Show UNITED STATES department DEP OF agriculture BUREAU OF 01 PLANT INDUSTRY sugar beet investigations washington D C garland utah sept 30 1908 mr J A A widow editor edit r gailand globe gailand utah dear sir the curiosity excited eci e ted and the interest the operations 0 ns of aroused by 01 station the government Goern ment experimental expert offer me to prompts at garland of 0 the columns sketch tor lor shot choit L a lin some of the more on paper your cabied work being loor tant lines of 01 en cn here it may be well wall in the first place the under station is to state stale that this in townsend direction of dr C 0 charges charge of sugar beet I 1 investigations bureau of 0 plant industry department of A aas 1 agton D z is cabied cart led on by here C the work v rk the writer this station is kept up chiefly for investigations and not for sugar beet research agricultural in all line aln s of 0 agriculture there them ol of so wide a 1 scope or problems are having or entailing 0 so o great expense national rather than local inter a ond the L reach ot of any mt as to be be beyond such experiment tation station s one cne state as these are fitly undertaken problems lents government by tia the national of the wide among these on account 0 culture area involved sugar beet and investigations take an important place amon among other problems under investigation at this station perhaps vesti gation general that which has created create most interest Is the development develop ment of the this Is by beet seed tingle single gerni germ meant a seed ball that shall contain but ono seed or beim it is well known that the ordinary mol herbeet produces secil balls containing any number of seeds from one to seven both one six and see seen n serm gerni seed tails are normal mother be beets ets produce some single germ gerin seed balls generally at the forks where branches issue from the main seed stems we e aie ae attempting by selecting and sowing sow ing these single sin gle germ gerin seeds from the average mother beet to produce a beet that shall have a slight tent tency leney towards a greater number seeds aiom those mother of gf single germ gerin beets exhibiting the most tendency in that direction the singles are again selected and so sown wil it is now mow the practice to trim off all flow tr rr buds that thai would produce multiple germ seed balls leaving only the sin gle germ flower buds on oil the stems steins each stem is then isolated by covering it with a pollen proof bag so that the pollen from multiple germ flow lowers shall not fertilize the singles in this way the greater part biart of we tile plant activity is directed to the production of these single beim seeds with the result that they become much larger and more VigO vigorous TOUS than 4 hta ap 0 they are compelled to fertilize t themselves or one another it is to be understood that these processes of selection and breeding are necessarily slow the entire teed bearing habits of a plant cannot act be changed speedily A considerable number of 0 years may elapse before the desired end is attained and the single germ habit fixed how ever marked progress has already teen been made and we now have here and there plants bearing five to six thousand single germ gerin seeds many such seeds being found along the seed stems instead of as formerly at it the forks only the principal object of all this of course is to eliminate to a large degree the costly and laborious operation ot of thinning the beets should single bingle germ seed be obtained it would be no very difficult problem to devise methods of sowing single seeds at any desired intervals in the rows another important work being carried on hero here and at other similar stations in various parts of the hie beet growing sections of oc the united states is that thai of testing varieties ot of beet teed iced whether imported or domestic to learn their fitness tor for any given locality it lias has been noted hat certain strains of beets do better belter in one locality than another this can only be learned by testing many varieties at numerous stations and comparing results in this his way many strains ot of seed are being tested at thlu station in order to preserve any given givan strain unmixed it is necessary to pro etc iteck ct its lowers flowers front from the pollen 0 of any other variety otherwise cros bes would take place this crossin crossing 9 is prevented by co cohering Nering ering each selected plant ot of illy any variety with a large bag that is impervious to pollen grains and ill insects just before the flowers open the bag is allowed to remain until the seed has set I 1 it t Is if then ihen assured that all the seed front from that plant was self pollinated pollina ted the bag is removed to permit free growth after the teed seed has hag set experiments are arc carried on oil looking to the increase of sugar in the beet as well as an increase iacre ISO in the tonna tonnage gc studies are made of the diseases to which the beet is I 1 3 subject to ascertain their cause that being determined ter mined remedies or preventive measures are arc sought observations are now being taken Ws us intimated in my letter of 6 to secure melcor logical data to assist in determining 1 leter minin the factors that go FO to pi produce aduce the best conditions tor for tugar beet glowing other experiments are can led on irom time to time thile as occasion may demand but the foregoing aie among the mole moio important the witter r desires to invite beet CT in this vicinity to report to hini personally or by letter leller the presence of any disease or abnormal orinal condition among beets and will be glad to consider any such report and endeavor to advise remedial measures it if known or loo look for them it if not known ovIl remember that our work I 1 is the beet growers work and for his benefit very truly sours ours HARRY B SHAW scientific assistant garland glob |