36 THE KOTHAMSTED EXPEKIMENTS. 



time as high as in swedes, and considerably higher than in 

 the feeding- beet or mangel-wurzel. It will afterwards be 

 seen that this increased amount of solid matter in the root is 

 chiefly sugar. 



As in the case of the mangel leaf, the percentage of dry 

 matter in the sugar-beet leaf is actually lower than in the 

 case of the turnips; and it is very much lower than in the 

 sugar-beet root, whilst in the turnip it was very much higher 

 in the leaf than in the root. 



The percentage of nitrogen in the dry substance of the root 

 is much lower than in the case of the turnip ; and it is in a 

 less degree lower than in the mangel-root grown by the 

 same manures. As in the case of the other descriptions of 

 roots, the percentage of nitrogen in the dry matter of the 

 sugar-beet leaf is very much higher than in that of the root. 



The percentage of mineral matter in the dry substance of 

 the leaf is four or five times as high as that in the root ; in 

 fact the mineral matter constitutes more than one-fifth of 

 the total dry substance of the leaf. It is higher than in the 

 case of the mangels, and about twice as high as in that 

 of either Swedish or common turnips. 



To determine the amounts of potash and phosphoric acid 

 •in the root and in the leaf, respectively, of both sugar-beet 

 and mangel-wurzel a large series of analyses of the ashes of 

 the root and of the leaf of the experimentally grown sugar- 

 beet and mangel-wurzel, has been made. Table 10 (p. 35) 

 shows that the percentage of potash in the dry matter of the 

 sugar-beet leaf is very much higher than in that of the root. 

 Of phosphoric acid, on the other hand, the percentage in the 

 dry matter of the leaf is but little higher than in that of the 

 root; whilst in the dry matter of both root and leaf it is 

 very much lower than is that of potash. 

 Effect of The lower division of the table shows that, notwithstand- 

 manureson j n g tne comparatively large proportion of fresh leaf to root, 

 root. the proportion of the total solid matter of the crop which is 



accumulated and remains in the leaf is, owing to the very 

 high percentage of solid matter in the root and very much 

 lower percentage in the leaf, much less than would be con- 

 cluded from the weight of the fresh produce only. Thus, 

 with the lowest proportion of leaf, as in Series 5 with rape- 

 cake, there was more than 3 tons per acre of solid matter in 

 the root, and much less than half a ton in the leaf; whilst 

 with the highest nitrogenous manuring, the greatest luxuri- 

 ance, the heaviest crops, and the highest proportion of leaf 

 to root, as in Series 4 with rape-cake and ammonium-salts 

 together, there are more than 3f tons of solid matter per 

 acre in the root, and little more than f ton in the leaf. It 



