THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY. 121 
$2 per ton delivered at the factory, up to a figure where it becomes unprofitable to 
raise them even at $5 per ton. The average cost to farmers probably ranges from 
$2.50 to $3.50, with an average yield of from 10 to 12 tons. These figures do not 
include rent, fertilizers, or profit. The first two large areas of beets raised under 
my own charge cost $3.60 and $3.80 per ton, respectively (actual book accounts), the 
first being a year of very high cost and the second a drouth year of decreased yield.’’ 
Mr Allen submits detailed statements of these (1893-4) crops as printed below, but 
we understand his 1896 crop was grown at very much less expense. 
RESULT OF CROP. EXPENSES PER ACRE. 
1893 1894 1893 1894 
. ; Cleaning off corn stalks, $3.50 a$2.00 
Number of fields grown, 21 23 Plowing, 2.20 2.01 
Number of acres grown, 500 569 Harrowing, 1.30 50 
Lowest yield per acre, 9 tons 6.6 tons Rolling, 50 31 
Highest “ “oe 30 19.5 Seeding, 40 30 
First hoeing. 4.00 1.44 
“ 6c “ Ti, 66 ’ 
‘Average 1, 10 net tons | winning, 13.00 5.84 
Net delivered at factory, 15 “ io“ Two times hoeing after thinning, 12.00 012.97 
Gross tonnage, 8709 6165 Cultivating, 2.15 1.82 
Net tonnage shipped, 7514 5803 Seed, 2.25 2.00 
cs Cost of laying by 41.30 30.16 
Shrinkage 13.43 5.8 a 
irae ey 2 % % Harvesting, 6.00 6.00 
Total cars shipped, 436 346 Hauling and loading, 6.75 2.13 
Average sugar content, 11.94% 14.95 % Total cost of crop per acre, $54.05 $38.29 
Highest “ 6s 15.50 % 18% Cost of beets per net ton, $3.60 $3.82 
i 7 a Manuring. 6 Second hoeing $5.25, 3d $4.81, 4th 
Average purity, 17% 19% $2.91 per acre. ¢ Plowing out cost §2 per acre, 
Highest ss 86 % 86% pulling and topping $4. 
In Utan, the average cost of cultivating, harvesting and delivering a crop of 12 
tons of beets per acre to the factory, not to exceed four miles distant, is from $28 to 
$35, and at $4 per ton this leaves a net income of $13 to $20 per acre, besides the $28 
or $35 worth of labor furnished by the farmer and his family and teams, fer which he 
gets paid in cash. Going into more detail, the Ntah Sugar company says that, if 
everything is hired or if the labor is charged for at the price it would cost to hire it, 
the expense of cultivating beets in Utah would be about as follows: ‘‘Preparing soil 
for seed, $3.50 per acre; that is, plowing, harrowing, leveling, rolling and the neces- 
sary work to make a proper seed bed. Twenty pounds of seed per acre will cost $3, 
and planting with the seed drill 50c per acre. Thinning costs about $5 per acre, but 
this item wili be less after a few years’ experience. The second hoeing is as neces- 
sary as the thinning, and costs $2 per acre. We irrigate two to five times, as the case 
may be, averaging three times; at 40c per acre for each irrigation, this would cost 
$1.20, though it may cost more the first season. We cultivate six times, three before 
irrigation and three after, at a total cost of $14.40. Plowing out the beets in the fall 
will cost $1 per acre. We pay 50c per ton for pulling and topping the beets, which, 
for an average yield of 12 tons, is $6 per acre. This makes a total expense of $30.60, 
exclusive of use of land and manures, paying highest market prices for all labor.”’ 
One of the most extraordinary financial statements ever made by an American 
beet grower is that submitted by James Bardin, of Monterey Co, Cal. In 1892 he 
shipped 6082 tons of beets to the Watsonville factory from 225 acres of land, making 
the phenomenal average of 27 tons of dressed beets per acre. The cost of seed and 
planting averaged $5.12 per acre, harvesting $7.45 per acre, cultivating and weeding 
