34 
BULLETIN 721, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
cases alfalfa may be grown two or three years, and at the end of this 
period the last crop of alfalfa is plowed under for the improvement 
of the soil, thus putting it in good condition for one or two crops of 
sugar beets. It is not desirable to grow sugar beets immediately 
after old alfalfa, because the old alfalfa roots are large and woody 
and interfere seriously with cultivation. It is better to follow old 
alfalfa with a noncultivated crop, such as grain, which in turn may 
be followed by sugar beets. 
Table IV —Beet-sugar production, 1916-17. 
Location and 
year. 
Num- 
ber of 
sugar 
mills. 
Days 
oper- 
ating, 
Acres 
of beets 
har- 
vested. 
Aver- 
age 
yield 
in 
tons 
per 
acre. 
Total 
tons of 
beets 
pro- 
duced. 
Aver- Aver- 
age per- age per- 
centage 
of ex- 
trac- 
tion. 
of sugar 
in the 
beets. 
Aver- 
age co- 
effi- 
cient of 
purity. 
Tons of 
sugar 
made. 
84.13 
82,91 
236,322 
209,325 
85.79 
85.16 
252, 147 
234,303 
86.39 
84.84 
45,874 
38,376 
85.22 
86.57 
69,341 
64,247 
83.36 
86.25 
18,234 
24,467 
84.79 
82.27 
90, 277 
83,662 
82.67 
81.87 
108,462 
110, 827 
84.74 
83.89 
820,657 
765,207 
Av- 
erage 
price 
paid 
per 
ton 
for 
Total 
paid for 
beets. 
California: 
1916 
1917 
Colorado: 
1916 
1917 
Idaho: 
1916 
1917 
Michigan: 
1916 
1917 
Ohio: 
1916 
1917 
Utah: 
1916 
1917 
Other States 
1916 
1917 
All States: 
1916 
1917 
102 
91 
70 
95 
60 
141,097 
161,909 
188,568 
161, 476 
42, 135 
37, 745 
99,619 
82, 151 
24, 767 
24,234 
68,211 
100,911 
116 993 
665,308 
664, 797 
10.37 
8.16 
10.25 
10.84 
7.87 
7.59 
5.05 
5.62 
5.56 
8.36 
10.38 
8.35 
7.75 
.00 
1,462,895 
1,321,716 
1,933,591 
1, 749, 875 
331,478 
502, 705 
461, 721 
137, 696 
202,624 
708,237 
696,522 
843,071 
906,641 
5,919,673 
5,625.545 
16.15 
15.84 
13.04 
13.39 
13.84 
13.40 
13.79 
13.91 
13.24 
12.08 
12.75 
12.01 
12.87 
12.22 
13.86 
13.60 
18.35 
18.48 
15.00 
15.40 
16.95 
16.74 
16.37 
16.28 
15.89 
16.24 
16.05 
15.61 
15.69 
15.17 
16.30 
16.28 
$6. 30 $9, 
7.6010, 
6.0612, 
7.2813, 
6.16 2 ; 
7.06 2. 
6.14 
8.04 
6.83 
7.18 
5.73 
7.04 
6.18 
7.37 
311,000 
125,000 
236,000 
526,000 
199,000 
203,000 
337,000 
215, 000 
008,000 
580,000 
577,000 
368,000 
471,000 
175,000 
139,000 
192,000 
Fruit. — In several sugar-beet areas fruit has been found to be a 
competing crop. In several instances the sugar beet has been elimi- 
nated or shifted to other areas, or reduced in area below the point of 
a profitable mill run. It is sometimes possible to grow considerable 
areas of beets in orchards when the trees are small, but as the 
orchards get older and the trees increase in size the space between the 
rows must necessarily become smaller and smaller until finally the 
sugar beet is excluded. When fruit growing has become general in 
a sugar-beet area, as has been the case in several instances in certain 
localities, sugar-beet growing and diversified farming in general 
have been practically eliminated. Occasionally some misfortune 
overtakes the fruit industry and the area again returns to general 
farming, including sugar beets. In one locality studied the entire 
cycle has been passed through, and the fruit growers are now remov- 
ing their trees and returning to general farm practice, including the 
growing of sugar beets. 
