The process in brief is to take fresh beef fat, which is first chopped up and thoroughly washed. It is then placed in melting tanks at a temperature of 122° to 124° F, and the clear yellow oil is drawn off and allowed to stand until it granulates. The fat is then packed in cloths set in moulds and a slowly increasing pressure squeezes out the pure amber colored oil, leaving the stearine behind. This sweet and pure yellow oil is then churned with milk for 20 minutes until the oil is completely broken up, and a small quantity of annato, a vegetable coloring matter, is added to give a yellow color. The product is then cooled in ice, and after a second churning with milk it is salted and finished like butter. Chemical analysis shows oleomargarine to have substantially the same constituents and in almost the identical proportions of pure butter. It is equally wholesome, and while it does not have the same rich flavor, it has the advantage that it keeps better, and is not so liable to become rancid or strong. The oleomargarine industry is closely related to the beef packing industries of the United States, and its growth has been enormous. Notwithstanding the stringent laws on the subject, much of the oleomargarine made is sold for, and by the average purchaser is not distinguishable from, pure butter. In 1899 there were 80,495,628 pounds of oleomargarine made in the United States, or more than a pound for every man, woman, and child in the country. The internal revenue tax paid on it was $1,609,912.56. The exports for the year 1899 were 5,549,322 pounds of the artificial butter, and 142,390,492 pounds of the oleo oil prepared for conversion into the complete product by simply churning with milk. _Sugar._--Sugar-cane, beets, and the sap of the maple constitute the sources from which sugar is extracted, but the cane furnishes by far the largest supply. When crushed between rolls it yields 65 per cent. of its weight as juice, and 18 per cent. of this juice is sugar. It is concentrated by evaporation at a low temperature, the crystallized portion being known as “raw” or brown sugar, which is subsequently refined, while the uncrystallized portion forms molasses. [Illustration: FIG. 173.--VACUUM PAN FOR EVAPORATING THE SYRUP TO PRODUCE SUGAR.]