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 
employed 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. 
Damping 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 
