ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 29 



A 1916 shipment to the United States of 50 bags of 

 elite seed (no Ib. per bag) was insured for $50,000, 

 or nearly $10 per pound. Elite seed is never used 

 for producing a crop of commercial seed, but to grow 

 a crop of long slender " mothers," called "steckling," 

 which, in turn, produce the seed of commerce. Thus 

 commercial beets are not the children, but the grand- 

 children of the " mothers. " 



PLANTING "ELITE" SEED 



" Elite" seed for the production of "steckling" is 

 drilled in rows usually 16 inches apart, using 10 to 

 12 pounds of seed per acre. 



The plants sometimes are thinned to one inch 

 apart in the rows and are cultivated the same as are 

 commercial beets. The roots grow deep in the ground, 

 but only to one or one and one-half inches in size and 

 weigh from two to ten ounces. 



The dwarfing of the diameter of the roots, caused 

 by growing closely in the rows, hastens their ripening, 

 thus affording a longer time for hardening, prior 

 to harvesting, in consequence of which they keep 

 better through the winter. 



Before harvesting, all the roots which throw up any 



