KEQUIREMEITTS OF SDGAK BEET SEED. 35 



would be obtained. The rise in temperature means 

 second growth and corresponding loss of sugar; 

 through this and other causes just mentioned very 

 superior beets might be rejected. 



M. Lemaire, a French seed grower, attaches great 

 importance to a double method of selection, one in 

 December and the other in March; it is possible, then, 

 within reasonable limits to determine just what the 

 keeping powers have been. Experience seems to show 

 that this question of retaining vitality during a period 

 of months is more pronounced with some beets than 

 it is with others; furthermore, this is a hereditary con- 

 dition and is one of those elements too frequently over- 

 looked, but far too costly to put into practice. If a 

 variety of beet could be created with special resisting 

 powers, it would render sugar manufacturers great 

 service during those years when the beet crop is abun- 

 dant, as then the beets could be siloed until used, thus 

 giving a very extended period to the sugar campaign. 

 Dippe Brothers, Saxony, keep 100,000 beets in silos 

 during the entire winter; 33,000 are kept for mothers 

 and 67,000 are fed to cattle; great stress is placed on 

 the keeping qualities. 



The selection by the Knauer method does not take 

 place until March or April, the final classification being 

 into three varieties, good, better and best. The good 

 ones may be irregular in shape, but are not used for 

 seeding purposes. The writer considers that if the 

 entire, selection of mothers could be made the day of 

 harvesting, the science of selection would have reached 

 its zenith; but while this cannot be done with exist- 

 ing facilities, the nearer we approach it, the nearer we 

 will be to the perfection aspired to. These assertions are 

 not theory or passing conclusions, but facts based upon 

 experience. In most mother-selecting laboratories, 

 not more than 2500 analyses can he made per diem, 

 while at the Laon sugar factory 10,000 are within the 



