12 SUGAR-BEET SEED 



quantities of beet seed are produced in Utah, Idaho, 

 Montana, and Colorado, and a small quantity in Mich- 

 igan. 



But even where soil and climatic conditions are 

 favorable, only a small portion of the land can be de- 

 voted to growing sugar-beet seed. The flower is not 

 a self-fertilizer, but is rich in pollen and is fertilized 

 from the pollen of other neighboring beet flowers. 

 As the pollen is carried great distances by the wind and 

 the plant suffers from atavism, beet-seed farms must 

 be widely separated, else hybrid beets result. It is 

 not safe to have breeding fields located within a half a 

 mile of each other, as one low-grade beet going to seed 

 in the midst of selected seed beets will so affect its 

 neighbors as to destroy the value of the surrounding 

 seed for a considerable area. 



SOIL AND FERTILIZATION 



Even where climatic conditions are favorable, it 

 was thought at one time that this highly organized 

 plant would not yield as good results on flat land as 

 on hill sides, especially those with a southern ex- 

 posure, but in recent years it has seemed to do equally 

 well on flat as on hilly ground. 



As to soil, the mother beet is most exacting, both as 



