204 



ARID AGRICULTURE. 



AVERAGE An average crop of anything is not highly 



PROFITABLE profitable. The man who gets only an average 

 crop should be well satisfied if he makes ex- 

 penses, and should rejoice over an additional 3 

 per cent, gain on his investment. The average 

 crop of potatoes for the United States is about 

 64 bushels per acre, say 38 sacks. In our best 

 potato districts under irrigation the cost of rais- 

 ing an acre of potatoes is about $30.00. There 

 are not many farmers in the West who would go 

 into their fields rejoicing, to harvest less than 38 

 sacks of potatoes per acre. 



If the crop of sugar beets averages only 10 

 tons per acre, worth an average of $4.50 per ton, 

 there may or may not be a cash profit in raising 

 them. It will depend on whether it has cost $30 

 or $50 to grow and market the beets. Good 

 farmers in beet-raising sections will probably 

 produce more than twenty tons and possibly 

 twice that in some cases with little increase in 

 the cost. Where this occurs they will bring 

 magnificent profits and boom the bank account. 



The main idea is, of course, the immediate 

 money value of the crop. While this part of the 

 reward will, undoubtedly, be highly pleasing to 

 the man who properly grows his beets, it is not 

 the only thing to be gained from beet farming. 



BEETS AND Where sugar beets are grown for a factory, 



producing them, more than the raising of almost 

 any other crop, brings prosperity to a commun- 



