The beets are now taken to the factory in wagons, or, if it is far away, they are sent on trains. When the loads of beets reach the factory, they are weighed. The teamsters then drive up an inclined plane to a plank roadway. There are generally several of these. On each side of the road or platform are deep V-shaped trenches with wooden sides, in which streams of water run. When the wagon has reached the right spot, the platform upon which it rests is raised in a slanting position, and the beets fall into the trench. A basket full of beets is taken from each load and tested, to see how much sugar they contain, for this determines the price to be paid. The stream of water in the trench carries the beets along, just as they would be carried in a brook. This, you see, is a quick and easy way of washing them. The streams of water carry the beets into the factory, where they are cut up into strips by machinery. The juice is then washed out in vats containing warm water, and is boiled down in great tanks. The raw sugar is refined much as the cane sugar is. After the sugar has been dried, it is run through spouts into sacks held open to catch it as it comes out. One hundred pounds are put into each sack. One workman sews the sacks up and another wheels them to the wareroom. Train loads are carried away to be distributed in the parts of our country that do not produce sugar. MAPLE SUGAR You would enjoy helping to make some maple sugar, I am sure, so let us make a trip to the woods of Vermont or New York, where maple sugar is made from the sap of the sugar-maple tree. You will need your cap and mittens, as the sugar season is the early spring, when there is yet snow on the ground. Besides, some of the work is done at night, and you will not wish to miss that. The owner of the "sugar bush" bores holes into the trees a short distance from the ground, into which he slips small spouts, called "spiles." [Illustration: FIG. 28.--Tapping a Tree.] This is called _tapping_ the trees. Underneath the spout a pail is placed. During the day the sap trickles out and runs into the pail. During the colder hours of the night the sap flows slowly, if at all. Sometimes it is so cold that little sap runs for two or three days at a time. [Illustration: FIG. 29.--Oxen hauling Sap.] The sap is collected in barrels and drawn on sleds to the camp or place where it is to be boiled down. This is done in great pans called _evaporators_, which may be five or six feet wide, and fifteen feet long. They are divided into sections, and these are connected by means of little openings. The sap flows into one end of the evaporator and follows a zigzag path through the different sections. By flowing slowly over so large a surface, evaporation goes on rapidly and the sap is changed to sirup by the time it has finished its journey. The sirup is put up in cans, or boiled down into sugar, which is molded into small cakes, and brings a high price.