The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1904-11-25
A las A RIVAL.

O.S -
the staple products of the valley ant
the source of an assured income tx
the grower, alfalfa is destined to bf
dethroned as liking" by the sugar
beet, which promises son to give the
famous forage plant a hard contest
for regal honors. Repeated laboratory
tests have demonstrated beyond doub!
the richness in saccharine matter OF
the beet capable of being cultivated in
this vicinity. Experiments have also
proved the adaptability of the soil, eli.
mate and all other natural conditions
to the successful cultivation of the
root. The only matter of doubt ap-
parently has been dispelled by a visit
to the beet sugar regions of Colorado
by a couple of the valleys most sue
cessful and intelligent farmers, who
went there for the express purpose of
gaining information in regard to
methods employed in successfully
growing the beet, the cost of it's pro-
duction and the price realized when a
market for it is at hand.
What they learned convinced them
the beet could be even more profit
ably and successfully grown here
than in that state. The soil in this
part of the valley is richer than that
of Colorado, the altitude is lower,
hence there is less danger of early
and killing frosts and more time for
the plant to mature. Twenty tons an
acre they found to be the average
yield, for which the sugar factories
pay IS a ton, making 500 an acre de-
rived from the sale of the beets. The
cost of production was estimated not
to exceed $40 an acre, leaving a net
profit of $50. Because of the labor re-
quired in their cultivation the average
farmer down there raises only about
ten to twenty acres, with an extreme
of thirty acres, as to attempt to Gull
tivate more than the latter amount
would necessitate the employment OF
extra help to an extent few seemed
to care to undertake.
A comparison of figures must in
stantly show that beet raising is much
more profitable than the growing of al
falfa. Under the most favorable cir
cumstances not to exceed four or five
tons of alfalfa can be grown on an
acre of land. Four dollars a ton, in
the stack, is about the highest price
to be obtained for it, making, at the
very most, 500 an acre that the
grower can expect to receive as the
income from his land. From this is
to be deducted the cost of irrigating
and gathering, which is never to be
figured at less than 81 a ton. Plac-
ing the yield at the maximum, the
cost will be found to be IS an acre,
leaving at the outside a possible pro-
fit of SIS an acre.
There is still another difference in
the cost of the production of the two
articles. To start a field at alfalfa
costs no less than about $40 an acre;
consequently instead of deriving a pro.
fit the first year, the grower must fig.
ure on paying a difference between
the cost of production and what he
realizes from the sale of his forage.
OF course, the succeeding years bring
the profits, for unless something un.
fOrseen occurs necessitating it he will
not be compelled to reseed his field
for a number of years. But there is
| still another ADVANTAGE with the nrO.
Queer of sugar beets. When he sells
his beets he does not find himself in
the position of the man who sells his
alfalfa. The latter once gone the
grower need look for no further bene
fits from it. Not so with the sugar
beet man. With the juices extracted
the pulp of the beet is still valuable
as feed for stock In Colorado and