, accepts tho flat rato sustains an actual money loss corresponding cor-responding to tho shrinkage In tonnago ton-nago through evaporation. Ho Is paid nccording to tho not wo'ght ot his beets at tho tlmo thoy nro weighed on tho factory scales. Let us say n good beet grower obtains a yiold ot 20 tons an ncro nnd agrees to accept a flat rato of $3 a ton. This equals $100, gross receipts an acre. Kx-porlmcnts Kx-porlmcnts have shown that an average aver-age dally shrinkage of about C 5 per cent may occur when handling tho beets in tho ordinary manner. Ileets-' Ileets-' are often left sovornl days In tho Held nfter thoy havo been dug. This means a loss of $0.50 n day per aero. When tho farmer has no alternative but to nccept a flat rato ho may ro-tard ro-tard tho evaporation of his beets by leaving thorn in largo piles coverod. with tho beet tops, as previously described. de-scribed. Utah Farmer. tsaam at aa |
