Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 83 
experiment are not in agreement with what the results of the preced¬ 
ing* series suggest. In the former series the application of 200 and 
400 pounds of sodic nitrate in conjunction with potash and phos¬ 
phoric acid which, it is agreed, tend to lessen or neutralize the bad 
effects of the nitrate, produced decidedly bad effects, but in this series 
we applied 250 pounds per acre alone and the results are favorable, 
but with 500 pounds per acre we have apparently passed the limits 
of beneficial action and with 1,000 pounds per acre applied in. four 
equal portions at intervals of about four weeks beginning just before 
seeding time we reach the maximum of the deleterious effects as 
measured by these factors. Field 1 with 250 pounds of nitrate 
applied just before seeding gave us, according to our laboratory 
samples the best yield and the best beets, they are in fact better beets 
than the Michigan sample which we selected in an endeavor to ob¬ 
tain a standard for comparison in which we found 15.3 percent 
sugar, 0.229 percent total nitrogen and 0.51237 injurious nitrogen 
per 100 sugar. In the beets from Field 1, with 250 pounds of sodic 
nitrate we found 15.7 and 16.5 percent sugar, 0.14470 and 0.14485 
percent total nitrogen and 0.43758 and 0.36424 part injurious nitro¬ 
gen per 100 sugar. In respect to the ratio of injurious nitrogen to 
sugar, the beets from Field 1 were better than our Fort Collins beets 
which showed 0.62899 per 100 of sugar. The samples from Field 
2 with 500 pounds per acre are not so good, but even these are better 
beets than those produced in our experiments with fertilizers and 
the total nitrogen is not particularly high, 0.18 and 0.20 percent, 
while the injurious nitrogen per 100 of sugar is 0.60054 and 0.68221 
for the samples taken 3 Nov. In the other cases the total nitrogen 
was higher and the injurious nitrogen per 100 of sugar rose to a 
maximum of 1.40267. The amino nitrogen in this series rose to a 
maximum of 0.07438 and is above 0.045 ' m every case except one. 
There was but little difference in the growth of the beets on 
Ffield 1 and of those on adjoining plots so far as the size of the tops 
and their color were concerned, they were - all luxuriant and a deep 
green till the leaf-spot appeared. This was not the case with the 
three acres receiving the largest applications. On these one could 
easily distinguish the bigger and more abundant foliage. This dif¬ 
ference may have been due to the larger quantity of nitrate, or to 
the time it was applied; be this as it may, the foliage was distinctly 
heavier and of a blue green color. No attempt was made to deter¬ 
mine the weight of the tops, this would have been impossible owing 
to the destruction of leaves by the leaf-spot and by the wheels of the 
spraying outfit. There was a perceptible difference in the size and 
color of the fields that received the heavier applications of nitrates 
and the check field. 
These amounts of nitrates exercised a very perceptible influ- 
