A CHAT ABOUT SUGAR-BEET 23 



to raise the crops that the difference I have mentioned 

 has been materially decreased. So much so, that cane 

 growers have seen the wisdom of taking precautions 

 against losing one of their most effective fighting 

 forces — the advantage of a bigger supply of sugar- 

 juice from every acre under cultivation. To maintain 

 that advantage, in the face of such threatening efforts 

 of the beetroot-seed nurserymen to deprive them of 

 it, they have set about the work of discovering, by 

 selection and breeding, canes that will yield the best 

 quality juice in maximum quantities, under every 

 condition of soil and climate. In a word, the experi- 

 ments with seedling canes, which I have told you 

 about, have been largely inspired by the success 

 attending the establishment of seed nurseries in con- 

 nection with the cultivation of sugar-beet. 



The beetroot plant flowers and seeds between the 

 age of one and two years. The very best roots are 

 selected for the nurseries, whence, directly or in- 

 directly, all the farmers obtain their seeds. Germany 

 and France are specially famous for their sugar-beet 

 nurseries, and the other European countries frequently 

 buy seeds from them. 



Generally speaking, the system of sugar-beet culti- 

 vation is the same in all lands where the plant is 

 grown. 



The ground is well broken up, thoroughly cleaned 

 and manured. The seeds are sown in the early spring, 

 and they very quickly sprout into young plants. The 

 plants are " married " as they are born, according to 

 the vernacular of the industry ; for one of the earliest 

 operations in the fields is known as " demarriage." 

 The business of unmarrying the infantile seedlings is 



