THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY IX 1920. 17 



Blocking and thinning. — A good stand of beets very largely de- 

 pends upon careful blocking and thinning. Blocking consists in cut- 

 ting out a portion of the beets by means of a hoe or other suitable 

 implement (PL III, fig. 1), usually operated at right angles to the 

 row, leaving the remaining beets in tufts from 8 to 10 inches apart. 

 This should be done while the beets are very small. It is very easy 

 for the careless workman to strike the row at an angle, making the 

 distance between the tufts very much greater. Frequently the tufts 

 themselves are destroyed by careless use of the blocking implement. 

 T\ nen the plants have been destroyed, practically nothing can be done 

 to replace them. Transplanting sugar beets to the vacant spaces has 

 not been found practicable on a commercial scale. 



The thinning is done by hand and consists in pulling out from each 

 tuft all the plants but one. Careless workers will often destroy or 

 pull out all the plants from the tuft, thereby reducing the stand. 

 Frequently in thinning the dirt is removed so that the j^oung plants 

 are left with their tender stems subject to the influence of the rays 

 of the sun, the heat of which sometimes, destroys them. The dirt 

 should be brought close around the plant that is left so as to protect it 

 from injury. 



Cultivating. — Many otherwise good stands of beets are seriously 

 injured by the cultivators either covering the young plants with dirt 

 or tearing them out. This injury is frequently due to carelessness and 

 sometimes to accident. Sugar beets are usually cultivated by means 

 of a 4-row cultivator (PL IV, fig. 1). If by accident or otherwise 

 the cultivator is permitted to shift so that several plants are injured 

 or destroyed in one row. the same number of plants will be injured or 

 removed from each of the four rows. This is a common cause of poor 

 stands in many fields. A few beets cut out of four rows here and 

 there in the field each time the beets are cultivated will have a marked 

 effect upon the final stand and will greatly reduce the yield of beets 

 harvested. Success in operating the cultivator depends upon the con- 

 dition of the seed bed, upon the animals, the driver, and the adjust- 

 ment of the implement. By careful attention on the part of the driver, 

 nearly all the injury due to cultivation may be avoided, provided the 

 seed bed is in good condition and the drill rows are straight. When 

 the beet leaves cover the ground, as shown in Plate IV, figure 2, the 

 crop is laid by, and no further work is done until the harvest begins. 



Diseases affecting the stand. — One of the common agencies affect- 

 ing the stand of sugar beets is disease. Nearly all sugar-beet dis- 

 eases are due to parasitic organisms. One of the most serious affect- 

 ing the stand is the damping-off of the young beets. Later in the 

 season root-rot does considerable damage in some localities. Leaf- 

 56830°— Bull. 995—21 2 



