EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 211 



Yield per plot. Yield per acre, Per cent. 



Plot. lbs. 



1 1,635 



2.. . . 1.800 



;5 1,690 



.} 1,285 



5 1,200 



0.. , 865 



7 1,075 



8.. 1,029 



9 .- 1,274 



10 1,376 



11 1.326 



12.... 1,260 



13 1,415 



The results, such as are recorded in this table are incapable of reasonable 

 Interpretation. It is true that plots 1 and '4 having no treatment yielded less beets 

 than either 2 or 3, but plot 5 having nitrate of soda had a smaller yield than plot 

 4, having nothing, and plot 6 a still smaller yield than plot 5 or plot 4. The pres- 

 ence of any excess of water on plots 5 and G introduces a factor which cannot be 

 estimated and destroys the value of the experiment as far as those plots are con- 

 cerned. The wide variation in per cent of sugar as stated in the table comes un- 

 doubtedly from the fact that the samples taken did not fairly represent the plot 

 rather than from any characteristic difference in the composition of the entire beet 

 crop on the plots. 



As soon as it was noted that the leaf blight was spreading from the mother 

 beets, a square rod of beets growing between the series of plots grown in coopera- 

 tion with the Department and these mother beets was sprayed with Bordeaux 

 mixture and a second square rod measured off for comparison and left untreated. 

 The spraying was repeated, that is, the square rod was sprayed twice. At harvest 

 the beets were counted and weighed on both square rods. The seed had been 

 Jules LeGras sowed May 21st, very late in the season. The beets were therefore 

 small. The 436 beets on the sprayed square rod weighed 242 lbs. The 405 beets 

 on the square rod unsprayed weighed 183 lbs. The chemist reported that the per 

 cent of sugar in the two square rods was identical. 



The injury to beets by blight being the removal of the leaves, on the 28th of 

 July all the leaves were removed from a row of beets with a sharp hoe. Within a 

 few days new leaves appeared and, although the tops were smaller than on the rows 

 on either side, by harvest it was hard to distinguish the row which had been thus 

 treated from the remainder of the plot. The 137 beets in the row weighed October 

 22, when harvested, but 34 lbs., while the 136 beets in the adjoining row, left 

 untreated, weighed 77 lbs. The per cent of sugar in the beets, topped July 28th 

 was 12.6%, while that of the next row was 12.1%. The removal of the leaves in 

 mid-summer is therefore a serious damage to the crop. 



