16 BULLETIN 1421, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
A study of Table 2 and Figure 7 shows there is not the close re- 
lation between the price and the acreage of sugar beets that exists 
between the potato price and potato acreage. Sugar-beet yields 
fluctuate from year to year more widely than do potato yields. 
Variation in yield may have even more influence on changes in acre- 
age than has variation in price. 
In 1915 the average yield of all sugar beets delivered to the sugar 
factory at Twin Falls was about 25 per cent above the 10-year 
average, 1914-1923. In 1916 and 1917 the acreage devoted to 
sugar beets was materially increased. The increase in the price 
received for these two crops lagged considerably behind the in- 
crease in the price received for all other crops, with the exception of 
that received for the 1917 potato crop. The average yield of beets 
during these two years was about 1 ton below the 10-year average, 
and in 1918 the acreage devoted to sugar beets was reduced a little 
Fic. 12.—Four rows of sugar beets are planted and every other row furrowed out for irrigating at the 
same operation 
more than 50 per cent. The beet acreage then increased from 1919 
to 1921. The price received for the 1921 sugar-beet crop dropped 
from $12.10 to $6 per ton and the yield to about 70 per cent of the 10- 
year average. This made beets a very unprofitable crop and in 1922 
the beet acreage was but 26 per cent of the 1921 acreage. High yields 
and better prices were obtained in 1922 and 1923 and the acreage 
increased again in 1923 and 1924. 
The usual method of planting sugar beets is shown in Figure 12. 
Beans.— The price of beans began to advance in 1915 and the peak 
average price of $6.58 per bushel was for the 1917 crop. At that 
price, the cost studies indicate, beans were the most profitable crop 
grown in 1917. As a result the acreage occupied by beans in 1918 
and 1919 was about double the 1917 acreage. From the high level 
attained in 1917, the price of beans gradually declined each year 
until an average of $2.78 per bushel was received for the 1921 crop. 
Cores ay ns Ha Lt ee 
