GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN COLORADO. 

 Table XVI. — Planting data for three Colorado districts. 



29 



District. 



Year. 



Num- 

 ber of 

 farms. 



Acres 

 planted 

 per farm. 



Crew. 



Hours per acre. 



Total 



cost 



per acre. 



Man. 



Horse. 



Man. 



Horse. 



Rocky Ford 



1914-15 



1915 

 1914-15 



109 

 66 

 195 



23.02 



37.2 



25.66 



1 

 1 

 1 



2 

 2 



2 



1.14 

 1.03 

 1.06 



2.30 

 2.09 

 2.13 



SO. 44 



.43 





.43 







It has been customary in these areas to upe approximately 20 

 pounds of seed per acre. Recently, owing to the scarcity of beet 

 seed the amount used has been reduced considerably. It has been 

 found that a seeding of 10 to 12 pounds per acre gives very satisfactory 

 results, provided soil conditions are right. Planting was done 

 universally by one man and two horses. Growers in these three 

 districts averaged nine to ten acres per day. The cost for planting 

 in 1914 and 1915 was practically identical for the three districts. 



ROLLING BEETS. 



The practice of rolling has been discussed in part in connection 

 with the preparation of the seed bed. However, the practice of 

 rolling beets was considered important enough to be considered 

 separately. This operation is performed after the seed had been 

 planted and many of the young plants have begun to appear. Light 

 showers occur frequently at this season of the year and the soil has a 

 tendency to become baked. When this condition is pronounced, the 

 young plants may be prevented from coming through and a poor 

 stand will be the result. Some growers make a practice of harrowing 

 in order to restore the surface mulch, but if the field is rolled, the 

 crust can be broken and the beet plants will not be checked in their 

 growth. Rolling at this period may also put the soil in better condi- 

 tion for bunching and thinning. Furthermore, rolling promotes 

 capillary action, which is very essential to rapid growth. In these 

 three districts the rolling after planting was done almost exclusively 

 with a corrugated roller (fig. 12). 



On some farms this work was done before thinning, on others 

 after thinning and blocking. Rolling packs the soil about the beet 

 and facilitates recovery of the plant after being disturbed with the 

 hoe or by hand. Moreover, bunching with a hoe creates a small 

 ridge between the rows, and if this is made smooth with a roller, the 

 cultivator can be guided more readily. The Fort Morgan and Greeley 

 growers averaged a little more than once over; the Rocky Ford growers 

 one and one-fifth times over. The rolling was done almost entirely 

 with crews of one man and two horses. The cost for this operation 

 in 1914 and 1915 was somewhat lower than that for rolling in seed bed 

 preparation (Table XVII). 



