New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 439 



(2) The highest reported cost was due to neglect in not weed- 

 ing the beets in time. This ought to afford a good object lesson 

 as to the necessity of prompt and sufficient culture of the crop. 



(3) In most cases, the work was carried on with whatever ap- 

 pliances happened to be on hand and in few cases was any special 

 form of machine or tool used to save hand labor. 



(4) The cost of growing beets on quarter-acre plats is neces- 

 sarily more expensive in proportion than in case of beets grown 

 on a commercial scale. The larger the acreage, the smaller should 

 be the cost per acre. 



(5) If farmers were to charge against any farm crop in the 

 same detailed way the various items of cost in growing, the re- 

 sults would undoubtedly show quite as much to their disadvan- 

 tage as to that of sugar beets. 



(6) While the figures presented below are of service in show- 

 ing what the cost of sugar beets may be when the work is car- 

 ried on without special appliances and without previous experi- 

 ence, and while they show what this crop is apt to cost farmers 

 when they first undertake to grow it, the figures do not repre- 

 sent the cost of sugar beets grown under favorable conditions, 

 where labor-saving appliances are used and where the grower has 

 acquired experience in growing beets most economically and in- 

 telligently. 



According to the returns made by those raising beets, it may 

 be seen that the cost of growing one acre of sugar beets varied 

 from $33.34 to $108.86 and averaged $59.87. This made the 

 cost of one ton of sugar beets, trimmed and washed, vary from 

 $2.60 to $10 and average $4.50. A careful analysis of the de- 

 tailed data upon which these results are based shows that the 

 amount and cost of labor varied greatly with different individuals. 



(1) The number of hours of team labor employed per acre 

 varied from 5 to 44 and averaged 30^. The estimated cost of 

 team labor per hour varied from 15 to 30 cents and averaged 

 23£ cents. The total cost of team labor employed varied from 

 $2 to $13.40 an acre and averaged $7. 



