GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN THE BILLINGS REGION. 



13 



to gang plows. The remaining growers did not report the kind of 

 plows used. 



In considering the size of plows used, it was found that of the 310 

 plows reported 122 were 16-inch plows, 170 were 14-inch plows, and 

 18 were 12-inch plows. (Table V.) 



Table V. — Cost of plowing land for sugar beets with different pious in the 



Billings region in 1915. 



Kind of plow. 



Area 

 plowed. 



Labor per acre. 



Cost. 



Man. 



Horse. 



Walking 



Sulky 



Gang 



Unknown 



Hired 



All farms 



Acres. 

 272 

 6,396 

 1,319 



764 



$3.33 

 3.10 

 1.94 

 2.71 

 3.45 



Hours. 



7.57 



5.61 



. 2.85 



5.15 



2.90 



5.15 



Hours. 

 18.12 

 19.74 

 13.67 

 16.81 



CROWNING ALFALFA SOD IN PREPARING LAND FOR BEETS. 



Alfalfa crowning is done in the fall or spring when there is some 

 green growth on the alfalfa plants, which when plowed under adds 

 to the humus content of the soil. 



A total area of 1,394 acres of alfalfa land was crowned for beet 

 growing by 69 farmers. This labor takes about as much time as to 

 plow the land. It requires 4.35 hours of man labor and 16.14 hours 

 of horse labor to crown 1 acre, and the cost is figured at $2.48 per 

 acre. If the work can not be done in the fall it is done as soon as 

 possible in the spring, if the land is for beets that year. The plowing 

 is to a depth of 3 or 4 inches, which is sufficient to cut off and turn 

 over most of the alfalfa plants. The ground is then harrowed. The 

 exposed alfalfa roots and crowns soon dry out and die, while if 

 plowed to a greater depth many of them would sprout up again. 

 After allowing the roots to dry out for a few weeks the land is plowed 

 again to a greater depth, with the result that few of the crowns then 

 turned under grow again. This method of handling alfalfa sod is 

 much better than plowing only once, as it makes a better seed bed 

 and does away 'with much volunteer alfalfa, which would make beet 

 cultivation very difficult; also not so many roots are left on top of 

 the ground to clog the cultivating machinery. The cost of the extra 

 work of crowning is easily saved in the later work of thinning and 

 cultivating the beet crop. Most of the growers prefer to crown in the 

 fall if other work permits, so as to let the crowns dry out over winter 

 before turning them under ; in actual practice, however, few of them 

 were able to do much alfalfa crowning in the fall. Of the total of 

 1,640 acres of alfalfa broken and planted in beets, 1,394 acres were 



