96 



highest in an average of eleven or more separate tests, contained 15.98 

 per cent of sugar, while the lowest variety in the series showed 14.38 

 per cent ; that is, the difference between the highest and the lowest of 

 the different grades was only 1.6 per cent. This was a matter of warm 

 congratulation among all interested, and was accepted as proof of the 

 thoroughness of the work accomplished, both by seedsmen and by the 

 station. 



In 1889 the German Parliament changed the sugar laws, reducing 

 the rate levied ou the beets to one half the former amount. The income 

 to the Government was, however, kept up by imposing a new tax of 1.4 

 cents upon each pound of sugar removed from the factories. The effect 

 of this law was to exactly reverse the order of values of the varieties 

 tested ; those rated last under the old law are now rated among the 

 first, and some of the leaders under tbe old law are now no longer found 

 worthy of further consideration, and have in fact been dropped from 

 Professor Maercker's experiments. The causes of these changes in 

 value are as follows : 



The high percentages of sugar, characteristic of the German types of 

 Vilmoriu varieties, are invariably accompanied by relatively small 

 crops of beets; hence the sugar yields per acre are low, oftentimes lower 

 by 20 per cent than similar yields from the Wanzleben varieties. The 

 new tax law removes the incentive to sacrifice everything to high sugar 

 tests. It forces the French variety from the German farm and gives 

 the farmer an opportunity to develop his beet growing in a normal 

 direction. 



The standard which now influences German seedsmen is " the high- 

 est possihle yield of sugar per acre secured in the lowest possible totmage 

 of heetsy That under this standard the German varieties and the 

 methods of selection above described are superior, is indicated by 

 the facts that {\) without exception the Klein Wanzleben beets have, 

 during eight years of comparative testing, yielded invariably the larger 

 quantity of sugar per acre; (2) with a decrease in tonnage of beet per 

 acre, amounting to more than 25 per cent, an actual increase in the 

 yield of sugar, exceeding 5 per cent, has been gained. These results 

 apply only to the Wanzleben variety, for with French stocks similar 

 treatment resulted in a decrease in the tonnage of beet of 12 per cent 

 and a decreased yield of sugar per acre amounting to more than 8 per 

 cent. 



Points of especial interest for American experimenters. — From the data 

 thus briefly summarized and other experience, it is perhaps safe to say 

 that whatever plant may be selected for the American sugar industry, 

 beet, sorghum or cane, the stations should see to it that all results of va- 

 rietal tests are brought first to the standard of yield of sugar per acre. 

 With this standard fixed, the purity of juice and the tonnage of crude 

 crop may vary according to business requirements. The publication of 

 analytical figures, and breeding and selection according to chemical 



