ITS HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT 113 



sprung. That the effort to improve the beet is worth 

 while, is shown by the fact that if from the 6j million 

 tons of sugar beets produced by American farmers 

 last year, an increased sugar extraction of i per cent 

 had been secured, we would have produced 125,000,000 

 more pounds of sugar, worth $9,000,000 at present 

 wholesale prices. 



Not until America ceases to depend upon Europe for 

 the scientific work which produces the elite seed which 

 we import, and builds up distinctly American strains 

 of seed, will domestic sugar-beet seed production free 

 itself from the domination of Europe and assume the 

 appearance of a real American industry, thereby 

 relieving the domestic beet-sugar industry from de- 

 pendence upon Germany for its existence. 



To secure the highest results, sugar-beet seed cul- 

 ture requires the most fertile lands which are to be 

 had, as well as years of most careful and scientific 

 fertilization and working. Such lands in the vicinity 

 of Magdeburg are held at as high as $1000 per acre. 



Unless precedent established by nearly a century's 

 experience in Europe counts for naught, to establish 

 the sugar-beet seed industry in the United States 

 means the investment of hundreds of thousands of 

 dollars in single-unit farms, each covering several 



