ISO 



Bulletin 244. 



of a cheese trier if there are but a few; if numerous, some mechanical 

 appHance may be devised ; carefully weigh the core at once on a chemical 

 balance, record the weight and number the core to correspond with the 

 number on the beet. The cores may be placed in small porcelain dishes 

 whose weights are known, and weighed in these, the labels being on the 

 dishes. The core is left in its dish and dried; a double-jacketed, hot- 

 water oven being advised for this purpose. When all water is expelled, 

 which may be known by the weight remaining constant if weighed at 

 intervals of several hours, the weight of the residue is determined, and 

 when substracted from the total gives the loss of water. From the data, 

 the percentage of water and dry matter is determined. If the percentage 

 is high enough the root may be saved. Immediately after coring, the 

 hole may be filled with cotton batting which has been dipped in a solution 

 of formalin, thus preventing infection by disease. For this purpose, 



charcoal and clay are also 

 used by European breeders. 

 All roots should be kept cool 

 while the test is being made 

 and those which are selected 

 for " mothers " should be 

 stored in sand in a cool root 

 cellar. Such stock is valuable, 

 and must be well cared for. 



Some seed growers aim 

 to test their roots twice, viz., 

 as soon as harvested in order 

 to eliminate all those low in 

 sugar content, and then retest 

 the remainder in spring to get 

 rid of those which were waste- 

 ful of their nutrients in stor- 

 age. Others test only in 

 spring. The ability to store 

 the roots will partly decide the 

 method to adopt. In the case 

 of mangels which are not to 

 be used as feed before Christ- 

 mas, it is essential that good 

 ] storage quality be secured; 

 hence the spring coring is the more important one ; it must be compared 

 with the results of the fall coring. 



The half-sugar mangel is said to be the result of a cross between a 

 sugar-beet and a mangel. It is an attempt to secure a mangel with a 



Fig. 60. — Orange Giant carrot. A good 

 yielder and of good shape. Best adapted to 

 tight soils. Wires six inches apart. 



