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COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS

significance in the beet-sugar industry of the processes carried on by
the sugar-beet plant it is important that conditions of climate, soil,
and water be favorable and that the necessary cultural practices be
followed if the best results are to be attained. Sugar-beet culture
is therefore an intensive farming operation.
Sugar beets are grown for the beet root, which is the raw material
of beet sugar. The beet seeds are planted in the spring and the
beets are harvested in the fall of the same year, making it an annual
crop. Though grown under a great variety of soil and climatic con~
ditions, the crop thrives best in regions where the soil is rich, the
temperature moderate, and the moisture ample. Where precipita~
tion is insufficient, it is necessary to resort to irrigation.
On the beet farms in this country sugar beets are not the sole crop,
but usually one of several grown on the same farm. In the older
agricultural regions where beets are grown they are an important
crop in the rotation system. In the newer sections, however, less
attention is given to the rotation of crops, and oftentimes beets are
planted on the same ground for a succession of years.
A good seed bed is the first essential to a successful crop, and consequently
 the farmers take great care in the preparation for planting.
The land is usually manured, then plowed and worked down to a fine,
smooth seed bed by disking, harrowing, leveling, dragging, and rolling.
In Michigan and the Rocky Mountain sections the beet seeds are
planted in April and May, and in California in February and March.
Planting is done with a drill and in rows 16 to 24 inches apart.
A few weeks after planting, when the plants appear above ground
and show about four leaves, horse-drawn cultivators are run between
the rows. The beets are then bunched or blocked and thereafter
thinned. The bunching or blocking is done with 4 hoe by chopping
out some of the beets in the row so that small bunches of two, three,
or more plants are left about 10 or 12 inches apart. Thinning, the
next operation, consists of singling the beets left in the bunches so
that only one plant, usually the strongest, from each bunch remains
in the ground. Sometimes two rows are thinned at a time, the
thinner going on his knees between the rows; but as a rule only one
row is thinned at a time, the thinner straddling the row.
In irrigated sections the beets are watered from two to five times
during the season. The water is run down in furrows made between
the rows by horse-drawn cultivators.
As the beet field must be kept free from weeds, one or several hoeings
 are required, the number depending upon the condition of the
land and the prevalence of weed infestation of the particular ground
where the beets are grown.
The crop is harvested when the beets are ripe; that is, when they
have practically their full growth and a sugar content of not less than
12 per cent, as shown by samples tested by the sugar company. The
harvest season is July, August, and September in California, and October,
 November, and December elsewhere. The soil around the
beets is loosened, and the beets are lifted slightly from the ground by
means of horse-drawn or tractor-drawn beet plows or lifters especially
constructed for the purpose. Hand laborers follow the lifters, take
the beets by the tops, pull them completely out of the ground, knock
them together to remove adhering soil, and throw them into windrows
for topping, which is done by hand with beet knives. The person
doing the topping takes hold of the beet roots with one hand. cuts off