2 J 
Current Investigations in Economic Botany. 
More important still is the biennial character of the plant, 
which allows roots to be selected at the end of their first year, 
and seed to he obtained from the same individuals in the second 
year for the third year’s crop. This will, perhaps, he better 
appreciated if we sketch roughly the mode of cultivation and 
selection practised. 
Beet “ balls ” each containing several seeds are sown, and 
the resulting seedlings thinned out. They grow during the 
summer, and the crop is dug before the approach of frost. The 
leafy “ tops ” are cut off', and the roots used at once for sugar 
manufacture, or stored (1) for extraction of sugar in the spring or 
(2) for seed purposes. 
In the latter case, roots are selected according to (1) weight, 
those of about 20 to 24 oz. being preferred, (2) shape—the best, 
being regular and smooth, and (3) general appearance. The 
selected roots are kept in a silo. In the following spring they are 
gone over, and a further selection made for (4) keeping qualities, 
those which have not proved good keepers being rejected. The 
final selections for (5) sugar contents and (6) co-efficient of purity 
are now made. 
The old method was to take the specific gravity of the whole 
root. Each was cleaned externally and immersed in brine of a 
definite strength. The heavy or “ good ” roots sank, whilst the 
light roots floated and were rejected. This method was crude, 
not very reliable, and moreover gave no clue to the important 
co-efficient of purity. 
A better method is to remove, with proper precautions, a 
small cylindrical piece, weighing about half an ounce, of the root. 
The juice from this piece is expressed, its specific gravity accurately 
determined, and its sucrose contents estimated by a polariscope 
reading. From the figures so obtained, the percentage of sugar 
present, and the co-efficient of purity are known. In one particular 
experiment out of 5,091 roots selected for external characters and 
afterwards tested for sugar contents, 57 had more than 18 per cent, 
of sucrose, 1,758 between 15 and 18 per cent., and 3,276 between 
12 and 15 per cent. The roots so tested are not injured. They 
can be planted in the spring of the second year, and will bear a 
crop of seed in the autumn of the same year. 
The name of Vilmorin is always associated with the improve¬ 
ment of the sugar beet, and as an example of his results achieved 
by careful selection, we may instance those recorded in the 
