46 



BULLETIN 726, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



hand labor on this basis, this item would have approximated 47 per 

 cent of the total labor charge. It will be remembered that several 

 growers did their own hand labor at a lower cost for this work than 

 the contract price, hence the total charge for the latter in the district 

 was reduced slightly for this reason. 



MATERIALS. 



The materials that were bought or used in the production, of beets 

 within these districts included seed, manure, poison for control of 

 insects, and water. These items were therefore treated separately as 

 a part of the expense incident to raising this crop (Table XXV). 



Table XXV. — Cost of materials for three Colorado districts. 



District. 



Year. 



Number 

 of farm 

 records. 



Total 



acres in 



beets. 



Cost per acre. 



Cost per 



Seed. 



Manure. 



Water. 



Total. 



ton. 





1914-15 



1915 

 1914-15 



195 

 66 

 106 



5,028.40 

 2,455.50 

 2,428.95 



$1.80 

 2.11 

 2.16 



$5.50 

 3.46 

 2.93 



$0.51 

 .57 

 .50 



$7.83 

 6.16 

 5.60 



$0.50 



Fort Morgan 



.45 





.43 







Beet seed. — The sugar company usually arranges to maintain a 

 supply of seed sufficient for one or two seasons in advance. War con- 

 ditions have interfered seriously with the importation of seed from 

 abroad, consequently the ordinary stocks have been depleted and it 

 has been necessary to urge the use of less seed per acre in starting the 

 crop. 



Seed was planted at the rate of 21 pounds per acre at Rocky Ford, 

 18.9 pounds per acre at Fort Morgan, and 18 pounds per acre at 

 Greeley. A charge of 10 cents per pound was made for the beet 

 seed. This would seem to indicate that the actual cost for seed in 

 the Fort Morgan area should be $1.89 per acre in place of $2.11, as 

 shown in the foregoing table. However, there was some replanting 

 in each district and the cost of the seed used for this purpose, when 

 charged to the entire acreage for each region, made the acre cost in 

 1914 and 1915 slightly more than the standard cost. There was a 

 difference of 36 cents between the acre charge for seed as reported 

 by the Greeley operators and that given for the Rocky Ford group. 



Manure.— The value of the farm manure applied was estimated by 

 each grower and served as a basis in computing the amount that 

 should be charged against the 1914 and 1915 sugar beet crop. The 

 Greeley and Fort Morgan growers manured essentially 50 per cent of 

 the land in beets, whereas- in the Rocky Ford section only 41 per 

 rent of the beet land was treated. There was considerable variation 

 in the rate of application. The Rocky Ford group had the lowest 

 rate, 11.8 tons per acre, while the Greeley growers had the highest, 



