30 



BULLETIN 748, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



Table XVI. — Relation of distance from loading station to cost of delivering 



sugar beets. 



Distance (miles). 



A verage 

 distance. 



Per cent 



of all 

 records. 



Labor cost 

 per ton. 





Miles. 

 0. 63 



1.91 

 3.33 

 4.79 

 6.82 



25 



38 



24 



6 



7 



$0.39 



1 to2J 



.53 



2.V to 4 



.65 



4 i o 5 ! 



.77 





1.01 







VARIATIONS IN FIELD PRACTICE. 



Certain field methods in growing and handling sugar beets are 

 common to all areas. On the other hand the desired results are 

 often accomplished in a number of different ways. Variations in 

 field practice may be due to the condition of the soil at the time the 

 work is done. Some fields may have to be disked more than once 

 and the soil may require extra treatment with the spring-tooth har- 

 row. Perhaps in other cases it may be possible to put the field in 

 good condition for seeding merely by using the spike-tooth harrow. 

 Climatic conditions usually govern the methods that must be em- 

 ployed in handling the growing crop. The handwork, such as block- 

 ing and thinning, hoeing, and topping, is usually done on a contract 

 basis, though a part of this work may in some instances be done by 

 the owner or renter. Occasionally all of the handwork may be done 

 by the farmer, his family, and hired hands. A few of these features 

 are illustrated in Tables XVII to XX, which were prepared in order 

 to show variations in farm practice for 10 representative farms in 

 each of the 4 districts included in this survey. 1 



1 Under the operations " removing trash " and " manuring " the fractional numbers 

 indicate the portions or parts of the total beet acreage on which it was necessary to do 

 some cleaning up after the preceding crop, or they indicate the part of the total area 

 that received a treatment of barnyard manure. Referring to the table for the Caro district, 

 it will be observed that Farm No. 1 manured one-tenth of the beet acreage ; Farm No. 2 

 covered two-tenths or one-fifth of the boot land with manure, while Farm No. 5 treated 

 one-half of the beet acreage with an application of manure. The manuring was done 

 chiefly in the late fall and the early spring months. 



