TRANSACTIONS OF SECTION Ke 811 
matter and sugar. Average percentage of nitrogen, about two-fifths of which is 
roteid. 
F The various seedsmen’s strains are similar, but not identical either in 
appearance or composition. 
Group Ill.—Golden Tankard.—Similar to the above in every point but 
shape. Contain slightly lower percentages of dry matter, sugar, and nitrogen, 
but rather more of the nitrogen is proteid. 
The seedsmen’s strains are again similar, but not quite identical. 
Grovr 1V.—Lony Red.—Red skin, white flesh with pink rings ; large cropper 
on sufficiently deep and good soils. High percentage of dry matter and sugar ; 
low percentage of nitrogen, but about half the nitrogen is proteid. = 
On soils that suit it, Long Red gives more dry matter per acre than any other 
variety. The various seedsmen’s strains appear to be identical. 
The above groups include all the commonly grown varieties except the Inter- 
mediates, which much resemble the Golden Tankards, but are rather more spindle- 
shaped and lighter in colour, yield rather heavier crops, and contain rather smaller 
percentages of dry matter and sugar. In addition to the commonly grown varieties, 
three less well known ones were tried :— 
Long Yellow, which resembles Long Red in shape and in chemical composition, 
but has a yellow colour and is a lighter cropper. 
Crimson Tankard.--A. distinct variety which has a tankard shape and the 
colour of the Long Red, but does not crop well on the soils on which it has been 
tried. It contains fairly high percentages of dry matter and sugar, about equal to 
the other tankards. 
Sugar Mangel—A hybrid between Long Red and the sugar beet, which 
contains a very high percentage of sugar and dry matter, but crops poorly, buries 
itself too deeply in the soil, and still splits into red, white and pink individuals. 
8. Variation in the Chemical Composition of Mangels. 
By T. B. Woop, M.A., and R. A. Berry, F.LC. 
During the last two seasons ubout 400 samples, each consisting of at least 
fifty cores, have been examined for percentage of dry matter and sugar, and in 
many cases nitrogen. In addition, the dry matter has been determined in about 
1,000 individual roots, and the sugar and proteid and non-proteid nitrogen in 100. 
It has been found that very wide variation occurs, due to (1) variety, (2) soil and 
climate, (3) season, (4) manuring, (5) individuality. The extent of the variation 
in each case is briefly noted below. 
Variety.—Yaking, first, percentage of dry matter, the worst variety at each 
station in each season contained only about two-thirds as much dry matter as the 
best. A crop of 20 tons per acre of the best variety would therefore contain as 
much food as a 30-ton crop of the worst variety. 
The variation in content of sugar and nitrogen is between much the same 
limits. 
Soil.—Variation due to differences of soil and climate is considerably less ; the 
ratio of the average percentages of dry matter in eight varieties at the worst and 
best stations is 100: 114. The heavier soils gave roots of the better quality. 
Season.—Seasonal variation appears to be smaller still, but neither 1902 nor 
1908 were extreme seasons, so that greater variation may be met with in the 
future. The ratio of the average percentages of dry matter in all the varieties 
grown in both years is 100 : 109, the percentage being higher in 1902. 
Manuring.—Only one series of experiments on this subject has been worked 
through, and the variation due to manuring in the ordinary course of farm 
practice appears to be quite small (100: 107), Vurther work is necessary before 
anything definite can be stated. 
Individuality—It is when individual roots are examined that the greatest 
variation is found, Thus, in 200 roots of one variety, all grown side by side on the 
