GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN CALIFORNIA. 39 
number of tons of manure applied per acre the actual cost per acre 
covered was computed. 
Comparatively speaking, very little manure was used. At Los 
Angeles about 6 per cent of the beet land was manured, in the Oxnard 
district 9 per cent, and at Salinas only 24 per cent. The cost of ma- 
nure per acre of beets grown is found by dividing the total value of 
the manure applied by the entire beet acreage. Thus the extremely 
low costs per acre are shown, since but a small percentage of the 
sugar beet acreage received an application of manure. 
WATER. 
In the Los Angeles area and in the Salinas district the sugar beet 
is frequently grown under irrigation. At Oxnard only one man was 
interviewed who followed this practice. No favorable report was 
obtained regarding irrigation in this area. 
At Los Angeles the beets are irrigated by pumping water from 
wells. Here the principal charge, exclusive of equipment, is for 
fuel and lubricating oil. The equipment charge is included under 
the machinery cost. About 62 per cent of the beet land was irri- 
gated in this district. 
At Salinas the greater portion of the irrigation is done by the 
sugar company. A flat rate of $3.75 per acre is charged. A few 
growers who own the land they farm have pumping plants and irri- 
gate by pumping the water from wells. About 50 per cent of the 
growers either irrigated their beet land or hired it done. Since the 
cost of labor required to irrigate is included in‘most of the records 
for Salinas, the cost per acre for this district is considerably greater 
than for Los Angeles. 
The highest cost per acre for materials was reported at Salinas, 
the lowest at Oxnard. As has been indicated, much of the difference 
in the cost in favor of Oxnard is due to the fact that the farmers of 
that district did not irrigate their beet land. Figured on the ton 
basis, the low yield per acre gives the highest cost per ton to Oxnard. 
The costs in the other two areas are approximately the same. 
OTHER COST ITEMS. 
In considering the cost of producing any farm crop, there are a 
number of items of expense which apply to more than one enterprise 
on the farm and some that have to deal with the whole farm as a unit. 
Such items as insurance, taxes, interest on the land investment, ma- 
chinery, and miscellaneous expense come in this group of costs. 
Table XX VI shows the average cost per acre of these different items, 
the total cost per acre of the group, and the cost per ton for the three 
areas, 
