230 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



We are never sufTiciently sure of the first year's results of any fertilizer experiment 

 to warrant us in drawinij dolinilo conclusions. 



Looking at the averajite yields, there is nothing particularly significant, except that 

 no one, nor even two, elements seem to satisfy the demands of the beet crop. The 

 best results come from an application of a complete home mixed fertilizer, costing 

 .$27.50 per ton. and api>licd at the rate of 480 pounds per acre. The average yield from 

 home mixed fertilizer exceeds that of stable manure, while its per cent of sugar is 

 .87 greater, and co-eflicient of purity L84 higher. 



In the matter of per cent of sugar and purity from the single elements, potash 

 gives the highest and nitrogen the lowest, and though nitrate of soda produced beets 

 with higher per cent of sugar than any one of the no-fertilizer plots, its co-efiicient of 

 purity is the lowest. 



•Macrker found that increasing the nitrogen in stable manure by using manure that 

 had been protected, he decreased slightly the per cent of sugar and co-efficient of purity. 

 but the correspondingly increased tonnage of beets gave a very marked increase in yield 

 of sugar per acre. 



tVan Slyke states that in lSf)8 the api)lication of fertilizers did not afTcct the 

 average per cent of sugar. lie further summarizes that stable manure increases the 

 average yield 8,720 pounds per acre, the percentage of sugar 1.5 per cent, and the co- 

 efficient of purity L6. 



tAt Cornell in" 1898, fertilizer increased the per cent of sugar .54, and the co-efiicient 

 of purity 3. Nitrate of soda grew large beets of low quality. 



**The above results are in accord with West Virginia experiments. 



It seems that nitrate of soda alone generally produces beets of low per cent of 

 sugar, but when used in connection with sufiicient amounts of the other two elernents, 

 normal beets are produced. Hence, we may conclude that the per cent of sugar is not 

 so much reduced by the presence of the nitrate as by the absence of available phosphoric 

 acid and potash. 



EXPERIMENT C. 



On a portion of field number six of the College farm another fertilizer test was 

 conducted. The soil was a sandy loam and mediiun in fertility. Table number three 

 gives the plots arranged in their order, with the kind and amount of fertilizer applied, 

 together with the yield in pounds per acre of cleaned and trimmed beets, the percentage 

 of sugar and the co-efficient of purity. Beets of the Zehringen variety were grown 

 in this experiment. 



The stable manure was hauled from the cow barn the day before the plowing was 

 done. The sugar beet fertilizer was a brand offered by one of our leading manufac- 

 turers, and contained about two per cent of ammonia, eight and one-half per cent 

 total phosphoric acid, mostly' soluble, and five per cent potash. The complete fertilizer 

 consisted of a mixture of one hundred twenty pounds nitrate of soda (18.71% am- 

 monia), two hundred and forty pounds dissolved phosphate rock (1.82% insoluble and 

 15.85% available P2O5), and one hundred twenty pounds muriate of potash (49.85% 

 KjO). The above fertilizers, together with all the chemicals used in the experiments, 

 were applied one week before the seed was sown. Where ammonia nitrogen was applied, 

 ninety-five pounds of sulphate of ammonia (25.-38% ammonia) replaced the one hun- 

 dred twenty pounds of nitrate of soda, thereby supplying practically the same amount of 

 nitrogen. 



The sulphate of potash applied contained 49.10% K^ O and the lime GO.7% Ca 0. 

 The hen manure consisted largely of straw taken from the scratching pens and was 

 applied as a mulch after the beet's were thinned. The mulch was applied with a view 

 to keep down the weeds, hold the moisture and provide a small supply of plant food. 



Plots eighteen to twenty-two, inclusive, were on a separate portion of the field, 

 where the seed was sown at a later period and the other conditions were such that 

 comparisons with the rest of the field are unfair and misleading. The relation of the 

 yields on these plots as compared with the nothing plot number eighteen give some 



* Landwirtschaftliche .Tahrbiicher XXVIII Band. 



t New York Agricultural Kxperinient Station Bulletin No. 155 



t Cornell Experiment Station Bulletin No. 100. 



** West Virginia Experiment Station Bulletin No. .55. 



