FERTILIZER EXPERIMENTS WITH SUGAR BEETS. 
11 
cation of the fertilizers and weighing the beets from each plat separ¬ 
ately. Ihe weights and tare were taken at the factory in exactly the 
same manner and in. the regular way all beets are received. 
A sufficient number of average beets were taken from each load 
as delivered, or about six per load, to make a total sample of eighteen 
beets per plat for analysis as to sugar content and purity. The only 
reason for the analysis and taking samples in this manner was to de¬ 
termine whether any of the beets as delivered would be unsatisfac¬ 
tory. JNo other comparisons can be made as to the analysis, as there 
was several weeks difference m the time of harvesting the various 
plats and also m exposure to the drying influences of the air, the beets 
having been dug and placed in piles. 
, difference between results from the various fertilizers, when 
the experiment is conducted in this manner must be rather great to 
be oi value, but when large should be convincing. The results how- 
ever, only corroborate those trials made in previous years on smaller areas. 
ihe location of this tract is about one quarter of a mile from the 
grounds where the previous tests reported were made, and appar¬ 
ently of the same character, if anything more productive. The field 
where the experiment was conducted was ideal in location and slope 
being very uniform of surface, smooth, with just sufficient grade to 
facilitate uniform flow of water in irrigation. The plats weie made 
ong in proportion to width, a point of great value in comparative 
tests each plat occupying twelve rows, twenty inches apart, or nearly 
twenty feet wide to 1240 feet or nearly a quarter of a mile long, and 
t lerefoie nearly sixty-three times as long as wide. The average area 
ot the plats was six-tenths acre to each plat. 
•i ex P ei j im ent 1S considerable value for the reason that this 
soil had already previously produced three successive crops of sugar 
beets, the experimental crop being the fourth, and without manure 
on the portion where the plats were located, except on a small strip 
running across all the plats at one end, where manure had been used 
tor two years. This test is of particular value because fertilizers, if 
effective, are needed when the soil is becoming exhausted by succes¬ 
sive crops of sugar beets. The returns from unfertilized and un¬ 
manured plats are disappointing for the purpose of the experiment 
by too high yields, for the various elements in the fertilizers do not 
Have an opportunity to demonstrate what each element can really do 
on exhausted beet soil. That the soil was not exhausted is well seen 
It also shows the staying qualities of our Colorado soil with a pre¬ 
sumably exhausing crop. 1 
Th e land had previously been in alfalfa for a number of years, 
with a crop of wheat succeeding the alfalfa, and before the first crop 
of beets as follows: 1900 alfalfa, of several years standing: 1901 
wheat; 1902 sugar beets, 1903 sugar beets; 1904 sugar beets, 175 
tons per acre,; 1905 sugar beets, as reported in this experiment, 
ihe average yield on twenty five acres, including the fertilizer ex¬ 
periment, and balance of manured land in 1905, was nearly 16.5 tons 
per acre. 
