Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 35 
is very difficult to determine what we should adopt as a standard 
beet. This is a small matter so far as the percentage of sugar is 
concerned because the differences are so great and the average sugar 
content of the beet, as it now grows in the Arkansas Valley, is so 
much lower than it was six and ten years ago that all will agree 
that the beets are poor in this respect whatever standard may be 
adopted. The matter is not so easy when it comes to the question 
of composition. It is evident that, for my purposes, I can scarcely 
take Colorado grown beets, on the other hand foreign beets, viz: 
German beets, grown under entirely different conditions of cultiva¬ 
tion, soil, and climate, can not safely be adopted, even though the 
beets may have been grown from the same strains of seed. We 
shall very largely use German data, because it is the best to which I 
have access, but this will not relieve me from the necessity of using 
certain beets as standards of comparison. I have chosen one sample 
of beets from Michigan, one from Montana and one from the Poudre 
Valley, Colorado, for this purpose. The latter probably represents 
the highest grade of Colorado beets. 
The following German data are taken from an article by K. 
Andrlik, Zeitschrift des Vereins der Deutschen Zuckerindustrie for 
1903, PP- 906-937. The analyses are of fresh cossettes. 
ANALYSES OF GERMAN BEETS. 
I. 
II. 
III. 
IV. 
V. 
VI. 
Dry substance. 
25.450 
25.250 
23.360 
34.400 
22.800 
25.020 
Sugar . 
16.600 
16.900 
15.880 
16.800 
14.500 
17.200 
Crude ash . 
0.800 
0.806 
0.919 
0.813 
0.784 
0.746 
Fine a,sh. 
0.634 
0.631 
0.581 
0.562 
0.636 
0.557 
Injurious ash. 
0.386 
0.391 
0.315 
0.297 
0.400 
03.35 
Total nitrogen . 
0.257 
0.252 
0.210 
0.199 
0.306 
0.186 
Proteid nitrogen . 
0.113 
0.112 
0.110 
0.107 
0.120 
0.109 
Injurious Nitrogen .... 
0.114 
0.112 
0.088 
0.082 
0.141 
0.070 
Potassic oxid (K„0).... 
0.292 
0.297 
0.228 
0.218 
0.242 
0.254 
Sodic oxid (Na o 0). 
0.047 
0.043 
0.046 
0.044 
0.076 
0.043 
Calcic oxid (CaO) . 
0.042 
0.046 
0.064 
0.065 
0.054 
0.060 
Magnesic oxid (MgOj . . 
0.074 
0.075 
0.065 
0.066 
0.094 
0.063 
Iron and alumnic oxid 
(FeAl) 2 O s . 
0.030 
0.026 
0.054 
0.049 
0.036 
0.090 
Phosphoric acid (P,0 3 ). 
0.094 
0.093 
0.084 
0.085 
0.042 
0.084 
Sulfuric acid, SO,. 
0.033 
0.038 
0.033 
0.027 
0.034 
0.027 
Chlorin (Cl) . 
0.014 
0.013 
0.008 
0.008 
0.038 
0.011 
Insoluble ... 
0.098 
0.099 
0.344 
0.241 
0.037 
0.125 
Percentage 
Potassic oxid, K„0. 36.500 
Composition of the 
36.970 24.900 
Ash.* 
26.790 
30.900 
34.030 
Sodic oxid, Na„0. 
5.S80 
5.370 
5.000 
5.500 
9.700 
5.730 
Calcic oxid, CaO. 
5.750 
5.710 
7.010 
7.980 
0.890 
7.530 
Magnesic oxid, MgO. . . . 
9.270 
9.300 
7.110 
8.180 
12.000 
8.520 
Iron and aluminic oxid 
(Fe A1).,0 3 . 
3.840 
3.240 
5.920 
6.110 
4.630 
4.020 
Phosphoric acid, P„0 3 . . . 
11.760 
11.500 
8.660 
10.290 
5.330 
11.200 
Sulfuric acid, SO,. 
3.840 
4.700 
3.520 
3.260 
4.340 
3.800 
Chlorin, Cl . 
1.770 
1.630 
0.890 
0.800 
4.590 
1.400 
Insoluble . 
12.260 
12.230 
37.480 
29.640 
4.690 
16.850 
*These percentages have evidently been 
calculated on the 
crude ash.- 
—H. 
