REQUIREMENTS OF FIELD CROPS. 
Table 10. — Potatoes: Percentage distribution of costs per acre. 
19 
Steuben County, 
N.Y. 
Grand Traverse 
County, Mich. 
Item. 
Distri- 
bution of 
operating 
expense. 
Distri- 
bution of 
total 
costs. 
Distri- 
bution of 
operating 
expense. 
Distri- 
bution of 
total 
costs. 
Per cent. 
28.8 
26.0 
Per cent. 
27.3 
24.7 
Per cent. 
32.8 
18.9 
Per cent. 
30.3 
17.4 
Materials: 
12.1 
12.3 
2.0 
1.4 
11.5 
11.7 
1.9 
1.4 
14.3 
14.4 
13.2 
Seed . . 
13.3 
2.1 
1.9 
27.8 
26.5 
30.8 
28.4 
Other costs: 
6.6 
8.7 
2.1 
6.3 
8.2 
2.0 
5.0 
7.6 
4.3 
.6 
4.6 
7.0 
3.9 
.5 
17.4 
16.5 
17.5 
16.0 
5.0 
7.9 
Value of land per acre 
$80 
1117 
SUGAR BEETS. 
During the years 1915, 1916, and 1917 enterprise records were 
obtained in three districts within each of the regions where the 
sugar beet is grown as one of the important crops. The acreage 
represented was as follows: California, 14,139; Utah-Idaho, 3,029; 
Colorado, 9,913; Montana, 8,849; Michigan and Ohio, 4,280— total, 
40,210 acres. The basic requirements for this crop have been 
worked out on a basis slightly different from that used in the case 
of other staples, like corn and wheat. (See Table 11.) In view of 
the fact that a rather large amount of the hand labor was performed 
on a contract basis, it was not thought advisable to separate the work 
prior to harvest from the work performed in harvesting the beet crop. 
Considerable variation was found in the practices which obtained 
with reference to the hand work on sugar beets. In the three Cali- 
fornia districts and in the Billings area the hand work was all done 
on a contract basis. In several of the other districts, like Greeley 
and Rocky Ford, the farm operator with the aid of his family did 
a small part of this work and the remainder was done on a contract 
basis. More than half of the hand labor in the Garland and Fort 
Morgan districts was done by the operator, while in the Provo area 
a relatively small amount of the hand labor was let on contract. 
The cash paid out for contract labor has been converted to hours by 
using a rate of 25 cents per hour, which appears to be reasonable for 
the period under study. 
Certain important factors are to be considered in comparing the 
man labor requirements by districts. First, California operators 
