CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 121 



conclusively shown, that seeds from beets rich in 

 sugar, produce richer beets than are raised from the 

 seed of those poorer in saccharine matter. 



Beets containing sixteen per cent, of sugar are not 

 rare, and in one instance twenty-one per cent, was 

 found in a variety produced by M. Vilmorin, near 

 Paris. There is no reason to believe that the sac- 

 charine quality of the beet has yet attained its com- 

 plete development. 



The German method of selecting the white Sile- 

 sian beets to bear seed the succeeding year is as fol- 

 lows : 



They are chosen, not from the piles after they are 

 gathered, but while they are still standing in the field 

 rows. Medium-sized beets, grown in moderately rich 

 soil, are preferred to those grown in land very highly 

 manured. Plants should be selected whose roots, 

 growing entirely beneath the surface, are shaped like 

 a pear, and not like a turnip ; whose crown is single, 

 and presents no cavity ; the longitudinal indentations 

 on whose main root incline to a spiral rather than a 

 straight direction ; whose foliage is not too luxuriant, 

 but, standing close together, grows low to the ground 

 in form like a large plate ; and the color of whose 

 leaves is not tinged, spotted, nor fringed with red, but 

 of a clear, bright green. 



If varieties other than the white Silesian are used, 

 then the properties to be sought for in the plant for 

 future seed-bearing, should be those which most nearly 

 approach perfection in the given variety. 



The richness of a beet, either in saccharine, saline, 

 or alkaline constituents, is determined by its specific 

 6 



