116 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
of breeding beets for seed, as that is what it amounts to. Naturally, the business of 
producing the seed begins under and is fostered by the factory management. It is 
greatly to the credit of the American manufacturers that they have thus early taken 
the initial steps. But, as has been indicated, the attendant expense, the necessity 
for special knowledge, and the extreme care necessary at every step, soon throws the 
business into the hands of specialists. 
As has been intimated, the problem presents two important phases, first to pro- 
duce seed of a very high grade, and, second, to maintain this grade against a constant 
tendency to retrogression. The solution of these questions has demanded not only 
the practical experience and skill of seed men, but all the resources of scientific in- 
vestigation. For these reasons there has grown up in the sugar-beet-producing re- 
gions of Europe a class of professional beet-seed growers. Some of these, as Dippe 
Brothers, Knauer and Schreiber, in Germany; and Vilmorin, Desprez, and Legras, in 
France, have made reputations world-wide and have amassed fortunes in the busi- 
ness. Their methods are based on strictly scientific principles. Details of procedure 
vary according as this or that feature is made more prominent. In no case do 
these, or other reputable growers, allow seed to go on the market until it has reached 
a certain standard of excellence through several years of upbreeding. 
As an example of the extreme care necessary to maintain seed at a high grade, I 
will briefly outline the ordinary practice of the Dippe Brothers, on their extensive 
beet farms at Quedlinburg, Prussia. Assuming, for the start, seed o1 the highest at- 
tainable quality. This is planted in the spring in the usual manner and the crop 
cared for in all respects as a good beet farmer would handle a crop for the factory. 
In the fall, at the time of harvest, the beets are carefully examined as to their phys- 
ical characteristics of form, color, size, shape, condition of leaves, and method of 
growth. Those coming up to a standard previously fixed upon are reserved for seed, 
while all others go to the factory. This selection usually reserves from one-sixth to 
one-eighth of the crop as mother beets for the next season. In the early spring of 
the second year, these mother beets are taken from the silo and subjected to a chemi- 
cal analysis, for the purpose of securing, for planting, only those of high sugar con- 
tent and purity. 
The analytical process, in brief, consists in taking a small sample from each indi- 
vidual beet in such a manner as to fairly represent the whole beet—this does not in 
any way injure the root for planting. The juice is then expressed from the sample 
and polarized. In this way, all of the beets reserved the previous fall are divided 
into three classes, viz: First, those that fall below a certain minimum per cent of 
sugar, say 16 per cent, these go to the feed stable; second, those that in sugar con- 
tent run retween 16 per cent and 18 per cent will be planted as seed-prodcing or 
mother beets; third, those that run above 18 per cent in sugar will be planted for 
seed to keep up the stock. 
For convenience, we will call these Classes I, II and III, and confine our atten- 
tion to Class II. When this chemical selection has finally been made, the beets in 
Class II are planted. In the autumn the seed stalks are cut, the seed thrashed out, 
cleaned, and put away for the winter. In the following spring—the third from the 
start—this seed is planted, but in a manner a little different from the ordinary, inas- 
