IMPEOVED STRAINS OP ROOTS 45 



Similar results could be shown for other varieties. " Farmers 

 who insist upon buying other feeding- stuffs according to analysis 

 must, therefore, necessarily soon demand from seed growers an 

 analysis or guarantee of the food-producing character of the 

 seed they buy." 



In the annual reports on these competitions the characters, 

 good or bad, of the roots grown were carefully pointed out, and 

 a full description of his roots was sent to each grower, informing 

 him of how he stood in comparison with other growers. The 

 personal influence of Helweg with the growers was very great, 

 and increased year by year. He was thereby enabled to induce 

 many growers of seed from inferior stock to scrap their whole 

 stock and start anew with seed from one of the best strains 

 found among the competing samples. A grower, named B, 

 was known to sell annually 10,000 Ibs. of seed of a certain strain 

 of mangel. 1 The Comparative Cultivations had shown that 

 roots grown from his seed yielded so much less food-stuff per 

 acre than roots grown from the seed of a grower E, that the 

 annual loss to farmers buying the 100 cwts. of seed from B 

 instead of buying from E amounted to 1500. Another grower 

 of seed, also selling 100 cwts. of seed a year, caused a similar 

 relative loss to his customers. And these two growers were 

 found among only six sending in samples of the same variety. 

 " Farmers would be fully justified, on the strength of these 

 competitions, in entering a strong protest against buying root 

 seed without a guarantee for the food-producing quality of the 

 strain." Grower B scrapped his stock and started afresh with 

 another stock as good as that of grower E. 



By this influence of Helweg's, by the annual reports of the 

 Society, by the explanatory reports sent privately to each com- 

 petitor, and by articles in the agricultural papers, both growers 

 of seed and farmers buying seed were gradually educated to 

 understand the value of a good strain. Thus the aim already 

 held out by Helweg as early as 1888, " gradually to weed out 

 the poor and indifferent strains and to extend the use of seed of 

 good strains," was steadily pursued, and the general stock of 

 roots grown in the country was gradually improved to the 

 benefit of farmers and of the country. 



1 Helweg's Report of 1901, p. 174. 



