GROWING SUGAR BEETS IN COLORADO. 
27 
growers averaged slightly more than once over. In this practice 
there was also a marked difference in the area ditched per day — 
from 8.3 acres in the Rocky Ford district to 34.6 in the Greeley area. 
Manifestly, the cost per acre for each district is directly related to 
the amount of work done per day. It should be noted that during 
certain seasons much more ditch-cleaning work is necessary in some 
districts than in others. Out of 164 growers reporting, 44 used crews 
made up of one man and two horses, 40 employed crews of two men 
and three horses, 22 indicated the use of one man and three horses, 
and 19 had crews of two men and two horses. The records do not 
indicate that the crew size increased or decreased the cost per acre 
r 
Fig. 10.— Removing silt and other debris with a homemade V ditcher, 
of silt was first loosened with a plow, 
It will be seen that the deposit 
for cleaning. Where high costs are shown it simply means that more 
work was necessary there to place the ditches in good condition. 
In comparing hand labor with hand and horse labor in ditch cleaning, 
it must not be assumed that the lower cost for the former justifies 
a recommendation that the work always be done by hand. It is 
probably true that effective work with a plow and V ditcher one season 
will enable the grower to handle the situation' by hand the succeeding 
season. 
PLANTING. 
Planting practice was uniform throughout the three districts. 
As a matter of fact this operation does not vary much, no matter 
what the conditions. The four-row beet drill is an implement 
