UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 748 



Office of the Secretary 



Contribution from the Office of Farm Management 



E. H. THOMSON, Acting Chief 



and 



Bureau of Plant Industry 



WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Jl\m?f'^WU 



Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



January 28, 1919 



FARM PRACTICE IN GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN 

 MICHIGAN AND OHIO. 



By R. S. Washburn, Scientific Assistant, L. A. Mooehouse, Agriculturist, and 

 T. H. Summers, Scientific Assistant, Office of Farm Management, and C. O. 

 Townsend, Pathologist in Charge, Sugar-Plant Investigations, Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. 



CONTENTS. 



Summary of results 3 



Method of taking records 4 



Development of sugar-beet industry in Michi- 

 gan and Ohio 5 



Size of farms 6 



Rainfall 6 



Soils 7 



Crop rotation 8 



Man and horse labor 10 



Farm practices in growing sugar beets 10 



Cost of producing sugar beets 33 



Sugar-beet returns versus cost 39 



Relation of yield to cost of production 40 



Value of beet tops 41 



Relation of beet acreage to tillable area 42 



Beet acreage per farm and yield per acre in 



relation to cost 43 



Comparison of beet receipts with other farm 



receipts 44 



Labor requirements 45 



This study was made in order to ascertain the field practices that 

 are employed in the production of sugar beets under typical humid 

 conditions and to determine the relationship of these operations to 

 the cost of growing this crop. 



The data presented are based upon 320 farm records obtained 

 from operators in Michigan and Ohio. The farmers who reported 

 on their methods of producing sugar beets lived in the vicinity of 

 Caro, Alma, and Grand Rapids, Mich., and in northwestern Ohio 

 (fig. 1). The records discussed outline the work and show the 

 returns for these farms during the crop seasons 1914 and 1915. The 

 labor rates that prevailed throughout this period were not nearly 

 so high as those for 1916' and 1917, which were greatly advanced by 

 war conditions. 



Note. — This is the third of a series of bulletins published by the Department of Agri- 

 culture giving the results of an investigation relative to the practice and cost of growing 

 sugar beets in four of the most important areas in the United States. One of these 

 bulletins gave the results obtained from a study of this enterprise in Utah and Idaho. 

 Another contained a review of records that were taken in three Colorado districts. A 

 subsequent publication will discuss the practice and distribution of costs in connection 

 with the production of beets in three California regions. 

 83548°— 19— Bull. 748 1 



