74 SUGAR BEET SEED. 



percentage varying from 11.98 to 14.3; average 13.4; 

 beets with tips of lower density also gave 13 per cent, 

 sugar. The fallacy of the method was also demon- 

 strated by Marek, who tested tips from beets contain- 

 ing 9 to 15 per cent, sugar and they all floated. Not- 

 withstanding this fact, Dippe Brothers, the well-known 

 seed producers of Germany, adopted the tip-end 

 method as a basis of their selection. The end was 

 broken ofif and immersed in a saline bath of 6|° Ee. If 

 it floated, the beet would be thrown out; if it sank, it 

 would be placed in a second bath, 7^° Be; if sinking 

 again, a third bath would be used, etc. A fact appar- 

 ently overlooked by them, is, that during the period 

 that beets remain siloed, the tip end is frequently the 

 first to undergo organic changes. Consequently, if 

 the end is not examined, either by polariscope or in the 

 series of baths just mentioned, at once after harvesting, 

 it will be found that its sugar percentage will be very 

 much too low to be a safe guide. 



In conclusion to what has been said in the fore- 

 going, there appears to exist a relation between the 

 juice of the beets sinking and those which floated, the 

 former being the heavier. Or, more clearly speaking, 

 just as Mehay and Scheibler say, there must be a pro- 

 portion between roots and their juices, and investiga- 

 tions in this direction showed that it is desirable to 

 take the density of the juice rather than that of the 

 beet, the latter method, however, being more rapid. 

 From 1872 to 1874, the selection of mothers attracted 

 special attention and many factories all over Europe 

 bad special laboratories for seed production. How- 

 ever, twenty years before this, Vilmorin had already^ 

 used the juice as a basis of selection. 



3d. Density of the Juice in the Beet. — The core 

 was reduced to a pulp and gave about 7 to 10 c. c. 

 juice. A complete apparatus was used. This method 

 was in vogue for some time and is now interesting from 

 an historical standpoint. 



