52 SUGAR BEET SEED. 



the purchaser. The identity and value of a seed can 

 only be determined after its having been put to a prac- 

 tical test upon the field. 



CHAPTER v.— PART I. 



Selection of Beets with a View to Seed. 



Preliminary Observations. — To obtain a beet rich 

 in quality, yet giving a satisfactory yield, is a far more 

 intricate problem than many of the would-be beet-seed 

 growers seem at first to realize. The details of selec- 

 tion, if properly carried out, can never become very 

 remunerative, owing to the expense, and must there- 

 fore be, within reasonable limits, a labor of love. A 

 visit to the laboratories where thirty to forty people 

 are employed, and the details connected with the work, 

 not only from a chemical but a physical standpoint, 

 would discourage many from the start, and even if 

 superior seed should sell for twice the sum that it now 

 does, it would hardly be an operation that one could 

 depend upon for a living. If the details of selection 

 could be made once for all, and if the seed obtained 

 would retain that degree of excellence through gener- 

 ations to come, the question would be a simple one; 

 but, unfortunately, the tendency of the beet being con- 

 stantly to go backward rather than forward, the qual- 

 ity depends upon pains taken in the selection, and, if 

 neglected, the roots would contain very little sugar and 

 be worthless for sugar extraction. Most seed growers, 

 if the yearly selections are neglected, rely more on their 

 past renown than upon their reputation that is to come. 

 There cannot be a shadow of doubt that many of the 

 existing methods for beet selection are fallacious. M. 

 Legras starts in on a new basis, which anyone without 



