46 The Sugar- Beet in America 



for wheat, oats, and barley, and about one and one-half 

 times as much as for potatoes. If only four to eight 

 acres of beets are raised, the amount hardly justifies 

 bringing in expert contract labor; but if the farmer at- 

 tempts to do all the work himself, other crops are greatly 

 interfered with. If he has children of his own or if he can 

 hire school children, he may be able to get along. From 

 fifteen to twenty-five acres are necessary in order to make 

 it pay to take advantage of contract labor for thinning 

 and harvesting. 



New growers should not attempt to raise too many 

 acres of beets, since they are not familiar with the re- 

 quirements of the crop and great waste may result from 

 their inability to do work at the proper time. After a 

 few years of beet-raising, the farmer learns to adjust the 

 acreage to the labor he can command during the busy 

 season. On the small irrigated farms in the thickly 

 settled regions, the labor question is not so acute as in 

 the newer regions that have small population. A survey 

 in Utah showed that as the size of farm decreased, the 

 percentage of the land .^ising beets increased. 



Where beets are raised on a large scale, the labor prob- 

 lem is solved by hiring foreigners to do the hand work. 

 Some of these are permanent farm hands; others may 

 have had experience working in beet fields in their native 

 land but are doing city work in this country. This class 

 of labor may be induced to go to the farms for a few 

 months during the busy part of the beet season. The 

 most satisfactory way when possible is to keep the hands 

 on the farm throughout the year, having other means of 

 employment when they are not needed in the beet fields. 



