214 The Sugar-Beet in America 



bushels. All the crop that is produced will serve the 

 purpose for which it is raised. With beets, on the other 

 hand, unless sufficient sugar is present to permit extrac- 

 tion at a profit, the crop is practically valueless for sugar- 

 making. 



The farmer and the sugar manufacturer are both in- 

 terested in seed, for unless the factory can be made to 

 pay, the business will have to be discontinued and the 

 farmer will not have a market for his crop. The interests 

 of the sugar factory have been so great that it has taken 

 charge of the seed situation and has assumed the responsi- 

 bility of furnishing seed to farmers contracting to raise 

 beets. The factory could better afford to give the farmers 

 free seed that would produce good beets than to allow 

 them to plant inferior seed, for the cost of seed is negli- 

 gible in comparison to other costs. If two grades of seed 

 were obtainable, one that would produce beets having 

 14 per cent sugar and the other beets with 16 per cent 

 with equal yield, it would pay the sugar company to take 

 the better seed if it sold for a dollar a pound and the 

 poorer seed could be secured for nothing. This shows 

 how absolutely necessary it is to have nothing but the best 

 seed. 



HIGH GERMINATION 



From the farmer's point of view, seed that is high in 

 germinating power is essential. The yield of beets to 

 the acre is directly dependent on the rate of germination 

 of the seed. With some other crops, such as wheat, if 

 the stand is poor, this condition can be overcome in part 

 by the plants stooling and producing many heads from a 



