New Yorx AGricuLTuRAL EXPERIMENT STATION. 155 
leaves. In the petioles of the dead leaves the fibro-vascular bun- 
dles were not blackened except, perhaps, for a short distance below 
the blackened blade. In the majority of cases the roots appeared 
normal, but the plants most severely attacked often showed a brown 
discoloration of the root. This discoloration extended from the 
outside toward the center for a distance of from one-fourth to one- 
half an inch. The discolored tissue showed no indication of rot 
and was separated from the healthy tissue by an indefinite and 
somewhat irregular line. (See Plate VIII.) The fibro-vascular 
bundles colored somewhat more deeply than the parenchyma, giv- 
ing a zonate appearance to the affected tissue. The location of 
the affected tissue could generally be determined before the root 
was cut open, by the darker color and pronounced elevation of the 
bark. (See Plates IV and V.) In some cases when an affected 
root was cut cross-wise just below the crown the fibro-vascular 
bundles were found to be much blackened, but this character was 
by no means a constant one. 
For a time the writer was puzzled to account for this condition 
of the beets. ‘The first hint of the true nature of the trouble was 
obtained from observations made on a field of beets owned by Mr. 
Clark Crozier, near Halls. This field was level and the soil a 
sandy loam, with the exception of a small knoll which rose abruptly 
near the center of the field and consisted of very light, sandy soil. 
The beets on this sandy knoll were diseased, while those on all 
the rest of the field were in perfect health. This indicated that 
lack of water was the cause of the trouble. A severe drought was 
prevailing at the time and naturally the plants first affected would 
be those standing in dry, sandy soil. Further observations showed 
that the beet blight occurred chiefly upon light, sandy soil; but a 
field near Stanley furnished an exception to the rule. This field, 
which contained about eight acres, consisted principally of sandy 
loam, which might be expected to resist drought better than many 
other fields in the vicinity. As a matter of fact, it was consid- 
erably blighted, not uniformly, but over irregular areas, although 
