The Delta independent., 1915-12-31

same result has been found in many
other places since that time. The COM
mercial production of sugar beet seed
is beset with many difficulties. Prob
ably the greatest of these is maintain
ing a strain of beets with high sugar
content and yield. The fact that the
sugar beet has in recent times been
bred up from plant with compare
lively low sugar content to its present
high standard makes it somewhat un-
stable and unless selection is continu-
ed deterioration occurs very rapidly.
The approved method of producing
seed requires a number of years of
selecting and testing in order to get a
strain possessing the desired qualities.
Seed is saved from tested beets of
selected strains. This is called
mother seed. This mother seed is
then planted and the beets which are
obtained are used as mother beets
two years later. Roots only are pro-
duced the first year after seed is
planted. These must be dug and stor-
ed over winter and the second year
they are reset to produce seed The
difficult part of the operation is the
securing of suitable mother seed. At
ter this is obtained the individual
The mother seed used in raising the
mothers which produce the CONNER
cial seed is obtained only at consider
able expense and after number of
years of work
The procedure usually carried out
is about as follows: The first year
a great many beets of desirable size
and shape are analyzed for sugar The
better individuals are sliced and the
second year are planted and produce
seed. The third year the seed from
each beet is planted separately and
the resulting beets are analyzed. From
this analysis it is possible to tell
which of the original beets with a high
sugar content are able to transmit to
their progeny this necessary quality.
The poor strains are discarded and
the good ones sliced to be used the
fourth year in producing the mother
seed The mother seed is then planted
the fifth year and the beets obtained
from it produce the commercial seed
the sixth year from the time the work
was begun.
1t is not safe to use all individual
beets that have high sugar content
without making a test to see if that
quality is transmitted, since it may
be due to the conditions under which
the beet grew and not to its intrinsic
high quality. 1t is not the mother beet
with high sugar content that is de-
sired. but the mother whose progeny
will be high in sugar. In testing
strains it is good thing to have stan
dard seed for comparison growing in
different part of the test field. In
getting beets from which the CONNER.
ciai seed is produced the roots are
left considerably thicker in the rows
than where regular beets are to be
raised. About eight pounds of seed
are used to the acre and the plants
are not thinned. This method is used
In order to save land and also to save
labor in handling the beets. Less
storage space is required for the
small beets than for those of full
size. Being small does not seem TO
reduce the amount of seed produced
These small beets are called stech-
linge or finglerlings.
One of the most important opera
tions in connection with seed produc-
ton is the storing over winter. or silo-
ing of the beets that are to be used
the next year in raising seed At the
Utah station quite a number of meth
ods of siloing beets have been tested
and number of these have given
good satisfaction. The important
things to be kept in mind are that
the beets must not be allowed to dry
out or to heat. There must be suffi-
cient ventilation to allow the carbon
dioxide produced by normal respira-
tion TO escape and at the same time
not enough to dry the beets. The
beets must have sufficient covering
TO prevent freezing but not enough
to cause heating.
The mother beets can be planted
considerably earlier in the spring than
the beet seed. as the old beets are not
so sensitive to frost as the young
plants starting from the seed. 1t is
probably needless to say that the land