34 SUGAR BEET SEED. 



months, to return to life, as it were,, with renewed 

 vigor. If, when taken from the soil, they are rich in 

 sugar, the seed that they will ultimately germinate will 

 be possessed of their mother characteristics. As they 

 must be kept in silos during a period of months, cer- 

 tain transformations occur, which are thoroughly inde- 

 pendent of the ultimate results. The innate sugar 

 characteristic, the outcome of man's creation, will con- 

 tinue, with, however, a constant tendency toward a 

 return to the lower forms, this tendency requiring sev- 

 eral generations to develop, as the interval between the 

 first and second year's growth has no material influ- 

 ence. Whatever may be the care given to siloing 

 mothers, there is always a sugar loss during their keep- 

 ing, and in December the saccharine percentage may 

 be fourteen, while in March only twelve, and by the 

 prolonged delay in selection this individual beet would 

 be rejected, yet its sugar percentage at the time of 

 examination would be very misleading; for the Decern-- 

 ber characteristic should have been the prevailing issue 

 to be considered. 



One frequently sees circulars of seed growers who 

 contend that the}^ make several hundred thousand 

 analyses in their beet selections; in most cases this 

 extends over a period of six months, which means, dur- 

 ing this time that the silos have been opened and 

 closed daily, which practice has certainly a very con- 

 siderable influence dn the nature and quality of the' 

 roots being analyzed. The mode of analyzing beets 

 for mothers, selecting those which have remained 

 siloed during so long a period, is a practice which 

 should certainly be abandoned. The theory that 

 keeping in silos has the advantage of allowing an ulti- 

 mate selection based upon the keeping qualities, does 

 not compensate for the disadvantage of the practice, 

 and in cases where the silos have been poorly venti- 

 lated and badly constructed, very misleading results 



