262 
the planter how he may early in August begin to safely predict from 
week to week what his probable crop will be early in October. Thus, 
table on page 259 shows, by the samples taken August 20, that there 
were then in the beets 3,073 kilograms of suger per hectare, whereas 
on October 9 there was 5,068, or five-thirds of that present on August 
20. ‘This factor, five-thirds =1.67, is, therefore, that by which the 
figures of August 20 are to be multiplied in order to obtain those of 
October 9. 'The following table gives similar factors for the succes- 
sive decades for the crop of 1879, and when a succession of years has 
been thus treated we shall know something of the accuracy with which 
the harvest crop can be predicted. The regularity with which these 
numbers run shows that after the Ist of September the error of pre- 
diction can only be a small per cent. 
Crop fac-| . 
Date of sampling (1879). | tor for Weight 
‘this date. of Sus ar. 
PASI UIS Gil OOS Sajcra tea Se eee Sis SE ee eee) A oC ee ee ge 2.74 1,848 
PSST ODEs ore ene Be ee Seen es ee eee be oe heen EEE ee eset Oh 2 ise 1.65 | 3,073 
PATIOTIS b SO ae Ie wate eres Sd Ba es See ee Oe ee Oe 0 ee eee eee Step ea 1.43 3, 5384 
DEDUCMUDOIIO eee eas tet Nor ie oo ce pigs Es State See nn ee tee en ne ee Ie sy 4,320 
NED lember Moe See ee eet Some See eee mee a eee te Renee Sn eee ene 1.09 | 4, 655 
September 2Ois'3 hah le Ri elas ye SPA ORs ig eee Pe a ot S's | 1.08 | 4,691 
October'9/ 2-255 22-55 ee sh ee Se ee ee ee kee ee er ee eae 1.00 | 5, 068 
Pagnoul calls attention to the fact that the roots contain a consid- 
erable portion of nitrates, although the soil in which they grow had 
not received during this or previous years a trace of these salts. 
This salt could only have come into existence by the nitrification of 
organic nitrogenous matter, and it is well to insist upon this fact, 
for we can thus remove from the minds of certain persons the idea 
that if the beet root contains nitrates they must have been put into 
the soil by the cultivator. This mistake has frequently caused un- 
happy contests between the farmer and the sugar manufacturer. 
If the beet root had at its disposal only a proper proportion of 
nitrates that had been formed in the soil before sowing, these salts 
would be rapidly absorbed; they would by their decomposition give 
rise to a large and prompt development of leaves, and, consequently, 
to an easier elaboration of sugar, and in proportion as vegetation 
advances we should find smaller quantities of nitrates in the beets. 
This fact was proven by Marié-Davy in 1878. 
If on the contrary the nitrogen is furnished by a process of nitrifi- 
cation that is prolonged during the whole season, then the absorp- 
tion of the nitrates goes on continuously and their total weight per 
hectare increases steadily to the end of October, as shown in these 
analyses for 1879. 
