THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY IN 1920. 51 



topography of the country, and (3) the nature of the roadbed. In 

 general it has been found that 4 or 5 miles is the maximum distance 

 that sugar beets can be hauled profitably. It is apparent that the 

 distance depends to a great extent upon the topography and the 

 nature of the roadbed. If the country is hilly, and especially if 

 the hills are steep, it frequently is unprofitable to haul sugar beets. 



Unless at least 3 tons of beets can be hauled per load the condi- 

 tions must be very favorable to make the handling of this crop 

 profitable. In the survey by the Office of Sugar-Plant Investiga- 

 tions, cooperating with the Office of Farm Management and Farm 

 Economics, it has been found that, other things being equal, the 

 cost of delivering beet roots increases directly with the distance. In 

 this survey the topography and the care of the roadbed were practi- 

 cally the same for all cases compared. It is apparent that it would 

 be more expensive to haul a short distance over a poor or hilly road 

 than several times that distance over a level stone road (PL VI, 

 fig. 2.) In speaking of the hauling distance, reference is made not 

 to the distance from the factory, but to the loading station or point of 

 delivery. In this respect the grower near the sugar mill has no ad- 

 vantage over the grower many miles away, provided the latter is near 

 a beet dump. 



The railroad haul is another point to be considered. As a rule, 

 beets can not be transported more than 100 miles with profit, at least 

 under normal conditions. There afe, of course, circumstances under 

 which longer hauls are permissible and profitable. Frequently in 

 trying out a new sugar-beet section it is necessary to haul the roots 

 several hundred miles, but in such cases it is not expected that any 

 considerable profit will be obtained from these beets, and, in fact, 

 they sometimes are transported long distances at a loss in order to 

 determine whether beets of sufficient yield and quality to make beet 

 growing profitable can be grown in a given locality. The length of 

 the railroad haul depends to some extent upon the local conditions, 

 the returns that may be obtained, and whether the haul is over a 

 single road or over two or more lines. 



CONTRACTS. 



All sugar beets grown commercially for sugar-making purposes are 

 grown under contract. These contracts are issued by the sugar com- 

 pany and are signed by some official or agent of the company and 

 also by the beet grower. The principal points covered in the con- 

 tracts include the acreage to be planted, the price to be paid for the 

 beets, the methods of handling the crop, the time of harvest, and the 

 regulation of delivery. Contracts are necessary because a definite 

 acreage of sugar beets is required in order to make a successful mill 



