SUGAR PLANTS 87 



3 per cent, sugar. It was decided to work for 

 the improvement of the beet as a sugar plant. 



Seed of the plants that gave the highest sugar 

 test were saved and planted. The new crop was 

 carefully examined, and only those saved to pro- 

 duce seed which had most promise. Again and 

 again the process of seed selection was repeated, 

 and very gradually the sugar content rose. The 

 establishing of beet-sugar mills and the perfecting 

 of processes of extracting and refining the product 

 did not interfere with the work of improving 

 the strains of sugar beets. It is still practised. 

 Every beet seed grower with enterprise is at this 

 work, bringing the strain he sells to a higher sugar 

 content. The average per cent, has doubled in 

 the past hundred years. Individual beets have 

 tested as high as 25 per cent. That means one 

 quarter of the beet's weight is sugar. Fields 

 have averaged 14 per cent. 



Beets are furnishing to-day a large part of the 

 sugar of the world. The amount of sugar con- 

 sumed has greatly increased within fifty years, 

 so it is fortunate that a second source of the raw 

 material for its manufacture has been found. 

 Europe is far ahead of America still in the beet- 

 sugar industry. California and Colorado are the 

 chief sugar-producing states. The natural advan- 



