ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 111 



seed company is producing in Idaho is grown from 

 the highest pedigreed European " elite" seed, which 

 is imported at a cost of $7.00 to $10.00 per pound. 

 It represents the result of the highest skill of the 

 European sugar-beet seed growers; has passed all 

 the searching physical and chemical examinations and 

 is equal to the elite seed which the European growers 

 themselves plant for producing their commercial seed 

 in Germany and Russia. The Great Western Sugar 

 Company also is importing "elite" seed for some of 

 its plantings. In other cases, selections of mothers 

 are made from beets grown from commercial seed. 



However, whether produced from commercial seed 

 or from imported " elite" seed, the effort to grow 

 sugar-beet seed in America is as yet little more than 

 an elemental proposition, for unless the greatest care 

 and attention be given each year to selections, the 

 quality of the beets soon begins to deteriorate, when 

 a new start must be made from freshly imported seed. 

 The character of the seed which we now purchase 

 from Europe indicates that commercialism is sadly 

 interfering with their science in seed production. It 

 has been demonstrated that both elite and com- 

 mercial foreign seed are mixtures of different varieties 

 of seed or are grown where they cross pollinate with 



