50 BULLETIN 721, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
good roads that crops which must be hauled to market in numerous 
heavy loads can be handled successfully; likewise the demand that 
these crops have made for good roads has stimulated their building 
and improvement, as shown in Plate VI, figure 2. There are three 
points to be considered in connection with roads as related to sugar- 
beet culture: (1) The length of the haul, (2) the topography of the 
country, and (3) the nature of the roadbed. In general it has been 
found that 1 or 5 miles is the maximum distance that sugar beets can 
be hauled profitably. It is apparent that the distance depends to a 
great extent upon the topography and the nature of the roadbed. 
If the country is hilly, and especially if the hills are steep, it fre- 
quently is unprofitable to haul sugar beets. Unless at least 3 tons 
of beets can be hauled per load the conditions must be very favorable 
to make the handling of this crop profitable. In the survey by the 
Office of Sugar-Plant Investigations, cooperating with the Office of 
Farm Management, it has been found that, other things being 
equal, the cost of delivering beet roots increases directly with the 
distance. In this survey the topography and the care of the road- 
becl were practically the same for all cases compared. It is ap- 
parent that it would be more expensive to haul a short distance 
over a poor or hilly road than several times that distance over a 
level stone road, as shown in Plate VI, figure 2. In speaking of the 
hauling distance, reference is made not to the distance from the fac- 
tory but to the loading station or point of delivery. In this respect 
the grower near the sugar mill has no advantage over the grower 
many miles away, provided the latter is near a beet dump. 
The railroad haul is another point to be considered. As a rule, 
beets can not be transported more than 100 miles with profit, at least 
under normal conditions. There are,- of course, circumstances under 
which longer hauls are permissible and profitable. Frequently in try- 
ing out a new sugar-beet section it is necessary to haul the roots 
several hundred miles, but in such cases it is not expected that any 
considerable profit will be obtained from these beets, and, in fact, 
they sometimes are transported long distances at a loss in order to 
determine whether beets of sufficient yield and quality to make beet- 
growing profitable can be grown in a given locality. The length of 
the railroad haul depends to some extent upon the local conditions, the 
returns that may be obtained, and whether the haul is over a single 
road or over two or more lines. 
CONTRACTS. 
All sugar beets grown commercially for sugar-making purposes 
are grown under contract. These contracts are issued by the sugar 
company and are signed by some official or agent of the company and 
also by the beet grower. The principal points covered in the contracts 
