ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 49 



ment of roots. The higher vitality and quality of the beets grown 

 from domestic seed illustrate in a forcible degree the advisa- 

 bility of the production of our beet-seed at home. Even granting 

 that seeds produced in foreign countries have the same high 

 qualities, it must be admitted that their vitality is in danger 

 of being very much diminished during shipment to this country. 

 The moist air of the holds of the ships in which they are trans- 

 ported often produces moldiness and incipient germination, which 

 tend to greatly diminish their value. Not only did the beets 

 produced from the home-grown seed have a higher percentage 

 of sugar, but they also afforded a higher yield per acre, as deter- 

 mined in the experiments at Schuyler. The mean tonnage per 

 acre from the home-grown seed was 21.1 and from the imported 

 seed, 17.9 The mean pounds of sugar produced per acre from 

 the home-grown seed was 5891 and from the imported seed 

 5185. This shows an increase of about 12 per cent, in the actual 

 quantity of sugar per acre when domestic seed was used. These 

 data should be carefullly studied by all those who are interested 

 in the production of beet sugar in this country. Perhaps the 

 time has not yet come for the inception of such a work, but it 

 is evident that it will not be long before there will be a demand 

 .for the establishment in this country of a plantation or plan- 

 tations devoted exclusively to the production of beet seeds on 

 the most approved scientific principles. 



" The quantity of seed required to plant an acre is about 15 

 pounds. The approximate number of acres planted to beets 

 in this country during the past season was 30,000, requiring 

 450,000 pounds of seed. It is evident that there is already 

 an opportunity for the active operation of a large plantation 



