ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 63 



the beet was raised 3 per cent in the first generation 

 produced from Dakota seed, and in later selections, 

 while all beets were rejected which did not analyze 

 higher in sugar than did the highest- at the beginning 

 of the experiments, and higher than the average of all 

 the commercial beets grown in the United States, the 

 rejections amounted to but 3.4 per cent of the beets 

 tested. No rows of beets in which every beet was tested 

 averaged less than 20 per cent sugar, the highest aver- 

 age for any row was 21.5 per cent and the highest 

 individual beet tested, contained 25.4 per cent sugar. 



It is obvious that if by selection, the poorer quality 

 of seed which we are using be eliminated, and from the 

 superior types of foreign elite seed, strains of high ton- 

 nage, high sugar content and high purity beets be bred, 

 the reduction in the farmers cost of producing beets 

 and the factory cost of producing sugar would be mate- 

 rially reduced. In fact, even with our high wage rates, 

 it might so revolutionize costs as to make this the cheap- 

 est beet-sugar producing country in the world. 



The following from South Dakota, Bulletin No. 142, 

 indicates the results which may be attained by beginning 

 at the foundation and breeding pure American strains of 

 sugar beet seed: 



