50 BULLETIN 721, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



good roads that crops which must be hauled to market in numerous 

 heavy loads can be handled successfully; likewise the demand that 

 these crops have made for good roads has stimulated their building 

 and improvement, as shown in Plate VI, figure 2. There are three 

 points to be considered in connection with roads as related to sugar- 

 beet culture: (1) The length of the haul, (2) the 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 topogi^aphy and the nature of the roadbed. 

 If the country is hilly, and especially if the hills are steep, it fre- 

 quently is unprofitable to haul sugar beets. Unless at least 3 tons 

 of beets can be hauled per load the conditions must be very favorable 

 to make the handling of this crop ])rofitable. In the survey by the 

 Office of Sugar-Plant Investigations, cooperating with the Office of 

 Farm Management, 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 road- 

 bed were practically the same for all cases compared. It is ap- 

 parent 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, as shown in Plate VI, figure 2. In speaking of the 

 hauling distance, reference is made not to the distance from the fac- 

 tory but to the loading station or point of delivery. In this respect 

 the grower near the sugar mill has no advantage 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 are, of course, circumstances under 

 which longer hauls are permissible and profitable. Frequently in try- 

 ing 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 

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

 also by the beet grower. The principal points covered in the contracts 



