﻿— 
  St 
  — 
  

  

  growing 
  blade 
  may 
  greatly 
  enlarge 
  as 
  the 
  plant 
  expands, 
  becoming 
  

   longest 
  in 
  the 
  direction 
  of 
  the 
  most 
  rapid 
  growth. 
  Certain 
  maggots 
  of 
  

   flies 
  (the 
  leaf-miners) 
  eat 
  out 
  the 
  interior 
  substance 
  of 
  the 
  leaf 
  in 
  patches, 
  

   leaving 
  the 
  cuticle 
  unbroken. 
  

  

  EXAMPLES 
  OF 
  INSECT 
  INJURY 
  TO 
  THE 
  BEET. 
  

  

  The 
  first 
  injury 
  to 
  the 
  beet 
  reported 
  in 
  America 
  was 
  a 
  mining 
  of 
  

   the 
  leaves 
  by 
  the 
  maggots 
  of 
  certain 
  flies 
  in 
  a 
  New 
  York 
  vegetable 
  

   garden, 
  an 
  injury 
  sufficient 
  to 
  prevent 
  the 
  use 
  of 
  the 
  leaves 
  for 
  "greens." 
  

   Later, 
  serious 
  and 
  extensive 
  damage 
  was 
  done 
  by 
  these 
  leaf-miners 
  to 
  

   fields 
  of 
  sugar 
  beets 
  in 
  California. 
  The 
  leaf 
  is 
  penetrated 
  by 
  the 
  

   insects, 
  and 
  the 
  tissue 
  is 
  eaten 
  out 
  between 
  the 
  upper 
  and 
  lower 
  layers 
  

   of 
  the 
  cuticle, 
  colorless 
  blister-like 
  spots 
  being 
  thus 
  produced. 
  

  

  Perhaps 
  the 
  most 
  destructive 
  of 
  the 
  beet 
  insects 
  in 
  the 
  West 
  are 
  the 
  

   garden 
  web-worms 
  {Loxosiege 
  simiialis 
  and 
  L. 
  siiciicalis). 
  The 
  latter 
  

   was 
  in 
  1892 
  the 
  chief 
  depredator 
  in 
  the 
  beet 
  fields 
  of 
  Grand 
  Island, 
  

   Platte 
  Center, 
  and 
  several 
  other 
  Nebraska 
  localities, 
  where 
  many 
  of 
  the 
  

   plants 
  were 
  entirely 
  defoliated. 
  

  

  The 
  garden 
  Mamestra 
  {Mamestra 
  trifolii), 
  a 
  caterpillar 
  allied 
  to 
  

   the 
  zebra-caterpillar 
  of 
  the 
  cabbage, 
  has 
  been 
  reported 
  by 
  Professor 
  

   Lawrence 
  Bruner, 
  of 
  Nebraska, 
  to 
  be 
  quite 
  common 
  in 
  his 
  state, 
  and 
  is 
  

   sometimes 
  considerably 
  injurious 
  to 
  the 
  beet. 
  

  

  Cutworms 
  have 
  been 
  noticed 
  wherever 
  beets 
  are 
  raised. 
  Bruner 
  

   reports 
  them 
  in 
  189 
  1 
  as 
  occasionally 
  quite 
  destructive 
  to 
  the 
  plant 
  while 
  

   it 
  is 
  small, 
  continuing 
  their 
  injury 
  more 
  or 
  less 
  throughout 
  the 
  summer. 
  

   They 
  commonly 
  cut 
  off 
  the 
  leaf 
  at 
  or 
  a 
  little 
  below 
  the 
  surface 
  of 
  the 
  

   ground, 
  but 
  some 
  of 
  them 
  merely 
  feed 
  upon 
  the 
  blades. 
  In 
  1892 
  they 
  

   almost 
  entirely 
  destroyed 
  sugar 
  beets 
  growing 
  upon 
  two 
  Experiment 
  

   Station 
  plats 
  at 
  Lincoln, 
  Neb., 
  on 
  one 
  of 
  which 
  only 
  about 
  twenty 
  per 
  

   cent, 
  of 
  a 
  stand 
  was 
  obtained. 
  It 
  was 
  noticed 
  here 
  that 
  little 
  injury 
  

   was 
  done 
  on 
  land 
  plowed 
  the 
  preceding 
  fall 
  and 
  a 
  second 
  time 
  in 
  spring. 
  

   Osborn 
  noticed 
  cutworms 
  in 
  Iowa 
  doing 
  serious 
  injury 
  to 
  young 
  beets 
  

   in 
  1891. 
  

  

  The 
  army-worm 
  (^Leucania 
  unipuncta) 
  has 
  occasionally 
  attacked 
  

   the 
  beet, 
  with 
  other 
  vegetation; 
  and 
  grasshoppers 
  are 
  frequently 
  respon- 
  

   sible 
  for 
  a 
  considerable 
  injury 
  in 
  the 
  latter 
  half 
  of 
  the 
  season. 
  They 
  

   are 
  not 
  especially 
  fond 
  of 
  this 
  plant, 
  however, 
  and 
  rarely 
  injure 
  it 
  

   seriously 
  except 
  when- 
  their 
  numbers 
  are 
  excessive. 
  The 
  caterpillar 
  

   known 
  in 
  the 
  West 
  as 
  the 
  army-cutworm 
  {^Chorizagrotis 
  agrestis) 
  de- 
  

   stroyed 
  beets, 
  with 
  many 
  other 
  plants, 
  in 
  Montana 
  in 
  1897, 
  traveling 
  by 
  

   night 
  like 
  the 
  eastern 
  army-worm, 
  and 
  collecting 
  in 
  masses 
  in 
  irrigation 
  

   ditches 
  to 
  a 
  depth 
  of 
  six 
  to 
  twelve 
  inches. 
  The 
  western 
  Laphygma 
  or 
  

   beet 
  army-worm 
  {^Laphygma 
  flavimaculata), 
  related 
  to 
  the 
  grass-worm 
  

   of 
  the 
  East, 
  almost 
  completely 
  defoliated 
  hundreds 
  of 
  acres 
  of 
  beets 
  in 
  

  

  