The work concerned some chemical and physiological characteristics of sugar beet seedlings grown in darkness in vermiculite moistened with water or with 4, 8, 12 p.p.m. solutions of TCA (sodium salt of trichloroacetic acid) or of Dalapon (sodium salt of 2,2-dichloropropionic acid). The chemical treatments, which were effective in improving the cold resistance of the seedling shoots, decreased their moisture content, increased their rate of water loss, and decreased their resistance to desiccation; increased the sugar and the dry matter content; and had no appreciable effect on the amount of total nitrogen or of water soluble nitrogen in the seedlings.