i66 The Colorado Experiment Station 
begun, at most, only a few analyses had been made to determine 
what effects the nitrates actually have upon the composition of the 
sugar beet. At the present time I know of only two such, made by 
Andrlik. Our first step was to establish a series of experiments to 
demonstrate this point and to ascertain whether beets grown with 
known excessive quantities of nitrates possess the qualities and 
composition of our general crop. We applied in 1910 from 250 to 
C 2 5° pounds of Chile-saltpetre in portions of 250 pounds each. 
1 his required six plots, five of which received nitrates while the 
sixth did not. Another series of experiments was made with super¬ 
phosphate, potassic chlorid and salt, sodic chlorid, on a piece of bad 
ground which had been planted to beets to see what effect these fer¬ 
tilizers would have upon the crop, the ripening and composition of 
the beets. 
As standards of comparison for quality and composition, we 
have chosen samples from three localities, Montana, Michigan and 
Colorado. The Montana sample did not come to hand till this work 
was nearly completed but it possesses the highest quality of any sam¬ 
ple examined. 
The beets analyzed represent several classes : First, beets grown 
on ordinary, good soil without fertilizers; second, beets grown on 
good soil with various fertilizers; third, beets grown on good soil 
with various quantities of nitrates alone; fourth, beets grown on 
soil in which large quantities of nitrates had already developed; 
fifth, beets grown on nitrate land with the application of phosphoric 
acid, potash and soda; sixth, beets grown with green manure; sev¬ 
enth, beets grown on College Experiment Farm at Fort Collins, 
1910; eighth, beets grown with application of nitrates on College 
Experiment Farm, Fort Collins, in 1911; ninth, beets grown on 
College Experiment Farm in 1911 without application of nitrates; 
tenth, beets grown on the College Experiment Farm from which the 
tops were removed 6 Sept. 1911. 
The criteria adopted to judge of the quality of our beets, 
though not formally enumerated, are the following: the nitric nitro¬ 
gen, the phosphoric acid, the injurious ash, the injurious nitrogen, 
the ratio of the proteid nitrogen to the total, especially in the juice, 
and the percentage of sugar. Andrlik used the percentage of 
sugar, the injurious ash and the injurious nitrogen per 100 of sugar. 
I have added the nitirc nitrogen, the phosphoric acid and the ratio 
of the proteid nitrogen to the total nitrogen because they appear to 
be important factors in this study. 
In regard to standards, we observe in the six samples of cos- 
seties quoted from Andrlik that the total nitrogen is quite high, and 
that the ratio of the proteid to the total nitrogen is practically 59 
percent. This ratio, even in his poorest sample, does not fall below 
