Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 31 
nLnf i nches '. .^ hls <l uantlt y is ver y Iar gT, speaking from the stand¬ 
point from which we are accustomed to consider this question but 
is veiy much below excessive occurrences with which we meet in 
case of some lands actually planted to beets. This figure, 160 n. D 
m., calculated as sodic nitrate, is equal to 960 p. p. m., or taking the 
top six inches of soil as weighing 2,000,000 pounds, we would have 
1,902 pounds 01 this salt within reach of a growing crop It is not 
proven nor do we wish to assert that the beet crop grown on the 
o* ege taim in 1909 actually used up an amount of nitrates repre¬ 
sented by the difference between the amounts found in fallow spots 
in t lese beet plots and in the ground between the beets, but we do 
• °‘d a */ u ; y P roven that the conditions obtaining in our soils make 
it probable t,iat unless some prohibitive condition exist the beets 
grown on this particular piece of ground will be furnished with so 
1 ei a. a supply of nitrates as to be detrimental to the quality of the 
crop. This means that this land will be apt to produce top or turnip- 
shaped beets, with big crowns, heavy foliage, a very moderate sugar 
content and a low coefficient of purity, unless the season be un- 
usuaHy long and permit of their maturing. The facts in this case 
will be taken up later. 
,, be ' l , Stat «' with emphasis that I do not propose to explain 
a 1 .ie ills that beset the sugar beet crop by attributing them directly 
or indirectly to the formation of nitrates in the soil, but I do claim 
. at - w e have here an old question in such an intense form as to prac¬ 
tically become a new one of the most serious import to the industry 
of producing sugar from the beet root in large sections of, if not in 
the whole of the state. My object has been to try to find out to 
what extent my views are in harmony with the facts and I am happy 
to believe that, in trying to do this, I have the good will of the peo- 
ple most directly concerned, for they have become fully convinced 
that there is a big problem involved which has not yet been solved. 
1 bis is the real reason why I have discussed in their bigger features 
the questions of seepage, of alkali, of fertilizers, of the leaf-spot and 
their effects upon the crop and its sugar content. No one knowing 
very much about Colorado agriculture would deny or attempt to 
minify the importance of these questions; they are real questions, 
. on the other hand, persons with only a very moderate knowl¬ 
edge of our agricutural problems or men engaged in this pursuit 
when brought into actual contact with problems which they cannot 
solve, whose solution is perhaps unknown, are apt to assign a role 
to known or visible agencies which belong to wholly different ones 
In the estimation of the public, alkali has, from the beginning of 
our agriculture, been a veritable bate noir, likewise an excess of 
water. [lie latter of course presents important questions but the 
question is whether we have not, in too great a measure laid upon 
