ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 25 



SECOND CHEMICAL SELECTION 



Although having had their every exterior and in- 

 terior characteristic examined with persistent minute- 

 ness, some growers submit these wounded, battle- 

 scarred " mothers " to still further mutilation and 

 examination the following spring, before they are per- 

 mitted to reproduce. 



As they are taken from the silo in the spring, a 

 second sample is taken from a hole bored diagonally 

 through the center of the root and tested in the po- 

 lariscope to determine the quantity of sugar lost during 

 the winter. If the loss does not exceed a given amount, 

 the " mother " receives her diploma and when the 

 season opens is planted for seed. 



Before planting, every observation, test, and meas- 

 urement which has been made of the mothers by the 

 botanists and by the chemists in their various exam- 

 inations is carefully written up in their individual 

 pedigrees, which are attached to the photographs 

 for use and reference in after years when breeding 

 new families, in order to be sure that the physical 

 and chemical characteristics are retained. 



One large concern which claims to have the records 

 and photographs of each and every mother beet it 



