194 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



These figures show decidedly in favor of increasing the nitrogen content of the sugar 

 beet fertilizers. Not only is "the yield of beets greater, but the percentage of sugar is 

 higher where an excessive amount of nitrate of soda is applied. The marked difference in 

 yield of sugar from the home mixed fertilizers over tl»e commercial fertilizer suggests 

 the possibility of nitrate nitrogen being superior to the form of nitrogen found in the 

 commercial fertilizer. 



While no experiment comparing in equal quantities organic, nitrate and ammonia 

 nitrogen, the general results so far favor the nitrate. 



In the fertilizer experiment on page 198, the nitrogen in the commercial fertilizer 

 analyzing 2.24 per cent ammonia was undoubtedly of organic origin. The results from 

 three years' experiments show a yield of 20 per cent more sugar from nitrate nitrogen 

 than from the commercial fertilizer. 



In the soil test experiment on page 196 there was also in comparison a plot treated 

 annually to commercial fertilizer. The average increased yield from the nitrate nitrogen 

 over the organic nitrogen was 18 per cent. 



NITRATE NITROGEN VS. AMMONIA NITROGEN. 



This experiment has been in progress for three years. The results recorded below are 

 from experiments in three different fields of the College farm. In every case the potash 

 and phosphoric acid applied on the compared plots were identical. The quantity of 

 nitrate of soda and sulphate ammonia was in each case regulated according to the 

 ammonia content of the two materials, so calculated that the same quantity of nitrogen 

 was applied in every case where results are compared. 



The following is a fair comparison of nitrate of soda and sulphate ammonia as a 

 source of nitrogen for sugar beets, and being the average result from five different experi<- 

 ments conducted for three years in succession, and showing a yield of over 11 per cent 

 more sugar from the nitrate than from the ammonia presents conclusive evidence of the 

 superiority of the former. 



Character of soil. 



1. Light sandy . . 



2. Clay loam 



3. Sandy loam (complete fertilizer). 



4. Same as 3 plus (one ton lime) 



5. Sandy loam (as single elements). 



Average sugar per acre. 



Nitrate Nitrogen. 



Yield 

 per acre. 



Pounds. 



20,408 

 20,136 

 16,479 

 18,789 

 15,058 



Per cent Sugar 

 sugar, per acre 



12.45 

 13.19 

 14.09 

 13.43 

 13.29 



Pounds 



2.463 

 2,656 

 2,323 

 2,524 

 2,003 



2,394 



Ammonia Nitrogen. 



Yield 

 per acre 



Pounds. 



19,387 

 16,412 

 15,899 

 15,572 

 13,916 



Percent! Sugar 

 sugar, per acre. 



12.68 

 12.44 

 14.19 

 13.19 

 13.19 



Pounds. 



2,459 

 2,041 

 2,255 

 2,17l> 

 1,837 



2,154 



SOIL TEST EXPERIMENTS WITH FERTILIZERS. 



The ground on which this experiment was tried has been receiving these applications 

 of fertilizers annually for the past three years, although this is the first year in which 

 sugar beets were sown on this particular portion of the plot. The results of the former 

 experiments were published in Bulletins 179 and 188. 



The interesting features of the above table are the high yield from the application of 

 nitrate of soda, the still higher percentage of sugar in the beets from the potash and 



