Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 151 
which we have designated as bad land and on which the samples 
under discussion were grown. This land had a fall of about 2.4 
feet per hundred to the north, so that the south end of our field 
was about 18 feet higher than the north end and the excessively bad 
conditions prevailed in only a small portion of that planted to beets. 
For the purpose of our study we divided the plots into three sections, 
the highest, the medium and the lowest, in which the worst land that 
the owner had tried to cultivate was not included. A sample from 
this portion, however, is included with those from our check plot. 
These beets are represented by Analyses C, Cl, CII and CIII, their 
ashes by Analyses CXIV, CXV, CXVI and CXVII. The variety 
of beets was the Original Kleinwanzlebener. The character of the 
beets from the various sections differed only in degree, and in this 
not to the extent that one would expect. We see by an inspection 
of the analyses that the percentage of sugar is low, 13.2 to 8.6 per¬ 
cent, the dry substance is low, from 21 to 16.5, the pure ash in the 
beets is very high, from 0.89514 to 1.32875, the phosphoric acid is 
very low, from 0.03875 to 0.02007. The chlorin is high, from 
0.15188 to 0.30396, the potassic oxid is only moderately high, see 
percentage in pure ash, the sodic oxid above that required by the 
chlorin is moderately high. The total nitrogen is high, one sample 
excepted, 0.23345 to 0.3451, the nitric nitrogen is high in all sam¬ 
ples, from 0.01936 to 0.08337, th e injurious ash per 100 sugar is 
from 5.629 to 13.433, the injurious nitrogen from 1.02880 to 
2.04840, and the ratios of albumin nitrogen to total nitrogen in 
press juice 22.6 to 19.0. We have in these analyses results which 
are altogether characteristic of the effects of nitrates and while the 
excessive salts in the soil may have influenced the composition of 
these beets they have not done so to a sufficient extent to conceal 
in the least these effects characteristic of the nitrates, for instance, 
low percentages of sugar, dry substance, phosphoric acid, high total 
nitrogen, high nitric nitrogen, low ratio of albumin or proteid nitro¬ 
gen to total nitrogen and high ratios for the injurious ash and nitro¬ 
gen per 100 pounds of sugar. The pure ash calculated on the beet 
and the chlorin are both high, but these effects are common to the 
nitrate, excessive moisture and the alkalis, so their joint effect is 
cumulative and the effect of one does not tend to lessen or remove 
the effect of the other. 
Beets grown on the worst section of this land were run in an 
experimental plant and the diffusate treated as usual and evaporated 
to a thick juice, which had a real coefficient of purity of 69.56, not 
much better than molasses. The carbonated ash of this thick juice 
equalled 14.810 percent. The amount of nitrates present in the 
surface six inches of this soil as calculated from samples of soil 
