GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN COLORADO. 



31 



thinned from 7 to 10 inches apart, leaving only one plant in each place; no double 

 beets shall be left. This work must be done so that the land will be entirely free 

 from weeds. 



Second hoeing.- — This work must be commenced by the contractor as soon as the 

 thinning is completed and the grower has finished the second cultivation by hoeing 

 a little deeper than the first hoeing, killing and removing all weeds, and removing 

 any double plants that may have been overlooked in the thinning. The grower 

 must keep the crop cultivated so that at least 10 inches of the center of the row remains 

 clear of all weeds and foul growth up to the time of the third hoeing. 



Third hoeing. — A third hoeing must be given the beets by the contractor, and in 

 addition to such third hoeing any and all further hoeing necessary to keep the beets 

 free from weeds until harvest of the beets is commenced must be done by the con- 

 tractor, and in the event of the beets having grown so large that a third or further 

 hoeing would injure them, then all weeds that grow up to the time of the com- 

 mencement of harvest must be removed by hand, as the beets must be kept free 

 from weeds at all times until harvested. 



Blocking and thinning.— For the early plantings, the blocking and 

 thinning may begin in the latter part of April. Under normal con- 



Fig. 13. — Bunching and thinning. 



ditions the contract labor should be well under way by the middle 

 of May. For the late plantings, or fields that may require replanting, 

 the time for blocking and thinning may extend to the middle of 

 June. This work was done in the Rocky Ford district almost entirely 

 on a contract basis. There were but two men in this region who 

 did their own hand work. The blocking and thinning on these 

 farms required 30.8 hours per acre and cost $5.54. There were 23 

 growers at Fort Morgan who handled either a part or all of their 

 own blocking and thinning, while the Greeley list afforded only 28 

 records on this operation. The Fort Morgan growers spent 28.6 

 hours per acre in blocking and thinning, involving a cost of $5.44 

 per acre, in 1915, while the Greeley growers had an average labor 

 requirement of 25.4 hours per acre, with a cost of $4.83 per acre, in 



