434 EXPERIMENT STATION EECOED. 



Sugar beets: Preventable losses in culture, H. B. Shaw (U. S. Dept. Agr. 

 Bui. 23S {1915), pp. 21, pis. 8, figs. 5).— This bulletiu points to striking differ- 

 ences in local yields of sugar beets caused by imperfect stands in the fields. 

 Results are given of observations on three types of soil (deep, sandy loam, well 

 manured and in excellent tilth ; very light sandy loam, generally well manured 

 and in good tilth ; and heavy black loam, moderately well manured and in fair 

 tilth) in Utah sugar-beet districts, covering the seasons of 1910, 1911, and 1912. 



A definite correlation between stand and yield was found. The factors 

 directly causing a decrease in the number of plants to the acre are arranged 

 in three groups, those occurring in the germination stand prior to thinning, 

 careless and improper thinning and blocking, and those incidental to cultural 

 operations between thinning and harvest. The mean percentage of harvest 

 stand and yield in tons per acre for the respective groups of soils are given 

 as 49.96 and 24.56, 63.71 and 17.68, and 46.76 and 13, and the mean of all the 

 plats as 52.26 and 17.43, respectively. 



" These studies were made among fair and good beet growers in an old beet 

 district whose mean yield reached the respectable total of rather more than 17 

 tons to the acre, while the average for the United States for 1910-11 was only 

 10.17 tons and that for the State of Utah, where these studies were made, was 

 11.42 tons per acre. The magnitude of preventable loss incurred by a very 

 large proportion of beet growers must be amazing; in fact, it must exceed the 

 entire cost of raising the crop." 



Fertilizers in sugar-beet culture, E. Saillaed {Jour. Agr. Prat., n. ser., 2S 

 {1915), No. 41, pp. 309, 310). — ^This summarizes some fertilizer experiments 

 conducted by the laboratory of the Syndicate of Sugar Factories of France 

 since 1901. 



It is noted that potassic fertilizers generally gave good results in regard to 

 richness, purity, and yield of sugar beets. When beets of the same variety 

 were given similar cultivation in the same field those rich in sugar contained a 

 less amount of soda. A large application of nitrate of soda, especially if part 

 was applied later, retarded the maturity of the beets and reduced the sugar 

 content. Nitrate of soda, nitrate of lime, and cyanamid gave essentially similar 

 results except that nitrate of lime produced beets a little richer and the cyana- 

 mid yielded a little less sugar per hectare. Kainit gave better results than 

 chlorid or sulphate of potash. 



Experiments in the fertilization of sugar beets {Inform. Agr. [Madrid], 5 

 {1915), No. 100, pp. 150, 151, fig. i).— The results of the use of nitrate of soda 

 in combination with potassium and phosphorus showed the yields and net 

 profits to be greater with an application of 300 kg. than with 200 kg. per 

 hectare in the Province of Valladolid, Spain. In similar experiments in the 

 Province of Saragossa, 22,500 kg. of beets were produced per hectare without 

 nitrate of soda, and 25,500, 30,900, and 40,000 kg. with the use of 200, 400, and 

 60 kg., respectively, of nitrate of soda per hectare. 



On the variability of the nitrogen appropriation of the offspring of a 

 single mother beet during the first vegetative year, K. Andrlik and J. Urban 

 {Ztsclir. Zuclcerindus, Bohmen, 39 {1915), No. 6, pp. 235-2^0) .—This gives 

 results of analyses of individuals derived from a single mother beet. 



Tables show that the amount of nitrogen used per plant ranged from 0.5 to 

 4.75 gm. The amount of sugar per beet ranged from 20 to 120 gm., and the 

 percentage of sugar from 15 to 18.55 per cent. The number of parts of nitro- 

 gen found to each 100 parts of sugar ranged from 2.46 to 5.44 for the various 

 individuals. It is noted that the larger the sugar content of the beet the rela- 

 tively smaller was the quantity of nitrogen appropriated and the reverse. 



