HOME-GKOWX BEET SEED. 231 



those who have the beet-seed cultivation specialty 

 in view. 



Saxony Methods for Field Testing of Beet Seed. 



The main object is to study the different varieties 

 of seeds from local and foreign sources, and to deter- 

 mine the most desirable soil and fertilizer for each case, 

 allowance being made for any climatic influence that 

 might be contended with during the progress of the 

 experiment. It must be understood that such experi- 

 ments are not necessarily conducted at the experiment 

 station; but on various farms at considerable distances 

 from one another. The selection of seed is made by 

 an official, sent to the seed grower's farm; that the 

 sample may be an average one in each case, it is taken 

 from a volume of seeds weighing i^ tons. The sam- 

 ples are sealed in sacks by the expert and forwarded 

 to the agronomic laboratory, where germinating tests 

 are made, after which they are distributed among farm- 

 ers, who oflfer their services for such experiments. 

 Under all circumstances, the tiller must have no spe- 

 cial seed of his own, nor in any way be informed of the 

 origin of the seed he is to plant. 



The area of land devoted in each case to such 

 experiments is about one-half an acre. When the har- 

 vesting season comes, the beets to be tested are 

 marked, counting the hundredth beet from the first 

 row, then the second hundredth, etc. As in the parcel 

 there are about 23,000 individual roots, this gives 230 

 roots for laboratory observation. These are classified 

 according to size, shape, etc., and then arranged in 

 series; every other one is taken, so that there remain 

 115 roots leaving the farm, to be shipped in special 

 bags to the agricultural station, where the number is 

 again reduced by one-half. The laboratory experiments 

 give the percentage of sugar in the beet and juice, 

 the dry extract of the juice, purity coefficient and sub- 



