Any excess of mineral fertilizer not used by the beet crop 

 will be available for the following crops. The marked 

 increase in the yield of grain that followed the introduction 

 of the sugar beet industry in Europe was due quite as much 

 to the heavy fertilization as to the improved tillage. 



Plant foods are used in beet culture to increase the 

 yield, to improve the sugar content, to secure a full stand, 

 and to make the beet outgrow the weeds and permit earlier 

 thinning. For these purposes the fertilizer must be properly 

 balanced for the crop, and the previous treatment as well as 

 the composition of the soil must be taken into consideration. 



American farmers when first experimenting with fertil- 

 izers are quite apt to begin with bone because it is a familiar 

 material and readily obtained. It contains nitrogen and 

 phosphoric acid but no potash. 



Facts from Field Tests 



Some experiments conducted in Michigan in 1907 and 

 1908 may illustrate the profits of a properly balanced fer- 

 tilizer on the beet crop. 



The plan was the simplest and plainest possible; on one 

 acre no fertilizer was used, on the second 500 pounds of a 

 complete fertilizer containing 2 per cent of nitrogen, 7 per 

 cent phosphoric acid and 10 per cent potash, while on the 

 third acre 500 pounds of a fertilizer with 2 per cent nitrogen, 

 7 per cent phosphoric acid, but no potash, were used. 



By comparing acre one with acre two we learned whether 

 a complete fertilizer would be profitable, and by compar- 



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