126 The Colorado Experiment Station 
on ths date was decidedly prejudicial. The application of 250 
pounds 1 May produced only a small depreciation in the value of 
the beets, but further applications of this amount, made at intervals 
of four weeks, up to 27 July, produced very bad results. The sup¬ 
ply of nitrates furnished by our soils continues, as shown by samples 
taken from beet fields throughout the season, even into early winter. 
We wished to demonstrate what the effects of an excessive supply of 
nitrates late in the season may actually be. 
The choice of the land known to be already well supplied with 
this form of nitrogen may be considered ill-advised. This was the 
most accessible and practically the only available land at our dis¬ 
posal and there are some advantages in using such land for the large 
supply in the check plots, in a measure protected us against exag¬ 
gerated results due to the nitrate added, which might have been pro¬ 
duced had we used land which was only moderately well supplied 
with or was even in need of nitrogen. 
The details of the cultivation received have already been given 
in sufficient fullness. 
The first samples were taken 8 Aug. from plots of the same 
varieties to which no nitrates had been applied. The data obtained 
from these samples will show the condition of the beets at the time 
we made the first application, 4 Aug., with reasonable accuracy as 
only four days had elapsed. 
The 1911 series of experiments differ in the following essen¬ 
tial particulars from those of 1910, the seasons though favorable 
were different, the soils were both productive but not alike in char¬ 
acter, in 1910 the nitrate was all applied before 1 Aug., in 1911 none 
was applied until after this date. In 1910 the beets grown in the 
Arkansas Valley were quite severely attacked by the leaf-spot, the 
1911 samples grown at Fort Collins were not affected at all, a few 
leaves could be found here and there showing this fungus, but they 
were scarce and the disease was wholly negligible, but while the 
varieties were standard ones in both cases, they were not the same. I 
regretted this but I could not help it. In 1910 our experiments 
were made with Original Kleinwanzlebener, in 1911 with Wokanka 
heaviest yielders, “ER” and richest in sugar, “Z R.” There is no 
question but that these strains differ in some respects, among which 
may be included their susceptibility to varied conditions. Our re¬ 
sults are so positive and consistent, however, that these differences in 
the strains of beets do not conceal them, though some differences do 
find expression in our results. 
The land used in 1911 was part of the same field on which the 
college beets of 1910 were grown. This land is level, well located 
and the soil productive. It contains according to older analyses of 
general samples, potash soluble in hydrochloric acid 0.87, phosphoric 
