iN'Bw York Agricultural Experiment Station. 155 



leaves. In the petioles of tlie dead leaves the fibro-vascular Tduii- 

 dles were not blackened except, perhaps, for a short distance below 

 the blackened blade. In the majority of cases the roots appeared 

 normal, but the plants most severely attacked often showed a brown 

 discoloration of the root. This discoloration extended from the 

 outside toward the center for a distance of from one-fourth to one- 

 half an inch. The discolored tissue showed no indication of rot 

 and was separated from the healthy tissue by an indefinite and 

 somewhat irregular line. (See Plate YIII,) The fibro-vascular 

 bundles colored somewhat more deeply than the parenchyma, giv- 

 ing a zonate appearance to the affected tissue. The location of 

 the affected tissue could generally be determined before the root 

 was cut open, by the darker color and pronounced elevation of the 

 bark. (See Plates IV and V.) In some cases when an affected 

 root was cut cross-wise just below the crown the fibro-vascular 

 bundles were found to be much blackened, but this character was 

 by no means a constant one. 



For a time the writer was puzzled to account for this condition 

 of the beets. The first hint of the tnie nature of the trouble was 

 obtained from observations made on a field of beets owned by Mr. 

 Clark Crozier, near Halls. This field was level and the soil a 

 sandy loam, with the exception of a small knoll which rose abruptly 

 near the center of the field and consisted of very light, sandy soil. 

 The beets on this sandy knoll were diseased, while those on all 

 the rest of the field were in perfect health. Thds indicated that 

 lack of water was the cause of the trouble. A severe drought was 

 prevailing at the time and naturally the plants first affected would 

 be those standing in dry, sandy soil. Further observations showed 

 that the beet blight occurred chiefly upon light, sandy soil ; but a 

 field near Stanley furnished an exception to the rule. This field, 

 which contained about eight acres, consisted principally of sandy 

 loam, which might be expected to resist drought better than many 

 other fields in the vicinity. As a matter of fact, it was consid- 

 erably blighted, not uniformly, but over irregular areas, although 



