GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN COLORADO. 
25 
The corrugated roller was used principally by Greeley growers. 
This implement varied in width from 8 to 9 feet and was operated 
on 29 Greeley farms by crews of one man and two horses,, and on 16 
farms by crews of one man and four horses. One man used a 1-3 
crew. From 11 to 16 acres constituted a day's work with a roller 
(Table XIII). 
Table XIII. — Rolling data for three Colorado districts. 
District. 
Year. 
Num- 
ber of 
of 
farms. 
Acres 
rolled 
per farm. 
Num- 
ber of 
times 
rolled. 
Crew. 
Hours per acre. 
Total 
cost 
Man. 
Horse. 
Man. 
Horse. 
per 
acre. 
Rockv Ford 
1914-15 
1915 
1914-15 
14 
2 
46 
24.2 
10.0 
24.05 
1.46 
1.00 
1.10 
1 
1 
1 
2.92 
2.00 
2.70 
1.26 
.60 
3.7 
1.3 
2.15 
$0.60 
.26 
.39 
CLEANING DITCHES. 
Cleaning the laterals that connect the fields on the farm with the 
main canal is usually considered a special task, otherwise this work 
might be included under irrigation. During the irrigation season silt 
is deposited in the main laterals as well as in the distributing ditches. 
Dust and dead weeds may accumulate in the distributing canals 
during the winter months. Frequently also, weeds make such 
vigorous growth in the ditches that cutting them with a scythe and 
clearing them away becomes necessary. In order, therefore, to 
insure rapid delivery of water when the crop requires it, some work 
must be devoted to cleaning ditches prior to the first run in the canal. 
On many farms the cleaning is done with man and horse labor, while 
in some cases man labor only is expended. 
Fifty-four per cent of all farms reporting on the field operations 
did the cleaning by hand (Table XIV). For the majority of the 
farms in this group cleaning was done once during the season, although 
a few men cleaned twice. Consequently, the averages which are given 
for the respective districts indicate slightly more than once over. 
This operation began early in the spring and extended almost to the 
end of the irrigation season. The greater part of the cleaning was 
done during the month of May or early in June. There were special 
instances where it was expedient to do some cleaning throughout the 
summer months. Rocky Ford growers put much more time on the 
cleaning than was expended at Greeley or Fort Morgan. The highest 
acre cost was reported from the former area. Considerable varia- 
tion was found in the number of acres cleaned per day. The average 
area covered per day for the Rocky Ford area was 5.1 acres, for 
Greeley 9 acres, and for Fort Morgan 12 acres (fig. 9). 
69805°— 18— Bull. 726 4 
