BEET. 21 



to 25 pounds of seed per acre. By broad rows there is 

 a greater crop of roots per acre, as two or three roots 

 may be grown side by side. The seedlings are thinned 

 to 1 inch apart in the row; this close thinning dwarfs 

 the roots and causes the earlier ripening and hardening 

 before frost previously alluded to. 



When taken up for winter storage, the small roots 

 are carefully sorted over, all being rejected which dis- 

 play any impurity as to type. These small roots are 

 planted out the same distance apart as for large roots. 



In growing small roots of Sugar beet seed, the course 

 is in the first year to select for seed a dozen large roots 

 which have best stood a test made from a great number 

 of large roots by chemical analysis of the properties of 

 each root. These roots are planted next Spring and 

 should yield about one pound of seed to each root. 

 The seed from each root is then saved separately, each 

 lot being numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. The next spring 

 these seeds are sown in separate fields to produce small 

 roots (sowing thinly, etc., as directed above), the fields 

 being numbered to correspond respectively with the 

 various lots of seed. A small sample of each lot of 

 seed is also sown in separate rows to produce large 

 roots for chemical test as before. Then in accordance 

 with the result of the tests made from these large roots, 

 the different lots of small roots produced in the fields 

 are accepted or rejected, those lots of course being re- 

 jected whose large roots failed to stand the test. The 

 small roots in the fields accepted are then dug up and 

 wintered over in silos, to be planted out in due course 

 next spring for production of commercial seed. 



Wintering Roots. Storing of roots over winter is 

 done in pits or silos, made 12 feet or more long, 

 18 inches deep, 3 feet wide, being covered with six 



