The Ordway new era., 1908-09-11
The Work OF Growing Beet Seed


The question is occasionally asked.
why cannot farmers raise their own
sugar beet seed just as they do pota-
toes or wheat? without directly an
swering the query brief description
OF the process OF raising beet seed
may prove interesting. 1t is almost
as much work to breed up a select
strain OF beet seed rs II Is to foster
given standard In coach horses or 9th
er pedigreed stock and 1t takes almost
as long TO do IL. As all beet growers
know, is a biennial plant and is differ
ent In its habits from radish, for
instance, In making seed.
From a radish seed planted in the
spring ripe seed may be taken the
same year while from u beet seed
planted the same way no blossoms or
seeds may be had until the next year.
In the mean time the grown beet
must be dug and carried over winter
in cellars or pits and set back into
the field the next spring like cab
bage or turnip In order To have IL
bloom and throw up seed stalks.
About ninety per cent OF all the
worlds supply ps sugar beet seed Is
grown in Germany on farms given
over solely To that industry. Many "f
these farms contain thousands Of
acres.
The seed beets are given every pos
sible care in fertilization OF the field.
planting and cultivation. From the
growing beets experts select speci'
mems conforming To certain standards
in contour. size and shape OF leaf and
body, and these are tested. each beet
separately for sugar polariz-
ing, they call it-aud the exact result
OF each test is written on label
which Is attached to that particular
beet. Those that pass satisfactory
each family separate, each with its
little tag or pedigree safely fastened
To IL. These are called the elite bcets
and are carefully stored in cellars or
pits and carried over until planting
time the next spring when they are
reset and given the very finest OF care
and cultivation.
1t is from these elite seeds that We
get the mother beets. Each elite
beet will yield about a pound and a
half Uf seed. Sometimes the supply
OF elite beets Is short for some reason.
In that case when they are reset the
beets are split into quarters, each ma
king separate seed plant. Even bud
ding is occasionally done to increase
the supply OF elite beets. taking an
eye from an elite beet and grating or
budding IL into the crown OF a COM
mon beet, carefully cutting out all
other sprouts that may start. The
seed from the elite beets is carefully
harvested, inspected, weighed, tagged
and put into bags and the bags into
fireproof vaults, each type and each
family separate. The vaults are
locked, sealed and guarded by every
known precaution against pilferlng
or tampering with by rival seed grow
erS.
The following spring this elite seed
is planted, cultivated and coddled as
before and from this seed comes the
crop Of mother beets, which In their
turn and carried over winter and plan
ted out again the next spring to
throw up seed stalks and raise the
seed Of commerce. AS soon as seed
stalks appear on the mother beets a
stout stake is driven alongside OF each
and strong wire netting thrown over
it to protect the blossoms from insects
hail or other accident that might
spoil the work OF four years time.
Thus the seed planted by our Colora-
do growers is four years from its orig
inal planting. So finely have sugar
beets been developed that is is neces-
sary to repeat the process each year,
selecting elite beets, testing and grow
ng mother beets from the resulting
seeds.