BEETS. 



Ill 



tender, sweet and good in every way: valuable for early or 

 late planting-. 



Dewing's Improved Blood Turnip Beet.— A first-class 

 beet in every respect: valuable for winter or summer use. 



Diseases of Beets. — The beet is subject to several diseases, 

 and it is most healthy when grown on new land. 



Beet Scab is a disease which ruptures the skin of the 

 beet in a manner similar to potato scab on potatoes. Recent 

 investigations show that the form of this disease is the same 

 as the potato scab. On this account, beets should not follow 

 potatoes on land that has grown a scabby crop unless there is 

 an interval of several years between them. Beets are some- 

 times subject to a rust that injures the foliage, but seldom very 

 seriously. 



Stock Beets. Stock beets are gross feeders and prefer 

 rich soil. They require the same care as table beets, but the 

 rows should be thirty inches apart, so as to allow of cultiva- 

 ting them with a horse implement. The seed may be sown with 

 any common garden seed drill after first laying off the rows 

 with a marker, or it may be sown with a common grain drill 

 by stopping the flow of seed through a part of the holes. It is 

 a very good plan to sow radish or rutabaga seed with the beet 

 seed, as it starts quickly and the line of the row is thus easily 

 seen, so that cultivation may be started early. This is very 

 important in land that is somewhat weedy. About six pounds 

 of seed to the act'e will give about twelve seeds (fruits) to a 



foot. 



There are many good varie- 

 ties of stock beets. Among the 

 best are the Long Red, Yellow, 

 or Golden Tankard, Yellow Globe 

 and American Sugar. The latter 

 is not a true sugar beet but is 

 much richer in sugar than the or- 

 dinary varieties of stock beets 

 and, possibly, of better feeding 

 value. 



Sugar Beets, from which is 

 Fig. 50. Sugar Beet. made a large amount of the 



sugar of commerce, are grown in a similar way to stock beets 



