32 BULLETIN 735, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
obtained in a manner which should include the correct total cost of 
machinery: for beets during the season of 1915. | 
TABLE X.~—Cost of machinery for growing sugar beets in the Billings region 
in 1915. 
Perton | Percent- 
Items of cost. Total. | Perfarm.| Peracre.| of beets. age 
charge. 
TE Oct e teret tae es) eee en ie eee ane Ae acest $5, 671 $18. 59 $0. 64 $0. 06 24.2 
Depreciation: Atte sis a ese he hae ARS ee re | 10,393 34.08 1517 ete 44.3 
Interest on investment at 8 percent ._..-..-.--.----- | 6, 678 21.89 . 76 07 28.8 
Ehiredma chine rye mice tees oot eee 637 2.09 nO -O1 nG 
Potalicost eee eee eee See ee a | 23,379 | 76.65 2.64 .25|  - 100.0 
————<—— 
PRORATING INTEREST ON THE INVESTMENT. 
Detailed information covering the cash investment in 305 farms 
on which 8,849 acres of sugar beets were grown showed an average 
of $3,656 per farm, and the prorated interest cost chargeable to 
the beet crop was $11.99, being an average of 41 cents per acre 
planted to beets and 4 cents for each ton of beets produced. 
The average man pays about 41 cents per acre for interest on 
money invested in the beet crop. This is only for money spent 
for labor and miscellaneous items of cost, the greater part being 
for money paid to contract laborers or hired labor. Contract la- 
borers receive about half of their contract price at a time soon after 
the blocking and thinning is done. For this region this averages 
about $9 per acre, and in most instances it is paid some time in 
June or July, although in some cases it is advanced to the laborer 
earlier in the season. No money is received from the beet crop until 
October or November, so the interest on money paid for hand labor 
runs for four to six months. - | | 
Interest on contract-labor money for four to six months at 8 per 
cent for $9 is 24 cents to 36 cents per acre, depending on the time 
the contractor receives the money. Interest on money paid to the 
farm laborers for one to eight months, depending on the number 
of laborers hired, varies on different farms from nothing to 60 cents 
per acre of beets grown. 
COST OF LAND FOR SUGAR BEETS. 
The owner’s cost for land is divided between interest, irrigation 
water, and other items that are furnished by landlords on rented 
farms. These items aggregate $11.99 per acre, divided as follows: 
Interest on real estate, $9.86; land taxes, $1.15; cost of water for 
irrigation, 86 cents; miscellaneous charges, 12 cents. (Table XI.) 
