Cost of Producing Beets 247 
Commenting on this, Moorhouse says: “Labor was by 
far the most important item in this study. The total 
labor cost under the rates that prevailed in 1914-1915 
varied from $35.25 an acre to $40.18. These sums con- 
stituted from 54.4 to 58.3 per cent of the total cost of 
production.” 
Although the different figures given above do not agree 
entirely, they are all suggestive and will be of assistance 
to any one who wishes to compute costs for his own neigh- 
borhood. 
The beet farmers and sugar companies of Utah and 
Idaho agreed on the following schedule for contract hand 
labor for each acre during 1918: Thinning, $8; first 
hoeing, $3; second hoeing, $2,—or $26 for all hand 
labor based on a twelve-ton crop with one dollar extra 
for each additional ton and seventy-five cents less for 
each ton decrease in yield. 
EXAMPLES OF ACRE-COST 
Blakey! has made rather extensive investigations of 
the cost of producing sugar based on reports of farmers, 
actual field tests, and work of the experiment stations. 
His findings are summed up in Table XTX. In the table 
he does not include the cost of land, rent, taxes, and the 
like, which would probably be between $15 and $20, 
making the total cost about $75. The figures are fairly 
accurate for the dates represented, but they are doubt- 
less too low for war-time prices of labor and materials. 
1 Blakey, R. G., ‘‘The United States Beet-Sugar Industry and 
the Tariff’ (1912), pp. 113-140 and pp. 267-273. 
