INTRODUCTION xiii 



During the last century, the botanists have not only 

 changed the color of the neck of the beet from red to 

 rose, from rose to gray, from gray to green and from 

 green to white, but they have changed the color of the 

 beet itself from red to white, back to red and finally 

 back to white, its present color. 



They trained it to bury itself and grow entirely be- 

 neath the surface of the soil. They then changed their 

 minds and trained it to grow as much above as be- 

 neath the soil. Finally they led it back and caused it 

 to grow entirely beneath the surface with only the 

 leaves and crown exposed to the air. 



The texture of its skin and of the root itself has under- 

 gone a marked change, as has also the proportion of 

 sugar to the other solids in the root. 



The number of its leaves, their shape, their veins, 

 their shade, their position and the length of their 

 stalks, all have been modified by the botanist. 



As to shape, they have been made to outdo all 

 the acts of a contortionist, having assumed no 

 less than eleven different shapes in a little over a 

 half century, as will be noted from the following 

 illustration, reproduced from Dr. Lewis S. Ware's 

 "Sugar Beet Seed." 



To-day, pivoting or slender shapes are used exclu- 



