COSTS OF PRODUCING SUGAR BEETS 15 
cultivator, also, is especially adapted to sugar-beet work, being con- 
structed to cultivate four rows corresponding to the drill. In harvest- 
ing, the beet lifter, a special implement not required for other crops, 
is used. For hauling the beets to the factory, more than the 
ordinary number of wagons and specially constructed wagon boxes 
are needed and in some places trucks are used. Because of the bulki- 
ness of sugar beets, it is uneconomical to transport them any great 
distance to the factory; so that before the sugar-beet industry can 
be established in a community, a local factory must be built and 
aquipped with machinery, beet dumps, railroad sidings, and feed 
yards. The necessary capital investment in an efficient beet-sugar 
factory varies from about $500,000 to $3,000,000, according to the 
~apacity. The average per factory is somewhat over $1,000,000. 
CONSIDERATIONS CONCERNING THE EXPANSION OF THE INDUSTRY 
The economic importance in the United States of the sugar-beet 
industry has already been considered. In addition to the general 
advantages of the maintenance of the industry a number of inciden- 
tal benefits are derived: 
The farmer’s income from the sugar-beet crop is relatively depend- 
able. He knows when he plants his seed what basic price he will 
receive per ton of beets delivered to the factory. The usual contract 
between the beet grower and the factory provides for a basic price 
with a bonus varying according to the price of sugar. Comparison 
may be made between the average income from sugar beets in the 
United States and such competitive cash crops as beans, potatoes, 
and wheat. The average percentage of variation from normal in the 
five-year period 1921-1925 for sugar beets was about the same as 
that for beans but the income from wheat varied considerably more 
and potatoes much more. 
The introduction into a community of an additional cash crop 
adapted to local conditions has a tendency to improve the economic 
status of the farmer. The possibility of choice between several cash 
crops enables him to distribute his acreage and to reduce his risk 
factor. The addition of a suitable cash crop thus has a stabilizing 
effect upon the agriculture of a community. 
The beet-sugar factory with its heavy capital investment is abso- 
lutely dependent for its success upon the successful growing of sugar 
beets in its immediate vicinity. The sugar companies, therefore, 
have endeavored by various methods to promote clean cultivation, 
the sowing of selected seed, the economical use of manure and com- 
mercial fertilizers, and the intelligent handling of the crop. They 
conduct schools, employ agricultural experts and field agents to advise 
the farmers, and distribute educational literature. 
The sugar-beet enterprise readily lends itself to combination 
with the production of livestock. The crop furnishes considerable 
quantities of animal feeds in the form of the beet tops and beet pulp. 
The farmers are encouraged to keep more livestock than they other- 
wise might and this results in larger quantities of manure becoming 
available for fertilizing the land. The thorough and deep cultivation 
necessary for beets reduces weed infestation and constitutes an ideal 
preparation for a succeeding small grain crop. Experience both in