110 SUGAR-BEET SEED 



tended their seed sowings and the members of the 

 United States Sugar Manufacturers' Association, who 

 produce 95 per cent, of all domestic beet-sugar, 

 have formed a cooperative seed-growing company 

 with a cash capital of $300,000; this company has 

 leased a large area of farming land and is now 

 operating extensive seed farms in the State of Idaho. 

 At a cost of $50,000, the company secured in Europe 

 50 bags of pedigreed " elite" seed which was planted 

 in the spring of 1916. This company also planted 

 several thousand tons of mothers, selected from the 

 best commercial beets growing in the State of Idaho. 



The Great Western Sugar Company of Denver, 

 Colorado, has been experimenting in sugar-beet seed 

 growing since 1910. Since the beginning of the war 

 in Europe this company has greatly increased its 

 output of seed, which is grown in Colorado, Montana 

 and Nebraska. 



A number of the Michigan sugar companies have be- 

 gun to raise seed, and are now devoting several hundred 

 acres to this crop. California sugar companies also 

 are devoting some acreage to seed production. As a 

 result of these efforts nearly one-fifth of the seed for 

 the 1918 United States sowings will be raised at home. 



A large portion of the seed which the cooperative 



