ioo The Colorado Experiment Station 
As no ash analyses were made on the first two sets of samples, 
I have given the statement of the sugar, dry substance and nitrogen 
for the.three sets in one table for the easier comparison of these 
data. 
The essential points in the composition of the soil have been 
given in previous paragraphs and attention has been called to the 
low percentage of total nitrogen and die high ratio of the nitric 
nitrogen to the total, from 3.13 to 18.93 percent. 
The amount of foliage and its color and the size of the beets, 
which averaged for all the samples taken, 3 Nov. 665.7 grams, indi¬ 
cate an abundant supply of nitrogen, though the average of the six 
composite samples taken is only 0.108 percent. The growth and 
color of the foliage and the total nitrogen in the beets indicate a de¬ 
cided excess of this element. The total nitrogen in the first beets, 
38 out of the 39 samples analyzed ranged from 0^1902 to 0.3451 
percent with four below 0.2000 percent. One sample fell to o. 15995 
percent. The nitric'nitrogen ranged from 0.0163 to 0.09319 per¬ 
cent. The last set of samples was submitted to an even more ex¬ 
tended investigation, which emphasizes the very bad quality of these 
beets. The samples taken from the check plot show that the injur¬ 
ious ash ranges from 5.63 to 13.43 parts for each 100 parts of sugar 
and that the injurious nitrogenous substances (injurious nitrogen 
x 10) ranged from 7.39 to 20.48 parts per 100 of sugar. There 
can be no question but that these bad properties are mainly due to 
the excessive nitrates in the soil which in the section corresponding 
to the third sample of beets in each series showed on the 22 June 
nitric nitrogen equal to 3,240 pounds of sodic nitrate in the top four 
inches of soil per acre, and in the section designated as very bad 
land we found in soil gathered from beneath the leaves of a beet 
and close to the root, 8 October 1910, ntric acid corresponding to 
sodic nitrate equal to 0.823 percent of the air dried soil or 5,468 
pounds in the top two inches of the'soil. 
There were only three experiments with fertilizers in which we 
sampled the beets, i. e., with phosphoric acid, superphosphate 1,000 
pounds; potassic and sodic chlorid at the rate of 400 pounds per 
acre. The heavy application of superphosphate was made with the 
idea that the phosphoric acid thus added might cause an earlier 
ripening of the beets and consequently materially improve the quality 
of the beets. The others, potassic and sodic chlorid, were added to 
see if they would produce any effect upon the beets under these con¬ 
ditions and, if so, what. I have previously stated that in regard to 
the growth and appearance of the plants no difference whatsoever 
is 0.0045.’, percent higher than in these beets it is still low, the lowest with one 
exception, of the thirteen samples given. 
tThese samples had been siloed for four weeks before the juices were 
analyzed. 
