CHENOPODIACE^ 



303 



shape and size is useless. Beets with a large crown are 

 undesirable. 



Anatomical Structure and Sugar Content. — The researches 

 of a number of European investigators have shown that the 

 anatomical structure of the sugar beet is correlated with 

 sugar content. In general, beets with a high percentage of 

 sugar have a finer structure than those with a low percentage. 

 A cross or lengthwise section of a beet shows it to be made up, 

 for the most part, of a ground tissue penetrated by groups of 

 vessels. In cross-section (Fig. 120), these groups of vessels 



vascular 



-^mali-ceileci 

 parench\jma 



larde-cejfed 

 parencmma 



-ring ofgrowih 



Diagrammatic cross-section of sugar beet root. 



take a circular form, being separated from each other by par- 

 enchyma tissue. At the center of the beet, the bundles are 

 close together, forming the so-called "star. " The tissue that 

 separates vessels is composed of two kinds of parenchyma 

 cells: small cells surrovmding the vessels, and large ones 

 farther removed. The smaller parenchyma cells are rich in 

 sugar, while the larger ones are principally water storage cells, 

 poor in sugar. Hence, beets with a predominance of small- 

 celled parenchyma are richer in sugar than those in which 

 large water storage cells predominate. It must not be as- 



