Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 163 
merited with did not at any time, in the four years, fall to a greater 
depth than four feet and was less than three feet below the surface 
for a good portion of the growing season, without serious effects 
upon the yield or quality of the beets. These observations have 
been repeated many times since this series of experiments was made. 
Again, the conditions popularly described as seepage and alkali are 
not prevalent enough to justify their serious consideration as the 
cause of the deterioration of the general crop. 
The view that the quality of the beets has fallen off because the 
plant food in the soil has either been exhausted or the relative quan¬ 
tities have been so modified that this change may be the cause, is 
held by some. Experiments were made in an endeavor to answer 
these questions, i. e., to see if we could obtain an increased yield 
and at the same time effect an improvement in the sugar content of 
the beet. These were in the beginning the objects had in view. 
The only probable deficiency in our soils, judging from analytical 
data, is in the supply of nitrogen, but experiments with different 
fertilizers in various combinations were made to demonstrate their 
value in the solution of our problems. The results obtained were 
disappointing, and in no case have we obtained results which justified 
the view that the depreciation in the sugar content of the beets was 
due to the lack of plant foods, or to their ratio within the limits of 
the quantities used in the experiments. The soil on which the ex¬ 
periments of 1909 and 1910 were made was sampled to a depth of 
three feet. The samples were taken from the check plots and 
showed a great abundance of both phosphoric acid and potash. The 
samples represent sections of one foot each. The phosphoric acid 
soluble in strong hydrochloric acid in the surface foot of the re¬ 
spective plots was 7,520 and 8,040 pounds; the potash soluble in 
the same medium was 35,480 and 32,520 pounds and the total nitro¬ 
gen was found to be 4.320 and 3,684 pounds. The application of 
nitrogen either in the form of stockyard manure or in that of sodic 
nitrate alone or in conjunction with phosphoric acid and potash did 
not produce the favorable results expected. This statement applies 
to the yield of sugar rather than to the other qualities of the crop 
which form a separate question. The sugar in this whole series of 
beets was low, the yield very moderate, scarcely an average one, the 
ash in the beets was high, the pure ash in the fresh beet exceeded in 
some cases one percent. The results indicate that the poor quality 
of these beets was not due to any lack of plant food, not even of 
nitrogen. The moderate yield and low sugar content could not be 
attributed to indifferent cultivation, lack of care or intelligent man¬ 
agement, or to injury by insect or fungi. There was some leaf- 
spot but it was not serious. 
An effort was made to establish the effects of leaf-spot on the 
