I 
— 39 — 
lated as potassic nitrate, usually corresponds to about 0.20 per cent, 
of the total solids, often more, and sometimes much more. 
The letters. A, B, C, D, in the following table, represent four 
wells at points 150 feet apart, on a line running through the centre 
of my plot ; they are sunk to the gravel bed. E is a well to the 
east of my plot in a piece of ground which has been heavily fertil- 
ized with sheep manure, but is about 100 feet west of an underdrain ; 
in other respects the following table explains itself : 
POTASSIC NITRATE IN THE GROUND WATER. 
Date. 
Total Solids per Mil- 
lion. 
Percentage of KNO 3 
in Total Solids. 
Well A 
July 12, 1897 
4440.0 
0 74 
Wei! A 
September 20, 1897 
2789.1 
0.32 
WeUB 
SpptRmher 20 1897 
3985.7 
0.16 
Welle 
September 20, 1897 
2561.4 
0.37 
Well D 
September 20 , 1897 
3407.1 
0.37 
Well F * 
September 21, 1897 
2187.0 
0 83 
Well E 
September 20, 1897 
807.1 
0.092 
* This sample was taken below the gravel in a newly opened well- 
I have given the potassic nitrate in one set of samples ta|cen 
about 23 days before the crop was harvested, which shows that the 
beets had access to an abundant supply of nitrates, and one greatly 
in excess of that present in the soil proper. 
THE PERCENTAGE OF ASH IN THE BEETS. 
The fodder analyses, given on a preceding page, indicate that 
the general effect of alkali is to increase the percentage of ash in 
the beets grown on ground affected by it. An attempt to establish 
this as a general fact, and to follow the accumulation of the ash in 
the beet plant, is recorded in the following paragraph. 
The samples were carefully prepared for this purpose, and any 
exceptional percentages, appearing in the table, cannot be attributed 
to the presence of sand. The figures represent pure ash. The num- 
ber of beets taken as a sample was usually four, in a few cases I 
took more. The leaves in every case correspond to the beets of that 
variety taken on the same date and from the same section of the 
plot. 
