Seed Production 



The production of beet seed is a business by itself and 

 is rarely carried on by farmers who raise beets for factory 

 purposes. The experiments on the production of seed in the 

 United States seem to show that seed of good quality can be 

 produced here. But at present most of the seed is imported 

 and, perhaps, the price of seed is not high enough to encour- 

 age the outlay required for the proper equipment for pro- 

 ducing high grade seed here. The imported seed comes 

 mainly from Germany, smaller quantities being brought 

 from France, Holland and Austria. 



Cost of Production 



When we recall the very great range in the estimates 

 of the cost of producing a bushel of our most common crops, 

 such as wheat or corn, it is not strange that there should 

 be wide differences in the ideas of farmers as to the cost of 

 producing an acre of a comparatively unknown crop like 

 beets. And soil conditions, labor rates, and familiarity with 

 the work do make a great difference in the cost. 



As an offset to this the farmer knows in advance the price 

 he is to secure for his crop and generally has a choice be- 

 tween a flat rate per ton, usually $4.50 or $5.00, and a rate 

 of $4.00 or $4.50 per ton for beets containing 12 per cent 

 of sugar with 33 1/3 cents for each additional per cent. As 

 beets often run over 18 per cent sugar, there is a chance to 

 make a substantial profit by adopting the latter form of con- 

 tract, and the factories, of course, encourage the raising of 



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