THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



113 



occurs only in soil deficient in plant food. Improper germination can be avoided by 

 the use of proper seed and the methods of planting already described. 



Insect pests have thus far not proved extremely destructive. The garden web- 

 worm (Eurycreon rantalis) has been perhaps the worst pest. The worm is not quite 

 an inch long, pale or dark yellow, marked with distinctly jet black spots. It feeds on 

 a great many plants, and has several natural enemies. The worm spins for itself a 

 delicate silk cocoon in the debris on the ground at the top of the beet and transforms 

 to the chrysalis stage, in which it remains from one to two weeks. The young worms 

 devour only the surface and substance of the leaf on the side where they are, leaving 

 the veins and opposite epidermis untouched, producing a skeleton leaf. Where the 

 tops are not intended to be 

 fed to stock, Mr Lawrence 

 Bruner, entomologist Ne- 

 braska station (Bulletin 16) 

 recommends spraying with 

 a solution of one pound of 

 London purple or Paris 

 green in 200 gallons of water, 

 applied with the modern 

 spraying apparatus, by 

 which the poison is dis- 

 tributed in a very fine mist. 

 The pale flea beetle 

 (Systena blanda), varying 

 from black to nearly yel- 

 lowish white, gnaws the 

 leaves full of holes upon 

 either side, causing a blis- 

 ter-like appearance, like 

 leaf spot or leaf blight. 

 Spraying with kerosene 

 emulsion drove it away and the arsenical spray effectually removed it. Other flea 

 beetles and blister beetles are sometimes destructive and if necessary can be destroyed 

 as just described. A variety of bugs and a few leaf hoppers are sometimes destructive, 

 the most practical remedy for them being to destroy their natural food plant. 



The various cutworms sometimes do much damage by eating off the small beet 

 plants in May and June, in Nebraska. All of these cutworms have parasites that usu- 

 ally keep them from breeding very rapidly, except when some unusually favorable 

 conditions of soil or climate occur. The very best remedy that has thus far been sug- 

 gested and tried against cutworms is the use of poisoned grasses, cabbage leaves, or 

 clover. This is done by taking these substances and tying them into loose bunches 

 and then sprinkling them with a solution of Paris green or London purple, say a ta- 

 blespoonful to a bucket of water. Then in the evening scatter these poisoned baits 

 over the field between the rows of beets, cabbage, etc. The worms will be attracted 



NEBRASKA SILO FOR BEETS. 



Cross section. The pile of beets Is about 4 feet wide and 3 feet high 

 covered with ~i\ inches of soil. Hefore severe weather sets in, cover with 

 six inches of straw, and then two inches of soil. V Ventilating holes, one 

 foot in diameter, every 5 feet. See Pages 105-107. 



