56 
BULLETIN 726, IT. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
district in question has a winter with less snow than the others, and 
the relative loss is undoubtedly smaller on this account. Moreover, 
many cattle are brought in from the ranges for feeding or wintering. 
These facts taken together may explain the higher average value 
reported for this district. 
The estimated farm value of beet tops was greater than the selling 
value in each of the districts. The man who feeds tops to his own 
stock evidently believes that they are worth more to the farm than 
the customary selling price. 
RELATIVE IMPORTANCE OF BEET RECEIPTS. 
A comparison of the crop, live stock, and miscellaneous receipts of 
the farms studied, for the crop year 1915, will convey to the reader 
some idea of the relative importance of the sugar beet (Table 
XXXIII) . In the Greeley area, sugar beets contributed 32 per cent of 
the total farm receipts and almost one-half of the crop receipts. 
The importance of the sugar beet in the Fort Morgan district 
is shown by the fact that this crop afforded 61.7 per cent, or almost 
two-thirds, of the total farm receipts. On the Rocky Ford farms 
the sugar beet was also the most important cash crop. 
Tablb XXXIII. — Average beet receipts per farm in comparison with other farm receipts 
in 1915. 
District. 
Num- 
ber of 
esti- 
mates. 
Average 
total re- 
ceipts per 
farm. 
Per cent of total receipts from- 
Crops. J Live stock. 
Miscella- 
neous. 
Beets. 
Per cent 
of crop 
receipts 
from 
beets. 
Greeley 
Fort Morgan . 
Rocky Ford. 
17, 436. 62 
4, 763. 49 
2,754.95 
71.4 
69.4 
74.4 
27.4 
29.6 
29 9 
1.2 
1.0 
o.i 
32.1 
61.7 
52.8 
45.0 
88.9 
70.8 
VARIATION IN FARM PRACTICE. 
Although certain field methods in preparing the seed bed for 
sugar beets and in tending and harvesting the crop are common to 
all growers, the desired results are often accomplished in a number 
of different ways. The condition of the soil at the time the land is 
worked sometimes determines the character of the operations neces- 
sary to put the ground in shape for planting. Some land may have 
to be disked and harrowed with a spring-tooth and a spike-tooth 
harrow, while other land may require only spike-tooth harrowing. 
The same is true for rolling the land. The climatic conditions 
usually govern the method of handling the growing crop, while 
certain economic factors, together with climate, have much to do in 
shaping the field operation and practice in harvesting and hauling 
the crop. 
