GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN THE BILLINGS REGION. ork 
COST OF SEED FOR SUGAR BEETS. 
The seed for the sugar-beet crop is furnished to the farmer by the 
sugar company contracting for the beets. This seed has been sold to 
the farmers at 10 cents per pound for a number of years, and the 
quantity of seed per acre is often specified. Most farmers plant the 
amount per acre that the company specifies; therefore the cost per 
acre for seed runs very nearly the same for each farm. The cost of 
seed per ton of beets produced is very variable, as there is variation 
in the tonnage per acre. For individual farms the cost of seed per 
ton of beets produced varied from 10 cents to more than 60 cents. 
Detailed information gathered from 305 farms growing 8,849 acres 
of beets is as follows: Pounds of seed per acre, 17.2; cost of seed per 
pound, 10 cents; cost of seed per acre, $1.72; cost of seed per ton of 
beets produced, 16 cents. 
COST OF MACHINERY. 
The cost of machinery varies greatly in accordance with the 
amount of machinery the man owns and the area of beets that he 
cultivates. Some growers had high-priced machinery and a small 
area in beets, so the cost of machinery per acre ran very high; in some 
instances it was more than $15 per acre. To grow a crop of beets, a 
farmer should own the machinery or be able to rent certain machines 
when needed. To own all machinery is not always advisable where 
the area in beets is less than 10 acres. 
The depreciation of machinery on various farms varied from 10 
to 25 per cent of the original value, depending on the acreage of 
beets to be tended by one machine and the type of machinery owned. 
The grower should either own or have the use of the following ma- 
chinery: Plow, harrow, level, beet drill, beet cultivator, beet wagon 
(with box of a special type for the automatic dumping of the beets), 
beet puller, hoes, shovels, topping knives, and beet forks. In some 
cases a roller and a manure spreader should be added to this 
equipment. 
It is rather hard to get an exact figure for the cost of machinery for 
beets, as farmers use the same wagons, harrows, plows, etc., on other 
crops, and allowance for this has to be made; but it is possible to 
get a reasonably accurate estimate of the depreciation and repair 
cost of machinery that is chargeable to beets by comparing the 
acreage in other crops. These charges were figured separately for 
each farm, and Table X shows the results of the data furnished 
by 305 farmers as to the costs chargeable to the sugar-beet crop for 
the use of machinery. . 
Table X is necessarily more or less of an approximation, and there 
may be some items of cost not enumerated; however, the costs were 
