CHENOPODIACEjE 



303 



shape and size is useless. Beets with a large crown are 

 undesirable. 



Anatomical Structure and Sugar Content. — The researches 

 of a number of European investigators have shown that the 

 anatomical structure of the sugar beet is correlated with 

 sugar content. In general, beets with a high percentage of 

 sugar have a finer structure than those with a low percentage. 

 A cross or lengthwise section of a beet shows it to be made up, 

 for the most part, of a ground tissue penetrated by groups of 

 vessels. In cross-section (Fig. 120), these groups of vessels 



vascular 

 nng 



-smaW-ceWed 

 parencnxjwa 



larde-cejied 

 parencmma 



ring of growth 



Fig. 120. — Diagrammatic cross-section of sugar beet root. 



take a circular form, being separated from each other by par- 

 enchyma tissue. At the center of the beet, the bundles are 

 close together, forming the so-called "star. " The tissue that 

 separates vessels is composed of two kinds of parenchyma 

 cells: small cells surrounding the vessels, and large ones 

 farther removed. The smaller parenchyma cells are rich in 

 sugar, while the largM- ones are principally water storage cells, 

 poor in sugar. Hence, beets with a predominance of small- 

 celled parenchyma are richer in sugar than those in which 

 large water storage cells predominate. It must not be as- 



