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Proceedings of Indiana Academy of Science 



rows was in progress at this time. The growers reported that a con- 

 siderable loss of plants from damping-off occurs every year, ordinarily 

 early enough so that by the time of blocking, all affected plants will 

 have disappeared. The peculiar weather of this season, however, pro- 

 duced an excessive amount of the trouble at a much later date than 

 usual so that the affected plants had not yet died at the time of blocking. 

 As a result, it was impossible to detect which plants were healthy and 

 which diseased at the time of blocking the rows and consequently a high 

 percentage of the plants which were left proved to be diseased and later 

 died. The outstanding .symptom was a blackening of the cortex of part 

 or all of the root, lack of lateral roots, and a constriction near the 

 ground line. It was evident that many affected plants would recover. 

 Cultural and incubation tests with a number of these diseased seedlings 



FiK. 1. .\ serious suprai- beet disease, apparently mosaic in character. 



yielded a vaiiety of o)-ganisms. It seemed evident that the trouble was 

 primarily climatic and edaphic in origin. 



On August 4, a number of beet fields were visited in Adams County 

 and in all fields about two to five per cent of the plants were affected 

 with a very peculiar disease apparently of a mosaic nature. The same 

 trouble was al.so found by Kendrick in several fields in Grant County 

 on September 17 and is evidently of considerable economic importance. 

 Several types of symptoms were noted. Older leaves were in some 

 cases yellowish, thickened, and strap-shaped, and many were dying pre- 

 maturely. The younger leaves were tightly rolled backwards longi- 

 tudinally (fig. 4), often more on one side than the other so as to be 

 curved, were finely crinkled, and frequently .showed in transmitted light 

 a network of etiolated veins. This is evidently the same disease de- 

 scribed and illustrated by Cunningham (8) in 1899. In some re.spects 

 the disease resembles curly-top but lacks certain essential symptoms. 



