48 BULLETIN 721, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



in the season the sugar content also will be lowered considerably. 

 Sugar-beet insects as a general rule are more or less local and are 

 seldom very destructive for more than one or two years in succession. 



All biting or chewing forms of insects are susceptible to poisons 

 and may be controlled by the use of arsenate of lead, Paris green, or 

 other arsenicals. 



The leafliopper previously mentioned as a carrier of curly-top 

 is frequently very destructive indirectly. It punctures the leaves or 

 leaf blades of the beets with its slender beak and injects into the 

 plant some substance or organism which exerts a decidedly unfa- 

 vorable effect upon its growth. 



Among insects working in or near the roots are cutworms, wire- 

 worms, and white grubs, all of which are very destructive. White 

 grubs are abundant in sod land; therefore such lands should not 

 be selected for growing sugar beets. Wireworms and cutworms as 

 a rule are more destructive early in the season while the beets are 

 small. They frequently destroy the stand to such an extent that 

 replanting is necessary. Cutworms come from the surface of the 

 ground and cut off the plants during the night. They may be de- 

 stroyed by the use of poisoned baits, according to directions which 

 will be furnished by the Bureau of Entomology. Wireworms usu- 

 ally follow the row of young beets when they have begun their work 

 of destruction, and since they usually remain in a row a second plant- 

 ing should be made in the same direction, so that the rows are par- 

 allel and several inches from the original planting, i. e., without 

 harrowing or disking. By pursuing this method the second plant- 

 ing will often become so large that little wireworm damage will be 

 done. Other remedies, however, are necessary.^ 



The false chinch bug is a serious enemy to seed beets, frequently 

 appearing in immense numbers and working on the growing tender 

 seed stalks and leaves. When present in large numbers it frequently 

 absorbs by suction so much of the vital juices of the plant that either 

 the seed stalks are destroyed or the seed fails to mature. This in- 

 sect may be controlled by the use of contact sprays, among which 

 nicotine sulphate, 40 per cent, is most valuable. Experiments in co- 

 operation with the Bureau of Entomology are now in progress to 

 determine whether or not spraying seed-beet fields is a practical 

 method of controlling this pest.^ 



BY-PRODUCTS. 



The principal by-products connected with sugar-beet growing and 

 beet-sugar production arc the beet tops, pulp, and lime. The first 



1 See Bulletin 123, Bureau of Entomology, TJ. S. Dept. Agr., "A prollmlnai"y report on 

 the sugar-beet wireworm," C8 p., 23 pis., 9 figs. 1914;. 



2 See Farmers' Bulletin 762, " Tli§ false chinch bug and measures for controlling it," 

 4 p., 2 fig. 1916. 



