GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN COLORADO. 



37 



irrigation after July 1. From 12 to 20 inches of water is used upon 

 the beet crop. 



Table XX. — Irrigation data for three Colorado districts. 



Rocky Ford . 

 Fort Morgan 

 Greeley 



Year. 



1914-15 



1915 

 1914-15 



Number 

 of farms. 



110 

 66 

 192 



Acres 

 irrigated 

 per farm. 



22.9 

 36.7 

 25. 79 



Number 



times 

 irrigated. 



3.58 

 2.49 

 2.96 



Number 

 of men. 



Man 



hours 



per acre. 



8.7 

 7.79 

 8.5 



Cost 

 per acre. 



51.57 

 1.48 

 1.62 



Practice records on irrigation were obtained from 368 growers 

 (Table XX). In the Arkansas Valley the time for irrigation varied 

 from April 15 to September 10, while in northern Colorado the initial 



Fig. 20.— Irrigating sugar - beets in the Greeley area. The method of distributing water is shown in this 



illustration. 



irrigation was given July 1 and the final work was completed September 

 30. Greeley growers averaged three irrigations for the season, Fort 

 Morgan operators two and one-half, and the Rocky Ford area three 

 and one-half. There was little variation in the labor requirements or 

 the final costs for this operation in 1914 and 1915. A day's work of 

 eight hours amounted to 3.5 acres in the Greeley area and 4.1 acres 

 in the Rocky Ford district. This would mean irrigating from 10 

 to 12 acres in 24 hours. Water is usually run continuously day and 

 night and is given more or less attention throughout the run (fig. 20) . 



LIFTING, OR PLOWING OUT. 



Lifting, topping, and hauling are three operations which go hand 

 in hand. Lifting involves loosening the beets in the soil so that they 

 can be taken out readily by hand and thrown into piles. Two types 



