BEETS 85 



Clean culture should be practiced at all 

 times no weeds. The cultivation should be 

 shallow, as the beet is a surface feeder. 

 Thinning will be necessary, in order to get 

 the best yields. Two to 2% inches between 

 plants is enough. If the beets are to be 

 grown for canning, no thinning is needed, 

 as the canneries generally want small beets. 

 There are practically no insects that bother 

 beets, although the leaf miner is troublesome 

 at times. No remedy. The leaf spot, a dis- 

 ease, probably shortens the crop somewhat, 

 but very little attention is given to it. Bor- 

 deaux 4-6-50 sprayed on several times may 

 prevent it somewhat. Scab, similar to the 

 disease of the same name on potatoes, is 

 found on beets. The best remedy is to grow 

 the crop on soil not infested with the scab 

 fungus, in other words, rotate your crops. 



Harvesting. The beets are pulled by 

 hand and topped. Topping consists of cut- 

 ting the leaves about an inch above the 

 crown, the roots being placed in crates and 

 sold at once; or they may be placed in stor- 

 age, to await a more advanced market. 

 Sometimes the beets come early enough to 

 be pulled and bunched without topping. 



