49 BULLETIN 760, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
MISCELLANEOUS EXPENSE. 
All expenses not hitherto provided for have been grouped as “ mis- 
cellaneous.” It has been found that a rough approximation of this 
item can be reached by taking 3 per cent of the cost of labor and ma- 
terials combined. The figures for miscellaneous expense are fairly 
uniform for the three districts. 
SUMMARY AND DISTRIBUTION OF COSTS. 
In making plans for greater efficiency in the production of sugar 
beets, it 1s necessary to know something of the relative importance 
of the different items of cost. To improve methods which reduce the 
cost of an item. that constitutes only 1 per cent of the total cost may 
be merely a waste of time. However, if an item representing 50 per 
cent of the total cost can be reduced one-half, then something worth 
while has been accomplished. 
Labor is the largest item of expense, constituting about 50 per 
cent of the total cost of production. (See Table X XVII.) The cost 
of materials is about 5 per cent of the total cost, while the remainder 
is taken up by other costs. 
TABLE XXVII.—Summary and distribution of costs. 
Distribution of costs. 
Cost per | Cost per 
acre. ton. 
Mate- Other 
Labor. rials. Gosts. 
District. 
Per cent. | Pej cent. | Per cent. 
46 6 48 
iOSpAM g ClOS rece ienyee ce eee acie ee See Se ee a ee eee $67. 11 $4. 62 
Oem OT Re Bn Boe he Seis aes Seychocse (Ae neikts de sae ee 54, 88 5. 76 52 5 43 
Salinaseee ck eacsac cose aeoem dsece secas ana ep ese - 66. 45 4, 26 54 6 40 
The largest item in the labor cost is man labor, exclusive of con- 
tract labor. This constitutes about 55 per cent of the total labor 
cost. The cost of seed is about 65 per cent of the cost of materials, 
while the interest and rent make up the greater part of the other 
costs. 
DISTRIBUTION OF RECORDS ACCORDING TO COST PER TON. 
All of the records were sorted in reference to the cost per ton of 
producing sugar beets. The growers producing beets for $3 a ton, 
or under, made up one group; those producing for an average of 
$3.50 were put in another class and so on. A frequency curve was 
then constructed which shows the number of growers in each group 
and also the average yield per acre for each class. (See fig. 25.) 
The $5 class is the largest, containing about 22 per cent of the 
growers, In the three larger groups 45 per cent of the farmers 
