X INTRODUCTION 



1812 was able to recover 2.27 per cent., beets now con- 

 tain 1 6 to 20 per cent, of sugar, 85 per cent, of which is 

 recoverable. As a result of the increase of both ton- 

 nage and sugar content, Germany now harvests as 

 much sugar from one acre as Achard harvested from 

 17 acres. 



These results have been accomplished by the appli- 

 cation of the most painstaking, patient, scientific labor, 

 which for generations has been devoted to the breeding 

 of sugar-beet seed and by the application of improved 

 agricultural and manufacturing methods. 



Botanists have succeeded in modifying almost every 

 characteristic which the beet possessed at the outset, 

 even to its habit of seeding and perpetuating its species. 

 Originally an annual, as are many of the wild beets 

 to-day, it sent up its seed stalks and produced its seed 

 the year it was planted, but the early botanists trained 

 it to devote all of its energies the first year to develop- 

 ing its root and to delay its reproductive labors until 

 the following season. 



To cause it to produce seed, the root is dug in the 

 fall and laid away where it will neither freeze nor heat 

 and when replanted in the fields the following spring 

 it sends up its seed stalks; the seed is ready to harvest 

 in the autumn. 



