GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN THE BILLINGS REGION. 11 
TABLE 1V.—Returns to growers using no manure compared with returns to those 
manuring 75 per cent or more of their sugar-beet area in the Billings region. 
Beet crop. | 
Returns 
Per acre. or 
Number of 
Crop treatment. manure 
, farms. less the 
Area. Value of | labor cost. 
Yield. the net 
increase. 
Acres. Tons 
IN [esa bi ela [ecg ea Ws a ee ee oo he 55 1,444 12.38 $16.10 $12.79 
INI@ag RONDE Ae Ske Amo aa ea wae Se eee ae 74 1,908 QS iain bese < clever erie [a cts nen arerare 
Manure worth $3.79 was put on each acre manured. The cost of its 
application was $3.31, as it required 8.9 hours of man labor and 15.3 
hours of horse labor. 
Growers to the number of 233, or 75.7 per cent of the total, manured 
part of their beet land. They manured 3,250 acres, or 36.7 per cent 
of the total beet acreage, at some time in the 3-year period prior to 
the time of planting the 1915 beet crop.. As already stated, the 
writers have assumed that manure is beneficial to the crop for at 
least three years succeeding its application. 
The data showed that in this region the average established owner 
manured more land than the average tenant, because the tenants were 
unable to get long leases on the land. The difference in this respect 
was 17.2 per cent of the area planted to sugar beets. The data also 
showed that the owners made slightly heavier applications of manure 
to the land manured. In fact, most of the land manured on ten- 
ant holdings was on those farms where the landlord had encour- 
aged the feeding of stock on the land by feeding all the hay which 
he received for rental. Some landlords were taking an interest. in 
their farms and feeding their hay on the land, and some of the ten- 
ants were feeding with the landlord under agreements whereby the 
landlord advanced the money to finance the buying of feeding stock, 
and the tenant performed the labor of feeding, thus effecting an ex- 
change of labor for the use of capital. 
PLOWING PRACTICE. 
_ The entire area planted to sugar beets was plowed during the 
preparation of the seed bed. This work was done at an average cost 
of $2.54 per acre, or an expenditure of 4.59 hours of man labor and 
16.18 hours of horse labor. This does not include any labor of crown- 
ing alfalfa sod where such lands were crowned before they were 
plowed. 
Almost all the plowing done in this region is done in the spring, 
as growers do not have time to harvest their beets and do much fall 
