Cost of Producing Beets 247 



Commenting on this, Moorhouse says : " Labor was by 

 far the most important item in this study. The total 

 labor cost under the rates that prevailed in 1914-1915 

 varied from $35.25 an acre to $40.18. These sums con- 

 stituted from 54.4 to 58.3 per cent of the total cost of 

 production." 



Although the different figures given above do not agree 

 entirely, they are all suggestive and will be of assistance 

 to any one who wishes to compute costs for his own neigh- 

 borhood. 



The beet farmers and sugar companies of Utah and 

 Idaho agreed on the following schedule for contract hand 

 labor for each acre during 1918: Thinning, $8; first 

 hoeing, $3 ; second hoeing, $2, — or $26 for all hand 

 labor based on a twelve-ton crop with one dollar extra 

 for each additional ton and seventy-five cents less for 

 each ton decrease in yield. 



EXAMPLES OF ACRE-COST 



Blakey ^ has made rather extensive investigations of 

 the cost of producing sugar based on reports of farmers, 

 actual field tests, and work of the experiment stations. 

 His findings are summed up in Table XIX. In the table 

 he does not include the cost of land, rent, taxes, and the 

 like, which would probably be between $15 and $20, 

 making the total cost about $75. The figures are fairly 

 accurate for the dates represented, but they are doubt- 

 less too low for war-time prices of labor and materials. 



' Blakey, R. G., "The United States Beet-Sugar Industry and 

 the Tariff" (1912), pp. 113-140 and pp. 267-273. 



