4 BULLETIX 726, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
due mainly to the heavier soil types at Rocky Ford, which necessitated 
a greater amount of tillage. 
2. Labor, including man, horse, and contract labor, was the most 
important charge. It varied from 54.3 per cent to 59.1 per cent of 
the total cost. 
3. Charges for materials, such as seed, manure, and water, varied 
from 8.6 per cent to 10.7 per cent of the total cost of production. 
4. Other costs, such as interest on land for owners and land 
rental for tenants, insurance, taxes, and machinery, made up 32.3 
per cent to 35 per cent of the total cost of raising this crop. 
5. The total cost of production per acre in 1914 and 1915 was 
S72.53 in Greeley, $65 at Fort Morgan, and $64.87 at Rocky Ford. 
The total receipts per acre, including tops, amounted to $92.44 at 
Greeley, $81.66 at Fort Morgan, and $67.36 at Rocky Ford. The 
average yield for the Greeley area was 15.57 tons per acre, for Fort 
Morgan 13.65 tons, and for Rocky Ford 12.99 tons. 
6. Farm owners produced beets at a lower cost per acre and per 
ton than tenant operators, with the exception of the Rocky Ford 
area, where the owners had the higher acre cost and a higher cost 
per ton. That it was possible for owners in the Greeley area to 
produce beets at a lower cost than the tenants was due chiefly to the 
fact that the interest charge on beet land in the owner group in 1914 
and 1915 was much less than the corresponding rental charge on 
tenant farms. 
7. Seventy-four per cent of the farmers fed beet tops directly to 
their own stock, 12 per cent fed a portion and sold the remainder, 
and 14 per cent sold all tops. The estimated farm value, $3.35 per 
acre, for beet tops was 28 cents per acre greater than the actual sell- 
ing value in the districts under observation. 
8. Since the cost of production per ton of sugar beets decreased 
as the yield increased, any change in the methods of sugar-beet grow- 
ing which does not violate the principles of good farm management, 
and which will increase the tonnage per acre without materially 
increasing the cost of production, should receive the attention of 
sugar-beet operators in these areas. 
METHOD. 
The tables that are presented in this bulletin were not taken from 
systematic records kept on farms, but are based upon a large number 
of detailed reports given by beet growers on the 1914 and 1915 crops. 
The results represent the best judgment and experience of men who 
have been producing this crop for several years. During the year 1914 
the field records were confined entirely to cost studies. In other 
words, the schedules, which were filled out by well-trained enumer- 
ators, contained only the items necessary to the compilation of cost 
