Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 29 
phate, potassic sulfate, etc., under our conditions of climate and soil 
The answer is that the results have not been such as to justify any 
expectation ot a sufficient increase in yield of beets or percentage of 
sugar to be at all profitable. We shall in subsequent paragraphs 
present their effects upon the composition of the beet. 
the leaf s^ot ! ungus dis *f se > up to the present time, has been 
t e leaf-spot, which is generally supposed to be dependent upon cli¬ 
matic conditions for its rapid development, and no one can doubt 
ts very rapid development and general distribution in the Arkansas 
Valley in 1909 and 1910, we have presented such facts as are avail- 
ab e,^ and which we think properly usable in this case, to show to 
wha. extent we are justified in attributing severe damage to the crop 
to tms cause. VVbile the leaf-spot certainly destroys the foliage and 
probably affects both the sugar content and yield of beets the extent 
of the injury done by this fungus is not very clearly shown at least 
not by he observations of 1910. There are, o,/the othe, hand! 
c ear indications that whatever may be the influence of the leaf-spot 
soi conditions are quite as potent if not more so, in determining the 
yield and sugar content of the crop 
descr , ibed the of excessive quantities of 
. 1 1 ates * n sol l u P° n the apple tree in Bulletin i cs I added “This 
is the only effect of this soil condition that I wish^to present at this 
tin e though there are other serious agricultural conditions which I 
nl Tl 7 u W ' ,n , find _ attnb ^ b l e t° this cause, i. e„ to an excess of 
n ' tr ® j , the , i Sometimes due to too much at one time as is 
attested by the death of apple and also other kinds of trees, some- 
mes to too great an aggregate supply during the season. The fol- 
oumg may illustrate what I mean by the latter statement. It is gen¬ 
erally conceded that the application of nitrates to the sugar beet 
except in the earlier stages of its growth, is detrimental to the qual- 
• y of . the bt has been and is now recommended that if nitrate 
is to be used on this crop that it be applied just before planting the 
seed. I understand that m some parts of Germany they now apply 
some nitrate as late as the middle or latter part of June. Touching 
upon this point in Bulletin 155 I put the question as follows: “But 
what will be the condition of the crop if it receives a continuous sup¬ 
ply, amounting, during the season, to 600 or 800 pounds (of nitrate) 
or is planted in soil which already contains several times this amount 
per acre ? _ If the assumption that nitrates, when present in laree 
quantities, injuriously affect the quality of the beet be true, then 
eets grown in such soils ought to be very poor in quality, but not 
necessardy in crop.” We, at that time, October 1909, endeavored 
to establish the amount of nitric nitrogen in the soil of one of the 
Lf. , s on College farm, a part of which was planted to beets. I 
think that eight parts of nitric nitrogen per million of soil may be 
