124 SUGAR BEET SEED. 



require land well and deeply worked in the fall, as the 

 successful seed development, the second year, depends 

 largely upon the looseness of the soil which is in close 

 proximity to the roots. Autumn plowing to assure 

 action of the winter ice, snow, etc., should never be 

 neglected. It must not be forgotten that from supe- 

 rior seed on a poor soil, very inferior results are 

 obtained to those given by average seed upon 

 superior soils. Recent experiments show that seed 

 obtained from mothers testing 19.8 per cent, sugar on 

 a poor, gravelly soil as a sub-stratum, yielded beets 

 weighing only 160 grams and testing 14.6 per cent. 

 sugar. On the other hand, on a rich, swampy soil the 

 beets weighed 8.76 grams and polarized 13.6. The 

 general characteristics of these two beets were so dif- 

 ferent, no one would have supposed for one instant 

 that they had the same origin, or common parent. 



Advantage of Uniformity in Composition of Soils. 



It does not necessarily follow that because the 

 environments are not favorable now, that they cannot 

 be made so by patience and the scientific use of ferti- 

 lizers. No better example could be given of the possi- 

 ble transformation of soils by scientific treatment than 

 at Besny (Aisne), France. The writer has followed, 

 since 1889, these methods as applied on the Legras 

 beet-seed plantation, and the evolution during the past 

 25 years would hardly have been thought possible, 

 unless actually seen. Before the period when artificial 

 or mineral fertilizers were known it could not have 

 been done. 



The management of this farm, with a few patches 

 here and there demanding special attention, was once 

 far more difficult and complicated than at present, 

 when the conditions are almost of a complete uniform- 

 ity, the fertilizers having been so combined that one 

 field or another offers about the same fertility and com- 



