Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 125 
whole plant on this date; in order to give a correct notion of the 
luxuriance of the tops. There are two plants of each variety. 
Plate VI represents Z R and Plate VII E R. Plate VI, lower fig¬ 
ure, shows the top only of an individual of the Z R variety. 
The land on which these beets were grown is abundantly sup¬ 
plied with nitric nitrogen, at least the samples taken in 1910 from 
the beet plots showed considerable quantities, fallow strips giving 
nitric acid equivalent to 306 pounds of sodic nitrate in the top six 
inches of soil on 18 Oct. 1910. 
In 1911 the divisions of the farm were designated as sections 
and plots. The section immediately west of the beet plots, section 
1700, was partly fallow, but had been cultivated throughout the sea¬ 
son though not irrigated. It was covered with a fine soil mulch. 
This fallow portion was divided into three portions for the purpose 
of determining the nitric nitrogen in it and sixteen samples taken to 
the depth of two inches, and a like number to a depth of four inches 
from each section; these were united to form composite samples 
representing the respective depths. There were four samples taken 
from each section from the fourth to the seventh inch inclusive and 
united to form a composite sample. These samples were taken 14 
Sept. 1911. The beets in the adjoining section were growing rap¬ 
idly at this time.. The nitrates, calculated as sodic nitrate, amounted 
to 670 pounds in the top seven inches of the south section, 517 
pounds in the top seven inches of the middle section and 320 pounds 
in the top four inches of the north section. These determinations 
were made by the phenol-sulfonic acid method. We have done this, 
however, with other samples of the soil and found that they agreed 
very well with the Schloesing method. These amounts of nitrates, 
provided like amounts were formed in the sections occupied by the 
beets, are quite sufficient to account for the extraordinarily vigorous 
growth of tops in those sections to which we applied no nitrate. We 
were aware of the fact that this land furnishes many hundreds of 
pounds of nitrates per acre-foot of soil under favorable conditions. 
The deportment of the beets in 1910 as well as our analytical results 
had fully apprised us of this fact. The luxuriant growth of tops 
and their blue-green color on 1 Aug. 1911 showed it almost as cer¬ 
tainly as our subsequent determinations. 
It may be well in this connection to restate our purpose in apply¬ 
ing sodic nitrate under such conditions. It has been shown by Prof. 
Remy that the greatest consumption of nitrogen by beets takes place 
during the months of June and July. The growth and color of the 
tops in July admitted of no question but that these beets had been 
well supplied with nitrogen during this period. Our results in 1910 
showed that the application of from 230 to 750 pounds per acre, 
applied subsequent to 1 April and in addition to 250 pounds applied 
