— 60- 
remove about 586 pounds, assuming them to be equal to 80 per cent 
of the weight of the roots, and to have an average of 2.62 per cent, 
of ash, which is their average on our soils. This gives us a total 
ranging from 880 to 970 pounds of mineral matter per acre — or de- 
ducting one seventh for carbon dioxid, we have from 754 to 832 
pounds — of which nearly 60 per cent, or from 450 to 500 pounds, is 
potash and soda together. The ratio of the soda to the potash is so 
indefinite, as has been shown, that there is no basis for a very close 
estimate of the amount of soda removed, but, owing to the large 
amount of ash in the leaves, and the richness of this ash in 
soda, about one half of the total alkalies, or from 225 to 250 pounds, 
must be soda. The total phosphoric acid removed is between 40 
and 50 pounds. This is more than the average German crop of 
equal weight removes. The chlorin removed has possibly more sig- 
nificance for our main question than any other constituent. We 
may consider the ash of the root, including the carbon dioxid, as 
containing 12 per cent., and that of the leaves as containing 25 per 
cent. On this basis the roots remove from 35 to 46 pounds, and the 
leaves 146.5 pounds of chlorin per acre, which corresponds to about 
307 pounds of sodic chlorid, or salt, to the acre. The sodic chlorid 
seems to be the only constituent of the alkali removed by the beet 
plant, but as the sulphate of soda constitutes the principal part of 
the alkali, and this being without infiuence upon the composition 
of the ash, it is not clear, even granting that we could raise a crop 
of 14 tons to the acre, to what extent the removal of this amount 
of sodic chlorid would better the condition of the soil. 
The soil in question contains chlorin to the amount of 0.025 
per cent, of the air-dried soil, or, taken to the depth of two feet, about 
2,800 pounds of sodic chlorid to the acre. The water soluble in the 
soil, varies in different portions of the plot from 0.09 per cent, to 
1.4 per cent, of the air-dried soil. The salts, soluble in water, con- 
sist of sodic sulphate, 33 per cent.; calcic sulphate ( CaS 04 ) 36 per 
cent.; magnesic sulphate (MgS 04 ) 21 per cent.; sodic chlorid 2.5 per 
cent.; and loss on ignition, rather less than 7 per cent. The quan- 
tity removed would soon reduce the supply of the sodic chlorid in 
the soil if it were not renewed from some source, but the ground 
water is charged with alkali, of which from 3 to 10 percent, is sodic 
chlorid, a quantity quite sufficient to replace that removed by the 
crop. 
A legitimate question here, is whether this amount of sodic 
chlorid, 2,800 pounds to the acre, taken to a depth of two feet, has 
any detrimental effect upon the growth or quality of the crop. I 
think that the answer must be that it does not. 
While the experiment was made with sugar beets, I did not ex- 
clude stock beets, and an examination of the analyses of these races, 
given with those of the sugar beets, shows that they remove a much 
larger quantity of soda salts in the roots than the sugar beet does, 
