21 — 
cent., showing the presence of 5.7 ounces of sugar. The amount of 
sugar given is correct, but the percentage of sugar in the beets is 
entirely too high, for the percentage is calculated on 40 ounces of 
beets, whereas, it should have been calculated on 50 ounces, and the 
percentage of sugar in the beets, as harvested, was only 11.4 per 
cent. 
Dr. Wiley, in his report on the experiments with sugar beets in 
1892, says : 
“Again, the loss of moisture during transportation, or fail- 
ure of the farmers to send their beets in as soon as harvested, may 
tend to reduce the amount of water present in the beet, and to raise 
correspondingly the quantity of sugar therein.” In speaking of beets 
received from California, he says: “ In this connection, however, it 
must be remarked that the beets were long in transit and must have 
lost a considerable quantity of water. They were somewhat wilted 
and shriveled in appearance when received. Such beets, of course, 
would indicate a higher percentage of sugar than they would really 
contain in a fresh state, and the same remark may be applied to the 
beets shipped any distance by mail, or to beets which have been ex- 
posed any considerable time to the air after harvesting, before the de- 
termination of the sugar.” In speaking of the Colorado samples, he re- 
peats the same, saying : “ In regard to the content of sugar shown 
by these samples, the remark made with reference to California must 
be made here, viz., that the amount of sugar indicated on analysis is 
higher than that actually present at the time of harvesting, on ac- 
count of the loss of water, during transportation.” 
These quotations are sufficient to show that the Department of 
Chemistry, at Washington, is fully aware of the error in the analysis 
of beets sent from this and other Western states, and no blame 
can, in any way, attach itself to them, because the figures given for 
the sugar in our beets is too high, by several per cent. — 2.8 per cent, 
in the assumed case, which is far inside the facts. 
This subject has a much wider bearing than the mere fact that 
determinations made, upon presumably identical samples, here and in 
Washington, do not agree. The Department of Chemistry has re- 
peatedly warned the readers of its reports, that the figures are too 
high, and have given data by the aid of which an apj)roximate cor- 
rection can be made. I was not aware of Dr. Maxwell’s experiments 
when I made mine, but I am gratified to find that the general re- 
sults agree with his, though they differ in degree, owing, probably, to 
differences in the condition of the beets at the time of harvesting, 
the temperature, moisture of the atmosphere, etc. 
My first ex|:)eriments were made by taking two series of samples, 
wrapping the beets separately in paper, and placing them upon the 
cellar floor, which is the eartli of the cellar, without covering. The 
light was very moderate. The samples were weighed, from time to 
time, during 17 days. A third sample was subsequently taken, but 
