Deterioration Sugar Beets Due to Nitrates 175 
and the subsequent ones at the rate of 125 pounds per acre. The 
land used for these experiments was already abundantly supplied 
with nitric nitrogen and the growth of the beets was luxuriant. The 
effects of the nitrates applied became noticeable within a few days 
and became more marked as the season advanced. The beets on the 
check plots showed signs of ripening by 10 October, while those on 
the nitre-plots remained entirely green. The beet tops on the nitre- 
plots were bigger and had a deep green color up to the time when 
they were killed by frost, 20 October. The average weight of the 
beets was slightly increased as well as the ripening delayed. 
The composition of the beets and leaves was determined at the 
time of the first application of nitrate was made and every 14 days 
thereafter till the beets were harvested 8 November. The last sam¬ 
ple of leaves was taken 12 October because they were frozen on 20 
October. The effect of the nitrate upon the composition of the 
leaves was noticeable 18 August or 12 days after its application and 
also upon the composition of the beets, the total nitrogen both in the 
beets and in the press juice being higher than in those from the 
check plots, the first sample of which complete analyses of bath 
leaves and beets were made was taken 12 October. The 
leaves of the beets to which nitrate had been applied were still green, 
while those on the check plots had just begun to show ripening. The 
leaves were separated into blades and stems for the purpose of the 
nitrogen determinations but the ash was prepared from the whole 
leaf. The differences in the composition of the leaves on this date 
are smaller than one would expect, especially as the check plots were 
very evidently maturing while the others were not. The total nitro¬ 
gen in the blades was not very different in the two samples and was 
very nearly the same as it had been in the earlier samples. The 
total nitrogen in the stems, petioles, on'the other hand, was higher 
than it had been in earlier samples, and was higher in those of the 
beets that had received nitre than in those from the check plots. 
The greatest differences were shown in the nitric nitrogen present. 
The first samples of leaves which were divided into blades and stems 
were taken 1 September. The blades in these samples showed the 
presence of nitric nitrogen, those from the beets which had been 
dressed with nitre approximately 50 percent more than those from 
the check plots. The blades from the variety E R contained, on 
this date, 1 Sept., 0.01060 and 0.00730 percent nitric nitrogen re¬ 
spectively. The next samples of leaves that were divided into 
blades and stems were taken 28 Sept. The blades of the same 
variety E R contained on this date 0.01289 and 0.0000 percent of 
nitric nitrogen, in other words, the nitric nitrogen had entirely dis¬ 
appeared from the blades of the leaves from the check plots, while 
the amount in the blades of the others had increased. Each leaf, 
