TIME FOR TESTING MOTHER BEETS 1 
By Dean A. Pack 
Plant Breeder, Sugar-Plant Investigations , Bureau of Plant Industry , United States De 
partment of Agriculture , Salt Lake City, Utah 
In the investigations carried on during the past three years at Salt 
Lake City Station, great irregularity has been noted in the quantity of 
sugar lost by individual sugar beets during storage. Sugar beets stored 
under ordinary silo conditions for three months lose from a few tenths 
of i per cent to 8 per cent of sugar. This means that of two beets each 
containing 16 per cent sugar at harvest one might, after storage test 15.8 
and the other 10 per cent sugar. One may also find beets (a) of 20 and 
(b) of 17 per cent sugar at harvest time, showing spring tests (after 
storage) of 12 and 16 per cent sugar, respectively. This irregularity in 
the percentage and quantity of sugar lost by individual beets during silo 
storage is also to be found in beets stored under controlled moisture and 
temperature conditions. Yet the State experiment stations and the 
sugar beet companies which are developing their own seed, following 
the common practice, are at the present time still testing their sugar 
beets in the spring after these beets have been stored over winter. In 
view of these facts the question of the proper time for mother-beet test¬ 
ing forces itself upon us for immediate consideration. 
HISTORICAL 
Friedl 2 in 1912 tested 340 beets before and after storage. These beets 
lost from 1 to 10 per cent of sugar during storage. He also worked in 
connection with several sugar factories on the loss of sugar by commer¬ 
cial beets during storage. From his studies he concluded that there was 
a heavy loss of sugar in beets during storage. 
METHODS 
This paper deals only with beets which were stored as usual in an 
ordinary silo. The beets were harvested during October, 1922, tested, 
weighed, and placed in storage during November, 1922. After 98 days in 
storage the same beets were weighed and tested as before. A special 
machine made at this station which permits the same beet to be sampled 
several times without injury was used. All beets tested by this machine 
came through the storage period in perfect condition. No rot or decay 
was found, and every beet that had been tested in the fall was again tested 
in the spring. The exceptionally good condition of these beets was due 
to the improved methods of sampling and storing employed. 
A number of beets were sampled two or three times each, and the 
sampling method was found satisfactory from a chemical standpoint. 
The samples taken from beets after storage were sufficiently separated 
from the cuts made before storage to insure against oxidation and other 
1 Accepted for publication Aug. 24, 1923. 
2 Friedl, Gustave, ein beitrag zur frage dEr veranderung der zuckErrube wahrend der 
aufbewahrung. In ftsterr. Ungar. Ztschr. Zuckerindus. u. Landw., Jahrg. 41, p. 698-712. 1912. 
Journal of Agricultural Research, 
Washington, D. C. 
agy 
(12s) 
Vol. XXVI, No. 3 
Oct. 20, 1923 
Key No. G—331 
