552 



BOAED OF AGRICULTUEE. 



[Jan. 



tions in our vicinity. Some crops in low localities suffered 

 more or less a premature decay, others did not reach their 

 full maturity in due time. Our root crop, judging from the 

 results of our examination, evidently did not reach its full 

 perfection on account of the exceptional wetness of the latter 

 part of the growing season. The moderate amount of dry 

 vegetable matter found in the well-studied variety of Saxony 

 sugar beet, as well as the large proportion of the nitrogen 

 most of them contained in other combinations than in that 

 of true albuminoid substances, entitle to that conclusion. 

 Root crops are commonly reported to contain on an average 

 from thirty-five to forty-five per cent, of their nitrogen in 

 other and less valued combinations than the typical albu- 

 minous matter or the genuine protein substances. An ex- 

 amination of the subsequent tabular statement of some tests 

 in that direction shows that our roots, as far as they have 

 been submitted to an actual observation (1-7), contained 

 from fifty-two to seventy per cent, of their nitrogen in 

 various combinations quite generally considered of less 

 nutritive value than the group of typical albuminous sub- 

 stances. The last-named class of compounds reaches usually 

 its highest attainable proportions in a plant or part of a 

 plant at the state of maturity. 



Determination of Albuminoid Nitrogen m Roots raised upon 

 THE Fields of the Station. 



