ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 55 



" The report of the scientist which I have had on the sugar- 

 beet seed farms of Europe for five months and the experiments 

 which have been made in this country in producing sugar-beet 

 seed show the imperative necessity of producing our seed in this 

 country at the earliest practicable moment. In the mean time 

 the greatest care should be exercised in the selection of foreign- 

 grown seed in order that a much larger proportion of our sowings 

 will be of the best quality such as is used exclusively by Euro- 

 pean beet growers. 



" The seed question is the very heart of the industry, the founda- 

 tion upon which depends success or failure, for without good seed 

 no combination of propitious conditions can bring success either 

 to the farmer or the manufacturer. 



" We have been co-operating to some extent with Mr. Mor- 

 rison of the State of Washington, who has a seed farm several 

 hundred acres in extent. Our experiments show that with 

 equal attention to the scientific details we can produce at home 

 a seed far superior to the best European seed. Last year this 

 Department purchased a quantity of the Washington seed, this 

 seed being produced from mothers selected from factory beets 

 which averaged 19 per cent, sugar, the original seeds being also 

 home-grown. This seed was distributed among sugar-beet 

 farmers and wherever we have been able to secure comparative 

 tests it has given excellent results, its great vitality being specially 

 marked. This year we shall send out several tons of the 1903 crop. 



" I have asked Congress for a special appropriation for con- 

 ducting scientific sugar-beet seed work and in case Mr. Morrison 

 continues his efforts, have arranged that the seed scientists of 

 this Department take entire charge of the scientific work on his 



