32 BULLETIN 963, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



by loose dirt thrown in a ridge between the rows, especially where 

 double-row thinning is practiced. These two operations are shown 

 separately in the tables. 



It will be seen that in the Lehi and Garland districts rolling after 

 planting is much more important than rolling before planting. In the 

 Idaho Falls area, where the soil type is lighter, about the same per- 

 centage of beet acreage was rolled before planting as after. In the 

 Twin Falls area more rolling was done before planting than after. 

 The most common crew for this operation consisted of one man and 

 two horses. KoUing is usually done at the rate of 8 to 12 acres 

 per day. 



DITCHING. 



A certain amount of ditching must be done annually on an irrigated 

 farm. This may include work on the lateral which carries water 

 from the main canal to the farm proper, or it may involve the re- 

 moval of silt or other debris from the distributing lateral, or the 

 building of temporary laterals. Whatever work is done should be 

 divided equally among those enterprises with which the operation 

 is directly chargeable. Sugar beets should bear a fair proportion of 

 this cost. 



This cleaning does not require much time; consequently, the total 

 charge is small. In some cases the operation includes both man and 

 horse labor. In others the work involves hand labor only. Fre- 

 quently a plow may be used to advantage in removing the accumu- 

 lated silt from the bottom of the lateral. A V-shaped machine is 

 sometimes substituted for or used after the plow. The ditching is 

 usually done immediately preceding a run of water. 



In getting estimates on ditching practice only such work as the 

 operator applied directly to the beet crop was entered in the record. 

 These data were tabulated in two classes, the first comprising figures 

 from those farms where man labor only was involved, the second 

 figures from farms using both man and horse labor. Some growers 

 did a part of the ditching with man and horse labor and completed 

 the operation with hand labor only. 



In the Lehi district ditching was done on 63 per cent of the acreage 

 with man and horse labor. Man labor alone was applied to 97 per 

 cent of the acreage. In the Garland district both classes of work 

 apply to practically all of the beet acreage. In Idaho Falls 53 per 

 cent of the acreage was included under ditching where man and 

 horse labor were used, while 91 per cent of the acreage included 

 man labor only. Man and horse labor for ditching in the Twin 

 Falls district constituted a minor item. 



