ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 3 



sugar in' the beet, Vilmorin made such progress in 

 increasing the sugar content of the beet, that in 1837 

 the " Vilmorin Original" seed sold at 25 to 75 cents 

 per pound, as compared with 6| cents for Quedlinburg 

 seed. In 1850 he published his pamphlet on increas- 

 ing the sugar content of the beet, and in 1856 he began 

 to breed by selection and to take note of the texture 

 of the skin. It was then that, for the first time, the 

 question of creating a new variety was discussed. 



Meanwhile, the polariscope had been invented, by 

 which the sugar content of the beets could be tested 

 with mathematical precision. This instrument in its 

 present form was built by Ventske, who pointed out the 

 use of the instrument for seed beet selection in 1851, 

 after which Vilmorin adopted it, followed by Rabbethge 

 & Giesecke in 1862. 



In 1859 Rabbethge & Giesecke established a sugar- 

 beet seed farm at Klein Wanzleben, near Magdeburg, 

 which since has grown to be the most extensive sugar- 

 beet seed enterprise in the world, comprising 13,000 

 acres in Germany and Russia and employing several 

 million dollars of capital. The following year, 1860, 

 this firm commenced to breed a new type of beet which 

 has been strictly adhered to ever since, and to-day 

 the standard brands of beet seed of the world are a 



