Topping is also a hand operation and is usually performed by means of a straight, heavy knife, which should be kept sharp. It consists in remov ing the leaves and crown at the line of the lowest leaf scar. The proportion of the beet thus to be die carded depends on the habit of growth of the plant. Beets with long crowns should not be selected for seed, since this is an undesirable quality to propa gate. The reason for removing the crown is that this part contains so much mineral matter in com parison with the sugar, that it has been found ad visable not to use it in sugar-making. The mineral matter prevents the sugar crystallizing and often more sugar would be lost than gained by using the crown. When the beets are topped, they are thrown into piles where the ground has been previously freed from tops and other refuse matter, so that they can be forked into wagons ready for the fac tory. Numerous attempts have been made to con struct a machine to be operated by horse-power, which shall lift, pull and top the beets, but, while success has been achieved in some instances, such machines have not come into general use.
Hauling the beets to the factory is usually done by wagon if the fields are within a few miles of the factory. If the distance is too great, they are loaded on the cars at the nearest station and trans ported by rail. In either case they are first forked on the wagon, end then unloaded in the beet sheds or into cars. Most shipping stations are provided with dumps, so that the wagons are unloaded by machinery directly into the cars. (Fig 822.) This method avoids the necessity of forking the beets by hand from the wagon into the cars, but is open to the objection that all the dirt, more or less of which clings to the beets when pulled, goes into the cars and is hauled into the beet sheds. If the cars are dumped at the sheds, as is frequently the case, the dirt goes with the beets into the bins.
If the harvest progresses more rapidly than the factory is able to handle the beets, it frequently becomes necessary to pit them temporarily in the field. These pits differ somewhat from those used for seed beets. In these field pits, the beets are dumped in long piles about three feet high and pro vided with some light covering to keep out the frost. As soon as the beets are needed, they are reloaded and taken to the factory.
Causes of injury to the crop.
Ha 11.—Factory beets and seed beets are frequently damaged by severe hail-storms. Fortunately these storms are usually local, so that comparatively few fields are seriously injured in a single season. The storms occur most frequently in the early part of the season, when the beets are small and tender.
It sometimes happens that a field of beets will have its foliage entirely destroyed. Since nothing can be done to prevent the storms, every effort is made to enable the beets to produce new foliage, and it seldom happens that the beets themselves are de stroyed, although their growth is retarded to the detriment of the harvest.
With seed beets the damage is considerable if the hail-storm occurs after the seed-stalks have begun to form, since it may either break down the seed-stalks or cut off the flowers or seeds, de periling on the time the storm occurs and on its severity.
Wind.—In some sugar -beet sections, strong winds prevail. These are not injurious except in certain localities where the soil is light. In such instances, the young beets are sometimes covered with sand and smothered, or their growth greatly retarded. The real losses from this source have been slight but sufficient to emphasize the impor tance of avoiding light soils for sugar-beet produc tion, especially in those sections where high winds usually prevail in the early part of the growing season when the beets are small and easily covered with shifting sand.
Rain.—Few crops can withstand excessive rains with less injury than sugar-beets, especially if heavy rains do not occur until after the beets are well established. The greatest damage is done when such rains occur soon after planting, and either the seed or the seedling beets are actually washed out of the ground. Excessive rains falling on improperly drained fields must necessarily be injurious, since under such conditions the roots cannot receive the proper amount of air. The only remedy for this evil is proper drainage. Warm rains sometimes occur when the beets are ripe. This condition frequently causes a new growth of foliage and a consequent reduction of the sugar content. If it is impossible to harvest the beets before such rains occur, it is often advisable to let the beets remain in the ground until the sugar content is again restored to its maximum. The effect of rainfall on adobe soil, with the remedy therefor, has already been mentioned.
Insects.—According to Bulletin No. 43, Division of Entomology, United States Department of Ag riculture (entitled A Brief Account of the Princi pal Insect Enemies of the Sugar-beet, by F. H. Chittenden), about one hundred and fifty insects feed more or less exclusively on sugar-beets, of which perhaps one-third are noticeably destructive. A more or less complete account of these pests, together with the means of combating them, will be found in Bulletins Nos. 19, 23, 29, 33, 40 and 43 of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Depart ment of Agriculture.