32 SUGAR BEET SEED. 



ber, excellent service could be rendered; this has 

 been accomplished with the potato, etc.; appar- 

 ently there is no reason why the results should not 

 be equally promising with beets. The early maturing 

 beets of an inferior quality were introduced in 1866; 

 these beets had smooth skins, small necks, etc., and 

 were very susceptible to the slightest variation of tem- 

 perature or moisture. It is claimed that the persistency 

 of farmers in using that inferior tj'pe of beet brought 

 about a great decline in the sugar industry of France. 

 The attempt to solve the problem was by depending 

 upon exterior signs and chemical analysis. The basis 

 of maturity was constancy in weight; experiments 

 showed that there was a variety which in September 

 remained constant and from it was obtained the variety 

 known as early maturing. 



It is claimed that while this type yields less in 

 weight per acre than the later maturing kind, they pos- 

 sess the advantage of allowing them to be used at the 

 factory a month earlier than would have been other- 

 wise possible. The writer's observation respecting the 

 question is, that the results not being reliable, the vari- 

 ety is not to be recommended. 



From what has just been said, it becomes evident 

 that the best results can only be reached by allowing 

 many of the complicated requisites to take care of 

 themselves. If it is impossible to produce one variety 

 of beets suitable to all soils, it is still more difficult to 

 create a special variety that is to be adapted to a soil 

 which is thousands of miles away, and of which a gen- 

 eral analysis has not been made, or any special descrip- 

 tion given by the owner as to what kind it 

 belongs, and hence, subsequent attempts at beet 

 cultivation are frequently complete failures. On 

 the other hand, for a beet possessing all-round 

 qualities, such as shape, sugar percentage, etc., 

 created by a seed grower wtio has only one 



