214 The Sugar-Beet in America 
bushels. All the crop that is produced will serve the 
purpose for which it is raised. With beets, on the other 
hand, unless sufficient sugar is present to permit extrac- 
tion at a profit, the crop is practically valueless for sugar- 
making. 
The farmer and the sugar manufacturer are both in- 
terested in seed, for unless the factory can be made to 
pay, the business will have to be discontinued and the 
farmer will not have a market for his crop. The interests 
of the sugar factory have been so great that it has taken 
charge of the seed situation and has assumed the responsi- 
bility of furnishing seed to farmers contracting to raise 
beets. The factory could better afford to give the farmers 
free seed that would produce good beets than to allow 
them to plant inferior seed, for the cost of seed is negli- 
gible in comparison to other costs. If two grades of seed 
were obtainable, one that would produce beets having 
14 per cent sugar and the other beets with 16 per cent 
with equal yield, it would pay the sugar company to take 
the better seed if it sold for a dollar a pound and the 
poorer seed could be secured for nothing. This shows 
how absolutely necessary it is to have nothing but the best 
seed. 
HIGH GERMINATION 
From the farmer’s point of view, seed that is high in 
germinating power is essential. The yield of beets to 
the acre is directly dependent on the rate of germination 
of the seed. With some other crops, such as wheat, if 
the stand is poor, this condition can be overcome in part 
by the plants stooling and producing many heads from a 
