24 THE SEED-GROWER. 
Market.—Beet seed is handled extensively by the 
trade. Some estimate of its consumption in the entire 
country may be formed when it is stated that upwards 
of 150,000 pounds of seed of the staple table varieties 
are now sold annually by the combined trade in the 
four large cities of New York, Chicago, Philadelphia 
and Detroit; considerable quantities are also handled 
by seed houses in other large centres, such as Boston, 
Baltimore, Cincinnati, St. Louis, San Francisco, etc. 
The greater portion of the beet seed used in the 
United States comes from Europe. Not that the cli- 
mate and soil over there are better suited for its pro- 
duction than is the case in this country, but because 
there are comparatively few growing establishments 
here as yet and their operations are not extensive. 
This European beet seed is of high standard, but seed 
equally as good is produced in the United States, and 
there should be no occasion for importation of a single 
pound. Wherever its production has been undertaken 
in such sections as the Connecticut valley, Eastern 
Washington, and Northern California, most excellent 
seed, fully up to the standard of European production, 
has been obtained; and it has cost no more to grow 
than it does in Europe. 
In a favorable season, a yield of table varieties of 
beet seed is from 1,000 to 1,200 pounds per acre; in 
Europe, for the field sorts, namely, Sugar beet and 
Mangold Wurtzel, from 2,000 to 2,500 pounds per acre 
have been produced. 
In prices, European grown seed of table varieties, 
such as Egyptian, Blood Turnip, Long Blood, is laid 
down in New York at eleven to thirteen cents per 
pound; field varieties, at five to eight cents per pound, 
