IS BULLETIN 735, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



lior.se labor. The factors that affect the cost are the distance from 

 the main lateral or ditch, the size of the fields, and the lay of the 

 land. Some teamwork is used in plowing out ditches, but the} 7 must 

 be cleaned out with shovels. A total of 8,66G acres was considered in 

 the above as having a separate cost for ditch cleaning, six farms 

 being so located that no extra work was required to get water -to 

 the beet field. This is a part of the cost of irrigation. Very few 

 growers had any special tools for ditching, and they used common 

 walking plows for plowing out ditches. A few had listers; others 

 used homemade V drags. 



In taking the records no separate accounting of the man labor and 

 the horse labor was made, so no estimate can be given as to the hand 

 labor done with shovels in cleaning out the ditches. 



As already stated, the ditch cleaning is very variable, according 

 to the type of ditches necessary to get water to each farm, and no 

 comparison can be made as to the efficiency of the methods used by 

 the individual farmers. Some seem to use more efficient tools than 

 others, but as a general rule this work is governed by the lay of the 

 land. More work is necessarjr in seme years than in others, and a 

 part of this work is sometimes more in the nature of a permanent 

 improvement. 



PLANTING BEET SEED. 



Of the total of 305 growers in this region all but 3 used drills drawn 

 by two horses each that planted four rows at a time. The other drills 

 planted only two rows at a time. With a 4-row drill, the average 

 area planted per 10-hour day was a little over 10 acres. Planting in 

 this region begins as early as possible in the spring, sometimes the 

 early part of April, and lasts until about the first of June. Early- 

 planted beets seem to do better than those planted later, but the time 

 necessary to prepare the land does not always permit early planting. 

 Where the field is very large it is the custom to plant at different 

 times, so that the thinning will be distributed over a longer period. 

 It is not advisable to let the beets stand too long before thinning. 



The most of the acreage in this area is planted in rows 20 inches 

 apart. A few men planted rows 18 and 22 inches apart, so that it was 

 possible to make a deeper irrigation ditch between the wide rows and 

 irrigate only between alternate pairs of rows. This custom is not 

 very common in this region, as the soil is heavy and water does not 

 quickly soak across the rows where the furrows are very far apart. 

 Also the land in most instances has a good slope for irrigation, and 

 there is no need of a deep furrow or large head of water for irrigat- 

 ing between the rows of sugar beets. 



It cost 40 cents per acre to plant beet seed, or one hour of man labor 

 and two hours of horse labor. 



