EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 249 



breaks and cuts the hard crust which enables the seedling to break 

 through the surface of the soil, thus helping to save a good stand. 



The so-called sugar beet seed is a seed ball containing a number of 

 individual seeds, several of which usually germinate, making it neces- 

 sary to thin carefully by hand when plants are young. 



Sugar beet seed is usually supplied at cost by the sugar beet company, 

 with whom the grower has a contract. Special effort is made to secure 

 seed of high germination from high yielding strains which will produce 

 sugar beets of high sugar content — an average of 13 per cent or above. 



> ^ 





Sugar beet seed starts best on a well firmed seed bed ia as near "garden flth" as possible. 



SEED PRODUCTION 



Before the war practically all seed was imported, chiefly from Ger- 

 many, most of it being of the Kleinwauzlebener variety. With the cut- 

 ting off of the foreign supply during the war the home production of 

 sugar beet seed became important, and several Michigan sugar com- 

 panies produced one-half or more of the seed needed for their usual 

 acreage. It was demonstrated that seed could be profitably produced 

 by Michigan growers. 



At the present time sugar beet seed production in Michigan is being 

 largely discontinued with the opening up of a cheaper foreign supply, 

 and due to the fact that the breeding of suitable mother beets (stech- 

 lings) was not developed as the foundation of seed production in Mich- 

 igan. Such work is now under way at the Michigan Agi'icultural Col- 

 lege and it is hoped that in the future the sugar beet seed industry in 

 Michigan may make sound development with improved parent stock, 

 selected for yield and high sugar content as a basis. A sufficient de- 

 velopment in sugar beet seed production should be made in Michigan 

 so that this phase of the sugar beet industry will be on a footing to de- 

 velop rapidly and make the State independent of a foreign seed supply, 

 should need again arise. 



