xii INTRODUCTION 



tewing spring, when they put forth their seed-stalks 

 and yield their seed in the autumn, a year and a half 

 from the time the seed originally was planted. 



As an annual, little or no opportunity was given to 

 the botanist, and none to the chemist, to study the 

 characteristics of the beet, for the growth of the root 

 is impeded if tampered with during the growing season. 

 Having been trained to defer its seeding until the second 

 year, the botanists and chemists are given a free rein 

 and a golden opportunity to examine with the utmost 

 minuteness every physical and chemical property of 

 both the inside and outside of the root, before determin- 

 ing whether or not to replant it the next spring and 

 allow it to go to seed. 



As a result, both the weight and sugar content of 

 the beet have been increased several hundred per.jfent., 

 and so valuable has it become for sugar-making purpHD- 

 that it supplies one-half the sugar of the world, an 

 economic blessing to the people who consume sugar 

 and wish to purchase it as cheaply as possible. 



But the change in the habit of seeding is only one of 

 many changes which have been effected in the character 

 of this plant. Indeed, scarcely an original characteristic 

 has been left it, aside from the fact that it still grows 

 with its leaves in the air and its root in the ground. . 



