Production of Sugar-Beet Seed 221 
abandoned. Whether or not the single-germ beet seed 
is practical, only the future can demonstrate. There can 
be no doubt, however, about the desirability of having 
seed of this kind. 
BREEDING (PLATE XXV) 
There are two distinct phases to the sugar-beet-seed 
business: (1) the breeding of desirable strains, and 
(2) the commercial production of seed. This is true to 
an extent in every branch of plant and animal production. 
The man who is engaged in that phase of dairying which 
deals with commercial milk production may be entirely 
dependent on some breeder of dairy stock for his cows; 
likewise, the man who is breeding some new and desirable 
type of plant may not be interested in the general seed 
trade. The ordinary individual farmer probably will 
never take an important part in breeding sugar-beets; 
he may, however, engage in the commercial production 
of sugar-beet seed, using as his start “mother seed” that 
has been produced by a professional breeder. 
Chemical test of mothers. 
The breeding of sugar-beets is not so simple as that of 
most other crops, the quality of which can usually be 
determined by examination. With beets, the important 
factor, the sugar-content, can be determined only after 
making a chemical analysis. Some selection of beets 
has been made by specific gravity as determined in a 
brine solution. This method, while it indicates to a 
certain extent the amount of sugar, is so inexact that it 
