United States Beet-sugar Industry. 



523 



but the improvement is, in both cases, completed by selection. 

 The larger the number of plants selected or of crosses effected, 

 the greater are the chances of a really valuable new variety 

 being found, and for this reason it is desirable to work with 

 large numbers, though, of course, one may be fortunate in 

 producing a valuable variety even when the work is being 

 carried on on a very small scale. 



In sowing pedigree seeds the soil should, as a rule, be of 

 good quality, so that the resulting plants may have the oppor- 

 tunity to produce the maximum yield. But it is of even 

 greater importance to arrange matters so that each individual 

 plant is placed in possession of precisely the same conditions 

 of growth. Only in this way can we be sure that the 

 appearance of superior qualities in the progeny is due to 

 something inherent in the plant itself, and not to the specially 

 favourable character of the situation where it has been grown* 



Farmers have generally given more attention to the breed- 

 ing of animals than of plants, but just because less has been 

 done in the latter field, more, probably, remains to be accom- 

 plished. It is surprising how quickly a single plant multi- 

 plies if the conditions be made as favourable as possible. 

 The late Mr. Shirreff gives an instance from his own ex- 

 perience. In the spring of 18 19 he found a specially vigorous 

 wmeat plant in a field on his farm in East Lothian, and he 

 resolved to propagate it. He therefore removed the plants in 

 its neighbourhood and gave it a dressing of manure, the result 

 being that, notwithstanding some damage by hares, he har- 

 vested from this single plant 63 ears, containing 2,473 grains. 

 In the following autumn these grains were dibbled in w T ide 

 rows in a suitable piece of ground, and in the two succeeding 

 seasons the produce was sown broadcast. The result was that 

 the fourth harvest from the original plant yielded 42 quarters 

 of seed, which was subsequently placed on the market under 

 the name of Mungoswells wheat. 



United States Beet-Sugar Industry. 

 The growth of the beet-sugar industry in the United 

 States during the past ten years is illustrated by the follow- 



