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Show BEET FIELDS MENACED. A letter from Harry B. Shaw, government pathologist, who has been studying the insect pests which attack the sugar beet, is pub-lished pub-lished in full in this issue of the Standard. It is of such great importance im-portance that we call the special attention of farmers and others to the article. Mr. Shaw's investigations prove that curly-leaf, one of the most destructive diseases to which the beet is subject, is caused by aa insect that hibernates in weeds and rubbish and in the spring time goes forth to re-establish its colonies in tho beet fields. By burning, or otherwise destroying the material . in which the insects are harbored, the farmers can rid their fields of the pest and put an end to the curly-leaf affliction, thus avoiding heavy losses which they have been suffering since first the leaf disease made its appearance in this state. Mr. Shaw suggests a remedy in legislation. He says one farmer or half a dozen farmers, by clearing their fields and roads of weeds, could not accomplish the desired end, but that all farmers must join in the movement and even the railroads must be forced to free their right-of-way of noxious weeds. We agree with Mr. Shaw as to the necessity of making compulsory compul-sory by law the destruction of the habitat of hurtful insects. A farmer from Utah county was in Ogden yesterday, urging the necessity of state legislation compelling all land owners to free their places of noxious weeds. This man is laboring for that which Mr. -Shaw advocates, though he does not realize, as Mr. Shaw does, how widespread is the danger of allowing these weeds to work against the best efforts of the tillers of the soil. There should be a committee named by the farmers of Weber county for the purpose of having similar committees formed in other counties of the state, each committee to prevail on its county representation rep-resentation in the coming state legislature to have passed a comprehensive com-prehensive bill, providing for the elimination of weeds and rubbish not only on the farm, but along the fences of county roads and other highways, including the right-of-way of all railways. Here in Ogden every vacant lot is a fertile spot for weeds of rank growth and noxious nature, and in the country the unoccupied unoccu-pied land is similarly overgrown. City, county and state should be held responsible by being granted the power to clean out these weeds, charging carelessness and indifferent land owners with the expense of safeguarding the best interests of all. |