UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



^\J9*^3L 



BULLETIN No. 735 mm 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry ^Cli^ x^J^ * 



WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief ^?<H?5^» 



Washington, D. C. 



November 15, 1918 



FARM PRACTICE IN GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN 

 THE BILLINGS REGION OF MONTANA. 1 



By S. B. Nuckols, Assistant Agriculturist, Office of Sugar-Plant Investigations, 

 and E. L. Curkier, Professor of Farm Management, Montana Agricultural 

 College. 



CONTENTS. 



Basis of the study 1 



Procedure 2 



Description of the region studied 2 



Development of the sugar-beet industry in 



the Billings region 4 



Irrigated area in beets in 1915 4 



Previous crop 6 



Value of labor : 7 



Manuring practice 7 



Plowing practice 11 



Crowning alfalfa sod in preparing land for 



beets 13 



Disking practice 14 



Floating practice 14 



Harrowing practice 16 



Rolling practice 17 



Ditching practice 17 



Planting beet seed : 18 



Rolling land after beets are planted 19 



Cultivation of beets 20 



Furrowing for irrigation 22 



Irrigating the sugar-beet crop 23 



Lifting practice 26 



Hauling beets 26 



Hand or contract labor 29 



Cost of seed for sugar beets 31 



Cost of machinery 31 



Prorating interest on the investment 32 



Cost of land for sugar beets 32 



Relation of yields to cost and profit 34 



Summary 36 



BASIS OF THE STUDY. 



To obtain data on methods of management, labor requirements, 

 and cost of growing sugar-beets, studies were conducted on a large 

 number of farms during the summer of 1916 in the area which grows 

 beets for the beet-sugar factory at Billings, Mont., including farms 



1 TMs bulletin was prepared jointly by the Montana Agricultural Experiment Station 

 and the Bureau of Plant Industry and with the approval of the Office of Farm Manage- 

 ment. The blanks used in collecting these dajta were prepared in the Office of Farm 

 Management, "hence the material incorporated in this bulletin is identical in form with 

 that in the other bulletins of this series prepared jointly by the Office of Farm Manage- 

 ment and the Bureau of Plant Industry. The members of the staff of the Office of Farm 

 Management were engaged in taking records in other localities at the time this work was 

 done, and for that reason they are not represented in connection with the preparation of 

 this bulletin. 



82031°— Bull. 735—18- 



