BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY, 



111 



manures. The investigations of Prof. Gocssmann at the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College have a direct bearing on this poiut. 

 The following table explains itself: 



Kind of Fertilizer. 



1. Green stiible manure 



2. Phnsphatic blood guano 



3. Rotten liheep manure 



4. Stable compost . . 



6. Rotten stable manure 



6. Unknown 



7. In rotation, second year after stable manure (a). 

 7. In ri'tation, second year after stable manure (b). 



Those marked a weighed from 1^ to 2 lbs. each. Those marked 6 were from the same 

 field, but weighed from 10 to 14 lbs. each. 



The above results were obtained by Prof. Goessmann on the 

 College farm (1), and from roots furnished by the New York 

 Agricultural Society (2 to 7), raised on the farms of diiferent 

 members of the society. It will be seen that No. 7 (a), where 

 the conditions are those previously recommended in the case of 

 using nitrogenous manures, is the only one that comes within the 

 limits, as regards the proportion of foreign matter, while also in 

 this case the percentage of sugar is the largest. Undecomposed 

 nitrogenous manures increase the amount of foreign matter in the 

 juice, and seem to hinder the development of sugar ; while potash 

 acts the reverse in both cases. We abstract further from Prof. 

 Goessmaun's report of the various trials, in explanation of the 

 table : 



1. Four acres of a sandy loam were taken on the College farm, 

 which was well manured with common stable manure for a crop 

 of fodder beets, and planted May 23d, Percentage of sugar, 7.37. 

 Roots collected last of September. 



2. On a farm at Sing Sing, N. Y. — The soil was loam, two feet 

 deep, resting on clayish hardpan, and had been seeded to grass 

 ior many years ; 500 lbs. of phosphatic blood guano were applied 

 per acre. Percentage of sugar, 7.8. Some Vilmorin sugar beets 

 from the same farm yielded 9 53 per cent, of sugar. Harvested 

 last of October. 



3. On a farm at Washington, Dutchess Co., N. Y. — Soil, a 

 clayish loam, plowed seven inches deep. Rotten sheep manure 

 was applied in trenches, and then covered with the plow, and the 



