22 



BULLETIISI" 963, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



which had produced a crop of beets the preceding year. Sugar beets 

 followed the 1918 crop on essentially 56 per cent of the Lehi acreage 

 upon which these cost figures are based. About one-third of the 

 beet crop was grown after grain in both the Lehi and Twin Falls 

 districts. The Garland and Idaho Falls growers reported that sugar 

 beets followed beets on 84 per cent and 71 per cent, respectively, 

 during the year 1918. Continuous culture was employed to a some- 

 what greater extent in 1919. 



Table XIX. — Occurrence of sugar beets in cropping system. 

 Percentage of Total Sugar Beet Acres Following Crops Specified. 



Region. 



Beets. 



Pota- 

 toes. 



Alfalfa. 



Pas- 

 ture. 



Grain. 



Miscel- 

 laneous. 



Total. 



Lehi, Utali . 



67.2 

 83.8 

 71.3 

 31.2 



10.7 



• .8 



22.6 



9.8 



0.4 



8.1 



2.3 



22.0 



""b'.Y 



28.6 

 7.3 

 2.8 



33.6 



3.1 



"4" 



3.4 



100.0 



Garland and Tremonton, Utah 



100.0 



Idaho Falls and Blackfoot, Idaho 



100.0 



Twin Falls, Idaho 



100.0 







Percentage of Total Sugar Beet Acres Followed by Crops Specified. 



Lehi, Utah ... 



55.9 

 96.1 

 78.6 

 52.2 



1.1 



""a 9' 







43.0 



2.8 



12.6 



47.8 





100.0 



Garland and -Tremonton, IJtah 



1.1 





100.0 



Idaho Falls and Blackfoot, Idaho. . 



100.0 



Twin Falls, Idaho 







100.0 

















Both the enterprise survey which was carried out in these districts 

 in 1915 and 1916 and the present survey appear to indicate that 

 quite a large number of growers favor the production of sugar beets 

 on the same piece of land for several years in succession. This prac- 

 tice is no doubt due in part to the prevailing opinion that beet land 

 improves with cultivation. Many growers contend that they are 

 getting better yields now in fields that have produced five or more 

 crops than they were able to obtain during the first two or three 

 years of their experience. It is not unusual to find beets upon the 

 same field for eight to twelve years without the introduction of any 

 other crop. Such a system invariably invites trouble and eventually 

 brings a shortage in yield through the development of plant dis- 

 eases or the multiplication of insect pests. A few men have recog- 

 nized the serious possibilities of such a condition and are endeavoring 

 to modify this method of cropping. (Figs. 4 and 5.) 



LABOR REQUIREMENTS. 



Growing sugar beets involves two classes of labor — that furnished 

 by the farmer and his teams, and contract hand labor. Since it is 

 a general practice to hire certain operations done at a stipulated 

 price per acre or per ton, it is customary to report the contract labor 

 in money values. There were several farms in each of these districts, 

 however, on which the hand labor was performed by the operator 



