Sugar Beet Investigations for 1898. 



447 



The average of results from the 24 plats of various varieties 

 and with various methods of culture was as follows : 



Average of 24 Plats. 



The above record of results shows a high average for the entire 

 ^rea. No fertilizer of any kind has been used on the land since 

 winter of '93-4 when about 10 loads of strawy barn manure were 

 applied per acre. The land has been heavily cropped every year, 

 andwhileespeciallysubject to effects of droughts, by proper tillage 

 moisture has been conserved and satisfactory crops harvested. 

 The lesson which should be drawn from the experiments is not 

 so much in the variation between the various plats compared as 

 in the unformly high of all plats. It simply enforces that by 

 thorough preparation of the land and by thorough tillage better 

 • results than the average can be obtained. 



Experiments with fertilizers for sugar beets. — Experiments with 

 fertilizers on sugar beets were conducted in 1898 upon the 

 * * Brick yard' ' plats. The construction of these plats was described 

 in Bulletin 143 but it is thought .well to repeat the description. 

 * ' In experiments with fertilizers a frequent source of error lies in 

 the fact that the soils of the different plats lacks uniformity and 

 hence the fertilizers appplied do not each have equal oppor- 

 tunity to exercise its full effect. To obviate this difficulty the 

 plats upon which the beets were grown were prepared in the 

 following manner. The soil selected was a gravelly loam and had 

 been cropped heavily for three years without the application of 

 any fertilizer or manure. In the spring of 1897 a space was 

 measured off for fourteen plats each 4 x 5 ft. in size. The soil 

 of this whole area was then removed to a depth of 24 inches, 

 each layer of eight inches being thrown out upon boards by 

 itself. A solid brick cement wall was constructed around each 



