— 38 — 
The difference between the beets from the two soils, will, per- 
haps, be more easily understood from the statement that the average 
ash and crude protein percentage in the beets grown on soil free from 
alkali, is 5.03 and 7.36, respectively, while they are 6.75 and 10.10 
for these constituents in the other samples ; the proteids are nearly 3 
per cent, higher in the beets grown in the presence of the alkali. 
The composition of the marc exhibits the fact that five sixths 
of the crude protein is removed by the diffusion, and about four 
fifths of the ash. The feeding value of the dry marc is, pound for 
pound, but a little inferior to the dry sugar beet, others make it 
slightly better. It may be safe to estimate it as about equal, but it 
must be kept in mind that it takes 400 pounds of dry beets, or one 
ton of green beets, to yield 100 pounds of dry pulp or marc. 
The dry matter from the leaves is exceedingly rich in crude 
protein, and were it not for the large percentage of ash present would, 
doubtlessly, make a good fodder. The green leaves contain about 
10 per cent, of dry matter, and 2.7 per cent. ash. I have had no 
experience in feeding green beet leaves, but it would seem to be a 
question whether the ingestion of so large an amount of ash constit- 
uents, largely potash and soda salts, would be beneficial. 
The analyses of the fodder beets are interesting, but in estimat- 
ing their Value it must be remembered, that the fresh beet contains 
from 86-88 per cent, of water, against 79-82 per cent, in the sugar 
beet. 
The chards were analyzed, purely as a matter of interest. I 
cultivated them in the hope that I would find them more effective 
in removing soda salts from the soil than the beets. I was disap- 
pointed ; they did. not endure the soil conditions nearly as well as 
the beets, and the dry matter in the tops contained less ash than the 
beet leaves. I expected them to produce an immense crop of leaves, 
but they did not. If success is to be attained by growing a heavy 
crop of foliage, rich in ash carrying much soda, some other plant 
than the chard must be chosen. 
The percentage of crude fibre in the'beets is very irregular, but 
is uniformly higher in the beets from the alkalized ground than in 
the others. In the leaves the contrary is noticeable, the percentage 
of crude fibre being quite constant. The nitrogen free extract is also 
quite uniform in quantity. The effect of the alkali is greater upon 
the composition of the beets than upon that of the leaves. 
The increase in tlie proteids is probably due to the presence of 
nitrates in the ground water. The amount of nitrogen in the soils 
of my plot is small, varying from 0.04 to 0.065 per cent. The ground 
water, on the other hand, contains appreciable quantities of nitric 
acid. The amount of total solids in the ground water varies with 
the different wells, and at different times. The nitric acid, calcu- 
