30 SUGAR-BEET SEED 



seed stalks are removed. One acre of "s tedding" 

 will produce enough beets to plant many acres for 

 seed. It is customary to defoliate, or remove the 

 leaves, of the "steckling," after which they are care- 

 fully siloed in pits from 15 inches to 3 feet deep, by 

 3 to 4 feet wide, where they are protected from heating 

 or freezing by soil covering of the required depth. 



GERMINATION TESTS 



As soon as any of the seed has ripened, the ger- 

 mination tests are begun. Of each average sample 

 of seed, two tests are made for determining its ger- 

 minating power. To make this test, the seed fre- 

 quently is soaked from six to fifteen hours in sterilized 

 water in a room of 68 to 75 degrees Fahrenheit, after 

 which it is pressed into a germination bed. 



One method of testing is as follows: Germination 

 beds are made of sand, to which moisture is added to 

 the extent of 60 per cent, of its water-holding capacity. 

 Deep plates are partially filled with saturated, sterilized 

 sand, and with an instrument resembling a pill machine, 

 100 indentations are made in the sand of each plate. 

 One beet ball is dropped into each indentation, and 

 the sand is smoothed over them. Over each pan is 



