302 



BOTANY OF CROP PLANTS 



Shape and Structure of Beet (Tap Root and Hypocotyl) 



— Beet Shape and Size, and Sugar Content. — There is great 

 variation in the shape and size of sugar beets. Some im- 

 portance has been attached to the correlation between sugar 

 content and beet shape and size. This relation, however, is 







Pig. 119. — Sugar beet plant in full fruit. 



of httle significance. Pritchard has recently shown that 

 differences in the size and sugar content of individual beet 

 roots are fluctuation's, and show no evidence of inheritance. 

 It is true that uniformity of type is desirable, but any attempt 

 to judge of the sugar content of an individual beet by the 



