Cost of Producing Beets 237 
costs in the West can be paid because the yields are high 
enough to cover them, and still leave a profit. 
The results are interesting in that they show the re- 
lation of yield to the various factors of production in the 
different localities, although it should be remembered 
that climatic and soil factors are much more important 
in determining the profitableness of beets than is labor. 
The cultural practices, except special operations such as 
irrigation, are thought, on an average, not to differ so 
widely in the different states as do wages. It will be 
noticed that the costs of hand labor and lifting and hauling 
the beets vary somewhat according to yield and that the 
greatest variations are in the cost of lifting and hauling. 
Since the cost of harvesting is known to constitute from 
one-fifth to one-third of the total cost of growing beets, 
this is to be expected. This increases somewhat with 
the yield. 
RELATION OF NUMBER OF ACRES RAISED TO COST AND 
PROFIT 
By arranging the data from the above survey in Table 
XIII, according to the number of acres of beets grown, it 
is found that the acreage of beets has but little influence 
on the cost of production, farms with only a few acres of 
beets producing them as economically as those with over 
a hundred acres. Farm surveys in general show that the 
larger farms up to a certain point are the more efficient ; 
this is thought to hold good with beet farms as well as 
others. A survey in Utah indicated that the proportion 
of the land devoted to beets increased as the profitable- 
