Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 173 
Beets Grown Beets Grown on 
Montana with 750 Pounds BestPortion of 
Beets Nitrate Bad Land 
Sugar . 18.240 13.400 13.200 
Pure ash. 0.491 0.822 0 942 
Phosphoric acid. 0.081 0.036 0 039 
Nitric nitrogen. None 0.041 0*019 
Total nitrogen. 0.105 0.296 0^245 
Ratio proteid to total nitrogen 53.000 16.920 22.460 
Injurious ash per 100 sugar_ 1.670 4.781 V629 
Injurious nitrogen per 100 sug. 0.167 1.292 1.029 
This statement shows how similar these two samples are and 
how widely they differ from the very excellent sample from Mon¬ 
tana. It lias already been conclusively shown that the poor quality 
of the second sample given in this table was caused by the 750 
pounds of sodic nitrate applied to the beets in three portions, the 
last application being made by the first of June. The results ob¬ 
tained with those beets to which phosphoric acid in the form of 
superphosphate was applied are worthy of careful consideration, 
for the effects produced are the reverse of what was anticipated and 
the beets are very low in quality. These results are not quite con¬ 
sonant with those observed in the case in which we used superphos¬ 
phate alone in our series of fertilizer experiments but are more 
nearly in harmony with the results obtained from its use in conjunc¬ 
tion with the nitrates. 
The beets grown with the application of various quantities of 
Chile-saltpetre in 1910 and one sample grown on very bad land, 
i. e., land very rich in nitrates, were treated in an experimental fac¬ 
tory for the production of thick juices. This was done to deter¬ 
mine whether the practical, technical results were the same as those 
obtained on the large scale by various factories in the Valley. We 
have stated the results obtained showing a depression of the real 
coefficient of purity by 1.93 points. The real coefficient of purity of 
the thick juice produced from the beets grown on very bad land was 
(19.56, only a few points higher than the real coefficient of purity of 
molasses. The nitric nitrogen in these thick juices ranged from a 
minimum of 0.05 to a maximum of 0.49 percent. These juices were 
not boiled, in other words we did not actually determine the amount 
of molasses produced or its composition. We did, however, exam¬ 
ine in all 21 samples of molasses from various sources, 4 from 
Bohemia, 1 from California, i from Michigan and 15 from Colo¬ 
rado. The Colorado molasses are lower in total nitrogen than the 
Bohemian and Michigan samples but very much higher in nitric 
nitrogen. The largest amount of nitric nitrogen found in the 
Bohemian molasses was 0.0082 percent, while the largest amount 
found in Colorado molasses was 0.400 percent. The nitric nitrogen 
in Colorado molasses was lower in 1911 than in 1910 and it was a 
matter of general comment that the juices worked much better in 
