"And then?"
"If they are to be made directly into syrup and do not have to be shipped in bulk they go into slicers which cut them into V-shaped pieces about the length and thickness of a slate pencil, these pieces being called cossettes. The sliced beet-root is next put into warm water tanks in order that the sugar contained in it may be drawn out. Built in a circle, these tanks are connected, and as the beets move from one vat to another more and more sugar is taken from them until they reach the last vat when the beet pulp is of no further use except to be used as fodder for live stock. The juice remains in the tanks, and in color it is—"
"Red!" cried Van, thoughtlessly interrupting.
"No, son, not red. It is black as ink."
"Black!" exclaimed the boys in a chorus.
"Black as your shoe."
"But—but I don't see how they—" Van stopped, bewildered.
"They bleach it by injecting fumes of sulphur gas into the tanks; lime is also used to—"
"To clear it after the dirt has come to the top," put in the boys in a breath.
"Exactly so," laughed Mr. Powers. "I observe you are now at the home plate."