278 



ARID AGRICULTURE. 



LEAF-SPOT 

 OF BEETS 



CURLY TOP 

 OP BEETS 



BACTERIAL 

 DISEASE OP 

 SQUASH 



The leaf-spot comes on the outside leaves of 

 the beet and travels inward, killing one ring after 

 another, causing the center stem to grow tall. It 

 causes loss by producing poor beets. Leaf-spot 

 can be prevented by spraying with Bordeaux 

 mixture, but spraying is seldom resorted to. 



This disease has been destructive in some 

 places. Professor Ball, of Utah, finds curly top 

 is due to injury to the leaf by the punctures of 

 leaf hoppers. Anything which will kill these 

 little bugs will cure the disease. Leaf hoppers 

 suck their food and can only be killed by contact 

 poisons like kerosene emulsion, tobacco sheep 

 dip, or pyrethrum. Rotation of crops and win- 

 ter tillage of the soil would also be effective. 



In some seasons bacterial disease will destroy 

 entire fields of squash vines, more especially the 

 Hubbard squash. It attacks the plant at the 

 crown and the first notice of it is usually when 

 the whole plant suddenly wilts. The disease 

 may be spread from one plant to another by 

 squash bugs or other insects Avhich puncture the 

 plants and carry the germs from one to the other. 

 There is no known remedy for this disease ex- 

 cept to pull and destroy at once any plants 

 which go down. It may be possible to stop the 

 spread of the disease to other plants in this way. 

 Usually killing the squash bugs will prevent its 

 spread. 



