GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN COLORADO. 



41 



Arkansas Valley than in northern Colorado. In the latter district 

 surplus beets were thrown in large piles at the receiving stations and 

 loaded at times when the delivery from the growers was slack (fig. 23). 

 In the Arkansas Valley when beets are held in the field they are 

 placed in a cone-shaped pile and are covered with a small quantity 

 of earth to prevent freezing. As soon as the beets have all been 

 harvested and available supplies have been sliced, the growers are 

 called upon to deliver their pitted beets. Inasmuch as this opera- 

 tion required extra labor, the sugar company paid an additional 

 premium of 75 cents per ton over and above the regular market price. 

 Twenty-eight growers reported on pitting beets in the Rocky Ford 

 district. These men cared for 6.6 acres per farm in this way. The 

 average yield for this area was 13.2 tons per acre. Man labor only 



Fig. 24. — Leveling a strip of land upon which topped beets are to be piled. The contract requires the 

 man who is engaged to do the hand labor to clean off and level the ground so that the beets may be 

 thrown into the wagon free from dirt or trash. In this case the operator did a large part of the hand labor. 



was involved, the cost per acre approximating $1.30 in 1914 and 

 1915. On some farms it is necessary to use horses to haul beets to 

 the pit. There were three records reported from the Greeley area 

 and a like number from the Fort Morgan district. Both man and 

 horse labor entered into this work. The cost varied from $1.83 per 

 acre at Greeley to $2.80 per acre at Fort Morgan. 



LEVELING FOR BEET PILES. 



Within recent years a large number of farmers have adopted the 

 practice of using a V leveler for the purpose of making a smooth 

 strip of soil upon which to throw the beets. Where no leveling is 

 done, small clods and beet tops will be taken up when the sugar 

 beets are loaded on the wagon. Leveling removes a part of this 



