KUROPEAS VARIETIES OF BKETS. •> 



to the \'ilmorin, but that variety brought freely only 

 22 cents per pound. 



However, beets of those days were so dififerent 

 from the kind now used for sugar-making that they 

 need no more than a passing notice. Knauer, with 

 some authority, maintains that all existing varieties of 

 sugar beets have five important starting points: ist, 

 Belgian; 2d, Ouedlinburg; 3d, Silesian; 4th, Siberian, 

 and 5th, the Imperial beet. Hundreds of varieties 

 differ, not only in shape, but in the size and form of 

 their leaves, which, also, are so many characteristics, 

 to which must be added sub-varieties with varied col- 

 ored skins, necks, etc. At the present time those who 

 have centred their efforts on one variety, like M. 

 Legras, have created a type that would be recognized 

 anywhere; also the German, Klein- Wanzleben, which 

 has undergone certain changes, but still retains its 

 original characteristics. The type was created by the 

 old firm Rabbethge and Giesecke in 1859. Vilmo- 

 rin, the well-known French seed producer, created the 

 White Silesian and the Ameliorated, as well as the 

 green and rose neck varieties. The Desprez beets are 

 known as white or rose, with hard skins, white or rose 

 intermediate skins, and the green neck, soft skins, with 

 several early maturing varieties; Simon- Legrand has 

 the white rose, white conical neck, all of which are the 

 so-called ameliorated types of the German seed grow- 

 ers. The most important, besides the ones mentioned 

 in the foregoing, are the Knauer. Old Imperial, Rose 

 and White Ameliorated Imperial and Electoral. The 

 Dippe Brothers have produced a type based upon the 

 Klein- Wanzleben, Imperial Ameliorated, and the iNIost 

 Rich. The Austrian beet of Jules-Robert is much 

 liked ; the varieties are few. 



It is not necessary to discuss the claims of each 

 seed grower, for the practical results do not agree with 



