REQUIREMENTS OF FIELD CROPS. 19 



Table 10. — Potatoes: Percentage distribution of costs per acre. 





Steuben County, 



N. Y. 



Grand Traverse 

 County, Mich. 



Item. 



Distri- 

 bution of 

 operating 

 expense. 



Distri- 

 bution of 

 total 

 costs. 



Distri- 

 bution of 

 operating 

 expense. 



Distri- 

 bution of 

 total 

 costs. 





Per cent. 

 28.8 

 26.0 



Per cent. 

 27.3 

 24.7 



Per cent. 

 32.8 

 18.9 



Per cent. 

 30.3 





17.4 







Materials: 



12.1 

 12.3 

 2.0 

 1.4 



11.5 



11.7 



1.9 



1.4 



14.3 

 14.4 



13.2 



Seed ... . 



13.3 









2.1 



1.9 









27.8 



26.5 



30.8 



28.4 







Other costs: 



6.6 



8.7 

 2.1 



6.3 

 8.2 

 2.0 



5.0 



7.6 



4.3 



.6 



4.6 





7.0 





3.9 

















17.4 



16.5 



17.5 



16.0 











5.0 





7.9 













$80 



S117 







SUGAR BEETS. 



During the years 191 5, 1916 ; and 1917 enterprise records were 

 obtained in three districts within each of the regions where the 

 sugar beet is grown as one of the important crops. The acreage 

 represented was as follows: California, 14,139; Utah-Idaho, 3,029; 

 Colorado, 9,913; Montana, 8,849; Michigan and Ohio, 4,280 — total, 

 40,210 acres. The basic requirements for this crop have been 

 worked out on a basis slightly different from that used in the case 

 of other staples, like corn and wheat. (See Table 11.) In view of 

 the fact that a rather large amount of the hand labor was performed 

 on a contract basis, it was not thought advisable to separate the work 

 prior to harvest from the work performed in harvesting the beet crop. 



Considerable variation was found in the practices which obtained 

 with reference to the hand work on sugar beets. In the three Cali- 

 fornia districts and in the Billings area the hand work was all done 

 on a contract basis. In several of the other districts, like Greeley 

 and Rocky Ford, the farm operator with the aid of his family did 

 a small part of this work and the remainder was done on a contract 

 basis. More than half of the hand labor in the Garland and Fort 

 Morgan districts was done by the operator, while in the Provo area 

 a relatively small amount of the hand labor was let on contract. 

 The cash paid out for contract labor has been converted to hours by 

 using a rate of 25 cents per hour, which appears to be reasonable for 

 the period under study. 



Certain important factors are to be considered in comparing the 

 man labor requirements by districts. First, California operators 



