44 BULLETIN 721, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



successfully. He might not at all be adapted to dairying or to the 

 feeding of live stock. Some people can not handle live stock suc- 

 cessfully, even though they have right ideas in regard to the han- 

 dling of crops; likewise, the grain farmer may not be adapted to 

 the growing of sugar beets. Frequently grain production is extensive 

 rather than intensive, while sugar beets should be handled intensively 

 rather than extensively. At any rate, intensive methods should be 

 emploj'ed in growing this crop. Some growers of the extensively 

 grown crops, like grains, forage, etc., sometimes become very suc- 

 cessful growers of sugar beets, but generally they prefer the line of 

 agriculture which they have followed and from which they do not 

 wish to depart. The same is true of the live-stock man, although 

 the man who handles live stock, especially dairy cows,, is more 

 inclined to take up the growing of such an intensive crop as sugar 

 beets and is more apt to succeed in this line of agriculture than 

 the grain or forage crop man. This does not apply, however, to the 

 live-stock man who grows for the market, and especially the man 

 who produces or handLes large herds of cattle. The point to be made 

 in regard to the grower is that he must have the natural qualifications 

 for intensive agriculture and must be fitted by training and experi- 

 ence for the growing and handling of crops requiring intensive 

 cultivation. 



DISEASES. 



Diseases are among the most apparent limiting factors in sugar- 

 beet production. A crop of beets that might otherwise be very 

 profitable is frequently turned to a loss by some disease. The sugar 

 beet, like all other plants, is subject to disease from the time it 

 begins its growth until it is harvested ; and even after the plants are 

 harvested, if stored under certain conditions, the beets may decay to 

 a greater or less extent, impairing or destroying their value for 

 sugar-making purposes. Some of the diseases are well known and 

 easily controlled; others, while known, are handled with difficulty; 

 and still others are obscure as to their causes. The losses produced 

 by diseases may be brought about by a destruction of the plant itself 

 or by some injury which reduces the size or quality of the beet root. 



Damn/ping off. — Among the diseases which attack the beet during 

 the early stages of its growth is the so-called damping-off. There 

 are several forms of this disease, due, apparently, to different organ- 

 isms. Frequently the young beet plants turn black just at the surface 

 of the ground, fall over, and die. Sometimes the entire root turns 

 black and softens, and sometimes the blackening is confined to the 

 outer layer or epidermis. In the latter case the beets frequently 

 recover. This disease is caused either by a fungus or a bacterium 

 which is in the soil or on the seed when planted. If the disease is 



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