1566 The Cornell Reading-Courses 



deeper than one inch, and one-half inch is deep enou<(h if soil conditions 

 are right. The rows should be marked out straight with a common home- 

 made marker or with stakes and line. 



Beet seed may be planted with one of the man-power planters, which will 

 regulate the depth and the replacement of the soil over the seed. These 

 planters will work efficiently only when the soil is thoroughly prepared. 

 The use of machines for planting is discussed in Planting the Home Vege- 

 table Garden, Reading-Course for the Farm, Vol. Ill, No. 58. If one of 

 these machines is not available, the seed may be planted by hand. The 

 rows should be marked out with stakes and line, and the furrows should 

 be opened with a hoe, which should be used to cover the seed and firm 

 the soil over it. If beet seed is planted by hand, it may be soaked over- 

 night in lukewarm water, thus hastening germination. 



When the plants are from three to five inches tall, they should be thinned 

 so that there are from four to six plants to every foot of row. The leaves 

 of these young plants make very good greens. As a rule, each so-called 

 seed contains more than one real seed, and this fact may account for an 

 over-thick stand of beets. 



Cultivation. — Beets should be given frequent but shallow cultivation, 

 for they are surface feeders. The soil should be kept free of weeds, and 

 moisture should be conserved by preventing the fomiation of a soil crust. 

 If beets are cultivated by horse power, the best tools to use are those with 

 small teeth, such as the twelve-point cultivators; and if they are culti- 

 vated by hand, any of the several good man-power cultivators ma}^ be 

 used. With the latter tools it is possible to cultivate very close to the 

 rows, thus eliminating to a very large extent the tedious work of hand 

 weeding. The hoe should be used two or three times during the season 

 in addition to the cultivator, in order that all weeds in the rows may be 

 destroyed. 



Insect pests and methods of control. — The beet leaf-miner sometimes 

 causes great loss by destroying the leaves. The best method of control 

 is to cut out and destroy the leaves containing miners. Another method 

 is to eradicate pigweed, for it furnishes a breeding place for the leaf miner. 

 Cutworms occasionally do considerable damage to beets, but they may 

 be controlled by placing poison bait, consisting of bran, molasses, and some 

 arsenical poison, along the rows of beets. 



Diseases and their remedies. — Scab, similar to potato scab, is sometimes 

 prevalent on beets. The most satisfactory remedies are rotation of crops 

 and planting beets in acid soils. 



Harvesting. — The following method is used in harvesting beets. They 

 are pulled from the ground, and the tops are twisted or cut off an inch 

 or so from the crowns. It is important that a small part of the leaf stems 



