22 Current Investigations in Economic Botany. 
Comptes Rendus for 1856. Within the period of three generations 
only, the selected roots yielded juice of a mean specific gravity of 
1-075, and a maximum of 1-087. These figures correspond to 
sugar contents of 16 and 21 per cent, whereas in the stock 
plants the mean specific gravity was 1-042 and the maximum 1-066, 
indicative of a range of sugar contents from 8 to 12 per cent only. 
In Germany the greatest importance is attached to proper 
seed selection, because it is realized by practical men that on 
this the percentage of sugar obtained from the resulting crop 
largely depends. The system of organization adopted by the large 
factories allows them to control and supervise the work, and to 
ensure having their crops grown only from seed chosen, with every 
care, in respect to their own particular requirements. The roots 
too when purchased by the factories are valued according to a 
sliding scale based on their sucrose contents. 
Increase in sugar contents results in a great saving of labour 
and in other ways reduces cost of production. Thus in 1880-81 
to make one ton of sugar in Germany required 11-37 tons of roots. 
By 1899-1900 the percentage of sugar had been so augmented that 
7-37 tons of roots yielded the same quantity of sugar, a reduction 
of about 40 per cent, in the weight of material to be dug, topped, 
transported, washed, sliced, extracted, and dealt with in other ways. 
Although the sugar beet has proved itself more adapted to 
rapid improvement than the sugar-cane, the preparation of good 
sugar from the beet was not so easy as in the case of its 
commercial rival. These difficulties have, however, been overcome, 
and the net result of the joint work of botanist, chemist, and 
engineer has been that Europe, from being the least important of 
the continents as regards sugar production, now occupies the 
foremost place. Europe now produces more of the sugar which 
enters the commercial market of the world than all the rest of 
the world put together. 
Influence of Environment. 
In the United States of America efforts have been directed by 
the Department of Agriculture, to determining the influence of the 
environment upon the composition of the sugar beet. This work 
has been carried out by the Bureaus of Chemistry, Meteorology, 
and Botany, and the Experiment Stations in the various States, 
and is a good example of the co-operation which the organization 
of the United States Department of Agriculture renders possible. 
