36 



BULLETIN 748, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



due the grower when the beets are delivered. No interest is charged 

 the farmer for the money invested in the seed. 



Some growers seeded their fields at a higher, some at a lower rate 

 than 15 pounds to the acre, while others sowed the stipulated amount. 

 Caro farmers averaged 15.3 pounds, Alma growers 15.5, Grand 

 Kapids 11, while the northwestern Ohio group drilled in 15.1 

 pounds of seed per acre. This variation accounts for the difference 

 in the acre cost of seed. The lowest rate of seeding and the lowest 

 cost were found at Grand Rapids. 



OTHER COST ITEMS. 



Other cost items include insurance and taxes, use of land, machin- 

 ery, and miscellaneous expenses. These are charges against the farm 

 as a unit and must be prorated so that each enterprise will bear a 

 just portion of the total expense. Table XXIII gives the cost per 

 acre of these different items, together with the total cost per acre and 

 per ton. 



There was a wide variation in the acre charge for these costs. 

 Northwestern Ohio had the highest cost, $18.27, while in the Caro 

 district the cost was but $10.82. A glance at the table will show that 



the charge for the use of land causes most of this difference, 

 to a ton basis, this variation becomes considerably less. 



Table XXIII.- — The use of land and other cost items. 



Reduced 





Num- 

 ber of 

 farm 

 records . 



Total 

 acres 



in 

 beets. 



Cost per acre. 



Total 

 cost 

 per 

 ton. 



District. 



Insur- 

 ance and 

 taxes. . 



Use of 

 land and 

 interest 

 on cash. 



Mach- 

 inery. 



Miscel- 

 laneous 

 expenses. 



Total. 





134 

 53 

 36 



2,017.65 

 505. 79 

 230. 53 



1, 524. 65 



SI. 00 

 .80 

 .92 

 .91 



$6.65 

 11.69 

 8.25 

 13.79 



$2.07 

 2.45 

 2.45 

 2.45 



SI. 10 

 1.24 

 1.21 

 1.12 



$10. 82 

 16.18 

 12.83 

 18.27 



$1.11 



Alma 



1.42 





1.26 





97 



1.39 







INSURANCE AND TAXES. 



Where the operator owned the land the insurance and taxes were 

 greater than where the beets were grown by a tenant, since the man 

 who rented had only his personal taxes to pay and usually carried 

 no insurance. This charge is very small on tenant farms. 



On farms operated by the owner of the land the percentage of the 

 total real-estate investment covering the beet land was used in deter- 

 mining the proportion of the insurance and taxes chargeable against 

 the beet crop. This item was about the same in Grand Rapids and 

 northwestern Ohio and slightly greater at Caro. The lower charge 

 of 80 cents at Alma is due to the high percentage of tenant farmers 

 in this group. About 50 per cent of the growers in this area grew 

 beets on rented land, while only about 10 per cent of the farmers at 

 Caro and Grand Rapids rented the land. 



