THE HESPERIAN.
V
THE UNIVKRSITY AND ttEET SUGAK,
Nearly every Nebraskan ha3 heard more or less of the at
tempt to make the production of beet-sugar a Nebraska in
dustry, but few arc aware of the prominent part taken in the
investigations by the University. The interest of the chemi
cal department in the matter began some years ago when
Professor Nicholson was in Germany, He noted the similar
ity of soil between that of northern Germany, given up to
beet culture, and that of western Nebraska. He thought
that beet culture might be made profitable in this slate.
Some experiments had been made by Germans at Grand
Island. Within a year the Wcllflcct company of English
capitalists have started works in Lincoln county. Now capi
tal wishes to krow how much sugar the Nebraska beet will
yield, and where beets can be profitably raised. These ques
tions the chemical department of the University has under
taken to answer. The department of agriculture distributed
seeds to all who would plant and report results. Last spring
the University sent circulars to the farmers of the state re
questing that sample beets be sent in for analysis. During
the summer Professor Nicholson and Mr. Herbert Marsland
made a trip to the western part of the state collecting soils for
analysis. Much literature on the subject cf beet-sugar was
also collected.
Beets began to arrive at the University in July and are
still coming from all parts of the state. Thirty counties arc
already represented. Mr. Herbert Marsland in connection
with Professor Rachel Lloyd has had charge of the analysis,
which began in August. First, beets grown on the college
farm were analyzed repeatedly, at Intervals of a week, to de
termine the time when the beets contained most sugar. Mr.
Marsland made a small quantity of beet-sugar which was ex
hibitcd at the state fair and since then at St. Louis, New
York, and Philadelphia. Both Mr. Marsland and Professor
Lloyd .have worked faithfully for the last four months and
have each now analyzed about eighty specimens.
The process of determining the per cent of sugar may be
interesting to the uninitiated. The beets arc first washed,
then weighed. Then the rough exterior is scraped off and
the beet is again weighed. A wedge-shaped piece is cut out
of the center, containing proportionately the same amount of
exterior and interior as the beet itself. 2CO grammes of this
wedge arc taken and grated to a pulp, which is pressed until
it yields up all its juice. After the specific gravity of the ex
pressed juice is determined, 50 c. c. arc treated with sub
acetate of lead which purifies it by coagulating the protoplasmic
matter. The solution, doubled in volume by the addition of
water, is then carefully filtered and placed in the tube of the
polariscope. The per ccntof sucrose, or real sugar, is shown
by the refraction of a ray of light. The per cent of glucose is
estimated by treating with a solution of copper (Fehling's
solution.)
The results so far obtained are encouraging. The per cent
of sugar varies from 4 to 22. It is profitable in Germany to
produce sugar from beets containing only 9 per 'cent. The
seed sent out was poor, and the varieties were badly mixed.
The beets sent in Avere frequently the largest obtainable and
these show a smaller per cent of sugar than smaller beets.
Then, too, the plant is not yet acclimated. Under more
favorable conditions better results may be looked for. The
analyses have not yet been tabulated so as to show the most
favorable localities, l)ut indications point to the region ex
tending southwest from Grand Island, embracing the sandy
land adjacent to the Platte, as the future home of the sugar
beet. The result of the investigations will be published in a bul
letin early in 1S90, and will thus reach all persons interested.
We might remark in passing that all this investigation is
made by the University without any extra expense or appro
priation. Mr, Marsland's connection with the beets does not end with
the opcr.tions detailed above. He has undertaken for his
thesis-work the determination of the relation between the
other mineral matter in the beet and the sugar, and their de
pendence on the quality of the soil. The beets arc weighed
first fresh, then dried and then burnt to an ash; and the rela
tion between the different weights determined. The ash is
then analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively, and tak
en in connection with the nature of the soil the beet grew in,
the results from the different beets arc compared. So far as
the chemical department has been able to discover, this anal
ysis has been undertaken for the first time in this country by
Mr. Marsland. The soil-analysis which furnishes part of the
basis for Mr. Marsland's conclusions is performed by Mr. Ful
mcr and Mr. Duncanson, and furnishes further material for
thesis work.
LITERARY,
R. D. Blackmore, the author of "Lorna Doonc," has
recently expressed it as his opinion thaf'Lorna Doone" is
not a very good book after all. He characterizes it as child
ish, and as lacking bottom. Perhaps it docs not make any
difference. The reading public likes to decide such questions
for itself. It shows, however, on the part of Mr. Blackmore,
a willingness to acknowlege a weakness, whether he does so
for advertising effect or not.
And now comes the second installment of the debate on
the subject of "Divorce," begun in the November number of
the North American Revieiv. In the December number, Mr.
Gladstone presents his view of the case, after the Romish, the
Episcopal an, and the Ingersolistic sides have been dis
cussed. Whether one agrees with the great statesman in his
opinions of one of the most crying evils of the age, all cannot
fail to be interested in what he says, since it isccrtain that he
makes a strong argument.
The Literary World's last issue is a holiday number.
Whether the holiday season is a time peculiarly adapted to
current literature, or not, may be a question. But there is no
doubt that the list of new books and old books in new forms
is formidable. One almost thinks there is no use trying to
keep within so much as hearing distance of the great pro
cession. There is one consolation, however. Much that is
written is bad; it is not worth reading. So one ought not to
have anything to do with it. This leaves him more time for
the good. Even then an optimist may feel satisfied, for the
truly worthy portion of current literature is far more than
any one man can handle.
The Nation contains a somewhat lengthy discussion of the
topic "The University and the Professions." It is undoubt
edly a fact that while the number of students in educational
institutions is on the increase, yet that increase is not pro
portionate with the increase in population. The great hurry
of every young man and woman to begin life, the overcrowded
condition of both professions and trades, keeps many from
attaining a college education. For by going to school a man
is compelled to start in business two or three years behind
his less cultured brother. This, in a time when the earliest