— 24 — 
The loss of sugar in the tiiird experiment was quite significant, 
amounling to 1 ton in 14 tons of sugar, and this was with mature 
beets, kept 15 days; but the largest loss was observed in the second 
experiment, continued for 17 days, in which the loss of sugar 
amounted to 1 ton in every 6 tons. The loss of sugar in the 
beets used for the first experiment was quite small, amounting to 
only 1 ton in 40 tons. This question is, in all cases, of suffi- 
cient importance to deserve the attention of the factory people. It is 
not likely that such high losses, as occurred in experiment No. 2, 
would often be met with, because these beets were not mature, but 
those used in experiment No. 3, were such beets as would be readily 
marketable. This loss of sugar was not due to heating or ferment- 
ing, as the term would usually be understood by the farmer ; there 
were no visible marks by which one would judge that any fermen- 
tation process had been going on. 
I will state in detail the second and third experiments, lest some 
one should be confused by the two statements that there is a gain in 
the percentage of sugar caused by the drying out, and that there is 
also a loss of sugar. The original weight of the sample was 1536 
grams, and the percentage of sugar 9.3 per cent., which gives us 
143.0 grams of sugar; the weight of the dried-out beets was 945 
grams, and the percentage of sugar was 12.6 per cent., which gives 
us 119.0 grams of sugar. We had, however, 143 grams of sugar to 
start with, and only 119.0 grams at the end, or a loss of 24 grams, 
a trifle over one sixth of the sugar present. 
In the third experiment, the original weight of the sample was 
5517 grams, and the percentage of sugar was 14.44. per cent., show- 
ing the presence of 796.59 grams of sugar; at the end of the experi- 
ment there remained 3423 grams of beets, having 21.57 per cent, of 
sugar, i. e., there was only 739.3 grams of sugar, or 57.2 grams less 
than we had at the beginning ; one fourteenth of that present in the 
fresh beets had disappeared. 
These examples will suffice to illustrate the importance of this 
question, and, also, that there is a loss of sugar, while there is an in- 
crease in the percentage of the sugar in the beet. 
THE YIELD OBTAINED. 
The varieties of beets planted were five in number: Kleinwanz- 
lebener, Vilmorin, Lion Brand, Lane’s Imperial, and Imperial. The 
stand in parts of the plot was thick, and in, probably as much as 
two thirds of it, the stand was good, but in the other third it was ex- 
ceedingly poor. The poor stand, in this part of the plot, was not 
wholly due to failure of the seed to come up, but partly to drowning 
out of the young plants, and partly to the action of the alkali. The 
plants were thinned to nine inches apart. It was necessary to let 
