MOLASSES A3 A FERTILIZER. 297 



that have been taken away during cultivation of the crop of 

 beets without resorting to the use of expensive manures in order 

 to retain the fertility. Without entering into the various bene- 

 ficial results that must necessarily follow from this practice, it 

 suffices to say that it stands to reason that if certain mineral 

 substances have been absorbed by the beet during its develop- 

 ment, these, if returned, will maintain the continued fertility of 

 the soil, which maintenance would otherwise have been impos- 

 sible, and the benefits derived become even greater when defeca- 

 tion scums form part of the fertilizing mixture. 



However, molasses should never be utilized for fertilizing in 

 its green state, for many of its elements that are worthless for 

 this purpose may render great service in other directions, such 

 as cattle feeding, etc. For the farmer, its money equivalent as 

 a fertilizer must not be overlooked. Unfortunately, however, 

 in the United States the problem of returning the plant food to 

 the soil has been, up to the present, too frequently neglected. 



If one makes allowance for the fact that molasses contains, 

 on an average, 1.5 per cent, of nitrogen, and 5 to 6 per cent, of 

 oxid of potassium, and that in the excrements of animals fed 

 upon this product may be found 1 per cent, of nitrogen with 5 

 per cent, of oxid of potassium, 0.03 per cent, to 0.06 per cent, 

 phosphoric acid, 0.3 per cent, to 0.5 per cent, lime, and about 

 50 per cent, non-nitrogenous substances, one may conclude 

 that molasses, as a forage, has a greater commercial and rural 

 value than is generally supposed, for the simple reason that to 

 its nourishing value must be added its subsequent use as a 

 manure. Nearly all the foods that plants need are found in the 

 droppings of the animals fed. 



Sugar in the animal economy may play an important role, 

 mainly in the formation of fat. Consequently it is of greater 

 advantage to allow these hydro-carbons to pass through the an- 

 imal's body, than it would be to resort to any preliminary effort 

 of its use as a fertilizer, for the simple reason that the mineral 

 elements always pass through the body of the animal without 

 undergoing chemical changes. 



In Germany there are produced 400,000 tons of molasses that 

 contain 5,200 tons of nitrogen, corresponding to 28,000 tons of 



