-i-O SUGAR BEET SEED. 



5 to 6 per cent, more plants, and about fifty more 

 germs per loo seeds. 



" Our mothers, or seed beets, are carefully selected 

 from special fields of beets, grown for the purpose from 

 the best imported seed. At harvest time, each beet is 

 first carefully inspected by hand with a view to having 

 all of uniform size, symmetrical in form or shape, and 

 free from disease or injury. Of the beets thus exam- 

 ined, only about 5 to 8 per cent, will pass the test and 

 are taken to the laboratories, where a small cylindrical 

 sample is taken from each one and its specific gravity 

 tested ; this gives an approximate idea of its sugar con- 

 tent. All those not reaching a certain standard are 

 discarded, or thrown away, while the few chosen ones 

 are very carefully packed away by hand in dry sand. 

 They are kept from heating or freezing during the 

 winter by a system of ventilation, and are taken out of 

 the sand in the spring, apparently as firm, fresh and 

 crisp as when laid away in the fall. 



" As planting time approaches, in the spring of 

 the year, the piles of mother beets are opened and the 

 actual and definite test of their sugar qualities is made 

 by taking out a second sample diagonally through the 

 centre of the beet and a direct polarization made of it. 

 All beets showing less than i6J per cent, of sugar 

 are rejected; those going above are planted for seed. 

 Out of all that are thus polarized, about 25 per cent, go 

 below the requirement of 16^ per cent, sugar; the 

 average of those retained for seed reaching for the 

 past season 18.7 per cent, sugar and 86 purity. 



" The preparation of the soil for the mother beets 

 is commenced in the fall, when it is plowed very deep; 

 in the spring it is replowed, but shallow this time, and 

 the surface made smooth and firm. The beets are 

 then planted by hand in rows three feet apart and at a 

 distance of three feet from beet to beet in the row, thus 

 allowing cultivation in every direction. The several 



