The Daily Missoulian. [volume] (Missoula, Mont.) 1904-1961, 1917-01-14
INDUSTRY BRNGS7 l|RE'
Extension Beet Sugar Bust.
ness Benefits Fortunate
Communities.
Continued From Page Two)

The unskillcd WORKERS.. generally
speaking. come from the factory town
or else from adjacent farms, and while
their service ends with the closing Of
the campaign. they are preferred In an
cases. providing, OF course. they are
efficient. when the next slicing season
comes round. AS an incentive to this
class Of labor, which is also well paid,
to remain at the factory until the sea
son closes. bonus of a certain sum
q day is paid them II they are on the
payroll every day Of the campaign.
Every factory town knows of this
condition and all of them ascribe to
It In a large degree the thrift and the
prosperity Of the community. This
practice has won for the company the
esteem of the residents of all the fac
tory towns. and has materially assisted
In keeping hundreds of young men on
the farms by furnishing them with a
remunerative employment after the
seasons work on the home place In
at an end. In every one of these
towns the local factory manager is
one of the leaders, and no more pub
lic-spirited set Of men exists any
where than these high class repre-
sentatives OF the largest producer Of
beet sugar on the western hemisphere.
Sold at Cost.
The most notable achievement of
the year 1916 was the successful pro-
duction of sugar beet seed on the
farms Of the Great Western Sugar
company, thus insuring the industry
absolute independence of the Euro
pean seed. upon which the American
manufacturers had been dependent
from the beginning.
When the war of the nations began.
much fear was felt that the beet sugar
industry would be compelled to go into
retirement, or, at least. to curtail Its
production so long as hostilitcs con-
tinued. For the 1915 campaign a sup
ply sufficient to plant the acreage of
two years was obtained after great diff
ficulty and the exercise of the most
diplomatic measures on the part of the
American manufacturers, assisted by
the United States ENJOYS to Germany,
which held the seed, and to Great Brit
ain, which held command of the seas.
Warning was given that no further
large expectation could be expected in
future, so the manufacturers naturally
nestle supply.
In this movement the Great West
ern Sugar company took a leading
part. and the result was that after the
two years required to produce seed,
the company had on hand $500 900
pounds of seed, or sufficient to plant
next years entire acreage in Colorado.
There Is a reserve of foreign seed and
more is being purchased l..
Seed Strong and Clean.
In every respect the home grown
seed is equal to the imported, and is
probably superior to it. At any rate.
it has the advantage of not having
been shipped across seas in the holds
of sodden ships and it's freshness is
undoubted. Tests have been made with
samples Of the Colorado products, and
it has responded CALAMITY to every
ordeal. It's terminating power is un-
disputed and, having been bred on
new and pure soil and fostered by the
most expert agriculturists in the west
it is sure to be free of any Of the dis
eases to which imported seed is likely
to be prone.
No effort was made to induce the
farmers engaged in beet culture to
breed seed this year. That will come,
and then will arise new and prof
table industry which will bring to the
state many hundreds of thousands Of
dollars.
The process of seed breeding is an
interesting one. BY nature the sugar
beet Is biennial plant-that is, it
makes the root one year, and from the
same root the next year is grown new
plant which develops the seed. Con-
sequently selected bcets are taken IN
at maturity and kept through the
winter in protected cellar or silo. In
the trade these are known as mother
beets." In the spring those which have
wintered well are set out in fields and
carefully cultivated through the Sec
ond season. In the summer instead
of diverting all it's stamina to the
propagation of tuber. the plant pro-
ddees seeds, literally by the thousand,
which are contained in minute pods
growing out Of numerous fronds like
a cluster of ferns.
When the seeds are ripe. the plants
are cut down with sickles and stacked
in the fields to cure thoroughly, and
then are threshed in a specially de-
vised machine which cracks the pods