| OCR Text |
Show BEE! SEED THRIVES. HERE Results of Two Years' Experiments Ex-periments Indicate That Vicinity of St. George Is Adapted to This Industry After two years of quiet investigation in-vestigation and experiments in the St. George district, Di. F. . Owens, of the bureau of plant industry, United States department depart-ment of agriculture, has developed devel-oped a sugar beef seed that is d sease-resistant and which will thrITe in this locality. Several test seed plots have been grown here under the supervision of Dr Owens, and his experiments have now reached the point of success that he has recommended recom-mended to the sugar companies that the vicinity of St. George VV be able to produce all the seed needed in Utah and Idaho. There is little doubt, according accord-ing to Dr. Owens, that this will he an important industry for this cection. There is a ready market at a set price for all the seed that can be produced. At the present time most of the seed used in this country is imported from Germany, as there are only i,- fha TTnitpd States a lew piauca i" where it is successfully grown. The climate must not be of too high or too low winter temperature tem-perature to grow sugar beet seed under the new method. This means planting the seed in the the early fall, along the latter lat-ter part of September, and harvesting har-vesting the crop the following June. Under the old method it was necessary to dig the beets, store them over the winter, replant re-plant again in the spring and harvest the seed the following fall. Climatic conditions and soil here, according to Dt. Owens, are ideal. A field representative of the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company was here this week contracting for acreage for growing seed. Six acres have been signed. John Schmutz will grow three acres-, George Seegmiller two acres and Herman Tegan, of Washington, one acre. Others will probably put in seed this fall. The sugar company makes a flat guarantee of not less than $75 for seed from each acre of land planted. But some idea of what this may mean to this section may be had from the fact that farmers in the vicinity of Las Cruces, N. M., a sugar beet seed producing section, make as high as $200 and more an acre, and it is possible that this figure may be reached here. |
