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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 conse- 
quently 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 hoe- 
ings 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 Oc- 
tober, 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