Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates i 53 
nized. but was attributed to various things, climatic conditions, leaf- 
spot, insect injuries, seepage, alkali, etc., all of which are factors in 
determining the quality of the season’s crop. Another thing sug¬ 
gested was, naturally enough, a lack of some plant food in the soil 
and consequently attempts were made to find out by direct experi¬ 
ment whether anything* could be added to the soil which would pro¬ 
duce satisfactory crops both in quantity and quality. I have re¬ 
corded the results obtained in regard to the yield of both beets and 
sugar in the earlier pages of this bulletin, which were rather disap¬ 
pointing so far as commercial results were concerned. We, unfor¬ 
tunately, do not feel justified in modifying them in a desirable direc¬ 
tion. We can, however, present a review of what the study of the 
effects of the fertilizers used, had upon the chemical composition of 
the beets, at least in their bolder features. The weights and com¬ 
binations of fertilizers used have been given on previous pages. We 
had in all in 19TO, 31 experiments with fertilizers, that is distinct 
from the nitrate experiments. The beets grown on nine of these 
plots and two check plots were studied with the object of determin¬ 
ing what changes, if any, we had effected in the composition of the 
beets. The land on which these experiments were made has already 
been described and its chemical composition given in connection with 
the detailed statement of the analyses. The results are in harmony 
with those obtained when considered from the purely commercial 
basis. The best beets in every respect with one unimportant, partial 
exception were those grown on a check plot. The plots to which 
only potash or phosphoric acid had been applied yielded beets of 
finite as good quality, but the yield and sugar content were a trifle 
lower in both cases. Stockyard manure seemed to increase the 
phosphoric acid in the beets though it had been applied in 1909 and 
we had only a residual effect in 1910. In these experiments the 
effects of sodic nitrate stand in strong contrast with those obtained 
in the experiment in which 250 pounds were applied to the field, 
designated as No. 1. In this case it produced most excellent results, 
but in every instance in which it was used in the series of experi¬ 
ments under discussion it produced deleterious results though used 
in quantities less than 250 pounds to the acre. One effect was to 
increase the chlorin appropriated by the beets—for instance, the 
beets from check plot contained 0.12746 percent, already very high, 
those with potassic sulfate alone, 0.14657, with superphosphate 
alone, 0.12489, those with potassic sulfate and sodic nitrate, 0.24613, 
those with superphosphate and sodic nitrate o. 17743. The amount 
by which the nitrate increased the chlorin was very irregular, as are 
all of the results, but none of them were beneficial. The beets from 
the check plot were from the standpoint of composition the best 
