GROWING SUGAR BEETS TN THE BILLINGS REGION. 7 



VALUE OF LABOR. 



Throughout this bulletin the value of man labor is computed at 

 20 cents per hour, or $2 for a 10-hour day. Horse labor is valued 

 at 10 cents per -hour, or $1 per 10-hour day, whether the animal is 

 worked single or in a 2-horse, 3-horse, or 4-horse team. 



At certain times of the year labor may be rated higher than at 

 other times, but the farmers were not able to give exact figures for 

 different dates. Men were often hired by paying a definite sum per 

 month for the entire year. Consideration was given to the varia- 

 tion in wages, and each grower was asked the highest and the 

 lowest rate 'he paid for labor by the day or the month during the 

 year. Data were also obtained as to the total time labor was hired 

 and the total wages paid for each farm. Consideration was also 

 given to -the value of board furnished the laborers. Taking an aver- 

 age of all replies, it was found that the average wage was as stated 

 above. The value of horse labor was ascertained by similar 

 methods. 



The cost of labor varied on different ranches, but in estimating the 

 cost of production of beets for each farm -the labor was rated at the 

 average for the region. Family labor or labor done by the grower 

 was figured at the same rate as hired labor. 



MANURING PRACTICE. 



As has been rather common in most western semiarid regions where 

 the land was broken and planted to grain crops for several years, 

 the farmers of this region have not placed a very high value upon 

 barnyard manure. Manure has had a tendency to stimulate too 

 heavy a growth of straw of the grain- crops on these fertile lands. 

 This attitude toward the use of manure soon disappears when the 

 farmers begin to grow sugar beets. The feeding of stock has grad- 

 ually increased on account of the manure produced, until now many 

 of the sugar-beet growers state that without this by-product little 

 profit would be found in the growing of sugar beets. The beet crop 

 produces a great deal of stock feed in the form of tops, pulp, and 

 waste molasses. Alfalfa hay grows well in this region, and this, 

 with the grazing on range lands and the feed from the beets, fur- 

 nishes the basis of an increasing feeding industry. It was reported 

 that 36.7 per cent of the land planted to beets in the surveyed area 

 had been manured at some time during the past three j^ears. It was 

 assumed that the manure would give beneficial results to crops for 

 that length of time at least. The value of manures and the length 

 of time over which the cost of application should be distributed were 

 reported upon by all farmers, leaving little doubt as to the general 

 sentiment in regard to the value of barnyard manures in the produc- 



