the ground to rot and disappear. 
throw them on to the manure 
unsatisfactory, as the mycelium 
grow, and being spread far and 
only safe method of dealing v 
bury it without delay. 
siderably reduced nwin- to the destruction of (lie leaves, whereby 
the root is arrested in its growth, and the amount of sugar 
considerably lessened. 
The three stages in the life-cycle of the fungus are all produced 
on the same plant. The aecidium or "cluster-cup" condition 
appears in spring on the leaves and leaf-stalks under the form of 
minute cavities or cups with white torn margins, which are usually 
ai-ranged in groups on a pale spot. The cups when mature are 
filled with yellow spores. Other minute bodies called spermo- 
gonia, whose use is unknown, precede or accompany the 
aecidia. 
The aecidiospores, scattered by wind, rain, or the movements 
of animals, are deposited on other leaves of the host, where they 
germinate, enter the tissue, and in a short time give origin to 
numerous minute warts that burst when mature, and liberate 
little heaps of brown uredospores, which are often so abundant 
as to give to 'the surface of the leaf the appearance of having been 
sprinkled with snuff. 
It is this uredospore stage that does the damage to the crop. 
The uredospores are produced in immense numbers, and are 
capable of germination at once, are dispersed wholesale, and infect 
the crop with great rapidity when conditions are favourable, the 
requirements being moisture on the surface of the leaves and 
some means of spore dispersion. 
Later in the season the teleutospores, representing the third 
form of spore produced by the fungus, are formed in small 
clusters on the leaf -stalks, or sometimes along with the uredo- 
spores. The teleutospores remain in an unchanged condition 
until the following spring, when they germinate and infect the 
leaves of young beet plants, giving origin to the aecidium stage of 
the fungus. 
Preventive measures. — Removing the leaves bearing aecidia or 
' cluster-cups " is effective, as the aecidiospores give origin to the 
nredo stage, which, as he condition that does 
the real damage to the crops. Where hand picking is out of the 
question, on account of the large quantity grown, spraying on the 
first appearance of the disease wi1 mixture or 
with a solution of potassium sulphide will check the spread of 
