1 
THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY. 117 
much as the rows are closer together and the beets are thinned to a distance of from 
three to four inches, the object being to produce a very small and rich beet. The 
usual summer care is given, and in the autumn these very small beets are harvested; 
another selection on the basis of their physical characteristics is made, and those re- 
tained are carefully stored for the winter. In the spring of the fourth year these 
small and very rich beets are planted for seed production. According to this method, 
seed to be offered for sale comes on the market in time to be planted during the fifth 
year after the first steps in its production were taken. This plan, or one similar, is 
adopted by all successful seed-growing specialists in the oldcountry. Of course, aft- 
er the first lot is ready for market, each succeeding season furnishes a crop. The 
only long delay comes in SSSSES 
starting. 4 
The questions of ex- 
penses and profits can hard- 
ly be touched upon in this 
paper. During the four 
apparently unproductive 
years, while he is maturing 
his first crop of seed, the 
seed grower is marketing at 
the factory six-sevenths of 
his beet crop. With the 
harvest of the first crop of 
seed, and thereafter, he will 
have to sell both a crop of 
beets and a seed crop. 
Attempts to reduce such CROSS SECTION WISCONSIN SILO. 
See Page 115 for general view of these silos. The pile of beets is about 
propositions to a basis of  ¢ feet wide and 244 to 3 feet high, covered with 18 inches of soll, with a (V) 
figures are. al ways hazard ventilating tile every 6 feet that can be closed after the beets have sweated. 
ous. The main features, in this case, are clear enough that I will venture on some 
approximations as to the amount of land required and the current operations and 
Pp 
expenses during the four years that the first crop is being prepared for market. 
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= Z, jie om oe R 
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Assuming that 80 tons of seed are needed to supply the present demand in this 
state, and that we are to attempt to supply this with a well-bred native seed, I will 
follow, in the main, the plan of the German seed growers. We will start the first 
year with ten acres planted with the best seed attainable. Assuming an average 
yield of ten tons per acre, we will harvest 100 tons of beets. Making our selection for 
mother beets will remove from sale about one-seventh, or some fourteen tons. We 
will have for market, then, 86 tons of beets. 
The second year will see the first year’s operations repeated in every detail. In 
addition, we have to make the chemical selection of mother beets for planting, from 
the 14 tons reserved the previous autumn, and the planting and caring for, say, one 
acre of seed beets. Assuming now 28,000 beets to be analyzed and selected; two 
chemists, with proper appliances and assistants, can make 4000 tests per day. or this 
selecting can be made in seven days at acost not to exceed $500, including everything 
