MICHIGAN BEET SUGAR IN 1900. 389 



heretofore. I believe the work of tlie sugar factories has been one con- 

 tributing cause to this healthy economic condition. 



This demand for labor is fairly certain to be permanent, as it seems 

 hardly possible that any machine can be invented that can take the 

 place of the human hand and eye in tlie operation of thinning, while to 

 thin an acre of beets planted in rows eighteen inches apart will require 

 the work of an active boy or woman fullv six davs. 



Turning now to the farmers' side of the business, we come to the 

 question of cost of production. We have raised many acres on the Col- 

 lege farm, and I have visited repeatedly every beet growing section of 

 the State. By the co-oi)eration of a large number of intelligent beet 

 growers, I am able to give approximately the average cost of growing 

 beets in the State at large. Here are the items, some of them estimated, 

 it ig true, but all of them based on actual and extended experience: 



Cost per acre. 



Plowing, usually subsoiling |!2 50 



Harrowing, several times 1 00 * 



Seed ....: 2 50 



Sowing 50 



Cultivating, six times 2 40 



Thinning and weeding, and hoeing S 00 



Pulling and piling 2 00 



Topping 6 00 



Drawing, average 2.5 miles 6 00 



Freight, 17 tons at 20c 3 40 



Unloading 1 13 



Total $35 43 



This is, of course, an average with all the imperfections tliat that 

 term implies, and does not take into account the rent of land and cost 

 of fertilizers. It gives a rough estimate, however, of the actual cost 

 to the farmer, and leaves for him next, the question whether the result- 

 ing crop will be sufficient to give him a profit over this cost. 



The size of the crop is contingent on the season as well as upon the 

 soil and the skill of the farmer. The season of 1808 had been favor- 

 able; tlie season of 1899 was distinctly adverse. The spring was late 

 and very w'et though May and early June. The temperature for the 

 same period was below the normal. As a result, the early sown beet 

 seed did not germinate and resowing was deemed necessary. The wet 

 May was succeeded by a dry and very hot late June, July and August. 

 (See page 103 in bulletin 179.) The crop over the State was, therefore, 

 well nigh a failure. On all the sandy lands the cro]) was practically a 

 total failure. On the liglit loams it was better, and on the alluvial 

 soils tending toward muck, it was best of all. Notwithstanding the 

 adverse season some farmers harvested as high as 18 to 20 tons per 

 acre and made a fair profit. On the other hand, other farmers lost 

 practically all the time and money spent on the cro]). Some farmers 

 sowed the seed on well i)repared land, thinned the beets, and then 

 abandoned the fields; others carried their crop through the season to 

 the harvest, but to meet serious loss and grave disappointment. A 



