36 
Bulletin 58. 
cultivation and continued cropping to the same crop, has to 
ameliorate the effects of unfavorable soil conditions. 
§ 57. Reference was made to the question as whether the 
manure added to the soil, acted, in this case, as a fertilizer or as a 
mechanical agent, simply improving the physical condition of the 
soil. The composition of the ash shows that its action is not merely 
physical but is well marked chemically, in that the percentage of 
chlorin is lowered and that of phosphoric acid is increased. 
§ 58. Reference to the Tables Nos. I. and II., showing the 
percentage of sugar, etc., for the years 1898 and 1899, will show 
that the effect of the manure upon the sugar content and coefficient 
of purity was not marked until the end of the season, or the period 
of ripening. This was especially true in 1898; the difference in 
favor of the not manured plots being greater in 1899 than in 1898. 
It should, however, be borne in mind that all of the beets in ’99 
are remarkably high in sugar, and quite up to the average in 
purity, and while the beets grown on the plots having received no 
manure were better than those grown on plots which had received 
manure, it is not to be inferred that the latter were poor beets in 
regard to either sugar content or purity, for the averages for the two 
varieties grown on the manured plots in 1899 were 15.06 per cent, 
sugar, 81.7 purity, and 14.15 per cent, sugar, 77.7 purity, while 
those grown without manure showed 15.34 per cent, sugar, 80.8 
purity, and 16.24 per cent, sugar and 84.5 purity. 
The effects of the straw were probably almost wholly 
mechanical, and this effect was very evident. The effect of the 
sheep manure was evident in the improvement of the physical 
condition of the' soil, in the germination of the seed, the more 
vigorous growth of the crop, the shape of the beets, the sugar con¬ 
tent of the beets, the coefficient of purity, and in its effects upon the 
composition of the ash. 
§ 59. The effects of the manure upon the vigor of the growth, 
the percentage of sugar and the coefficient of purity were quite as 
marked in the second as in the first crop grown on the soil after the 
application of the manure. The manure being more thoroughly 
incorporated with the soil the second year, did not produce as 
marked effects upon the shape of the beets as it did the first year. 
COMPOSITION OF THE MANURE APPLIED. 
§ 60. It has already been stated that the amount of manure 
applied was at the rate of sixty-four tons to the acre, also that it 
was applied broadcast in February and plowed under in May. At 
the time of the application of the manure, my opinion was that 
this soil was so abundantly rich in plant food that the only effect of 
the manure would be mechanical. The results observed show that 
