The Yakima herald. [volume] (North Yakima, W.T. [Wash.]) 1889-1914, 1905-03-15

do the work between the rows. In 4
well cultivated field. which is not too
foul. an acre can be hoed by one man in
a day. If the land is very productive
and gets sufficient moisture the beet
leaves will soon cover the whole field,
and all farmer can possibly do is to
give the crop an irrigation when it
needs it. as he would do more harm
than good by trying to keep up cultiva'
ton. by breaking down too many leaves.
A beet crop that farmer can cult
vate all summer, does not amount to
much. Land in this case has not suf
ficient strength to produce crop. |
have seen many fields in which the fol-
iage completely covered the ground by
work is attached and the greater are the
returns. The harvesting of a crop is
accomplished in the following manner:
"The beets will be plowed up by
beet litter, and an ordinary team of
two farm horses, can pull the implc'
ment easily and can pillow mp about
three acres per day. In case a farmer
has only three acres in beets, he 1ocs
not usually plow them all I'D at once,
but only such quantity as he is able to
deliver to the factory or receiving sta
ton within a few days. After the
bcets are pulled they lay on the ground
or at least loosened in the soil, so that
Figures on the cost
they may be easily picked up and
thrown into heaps. The toppers will
then work around them, taking beet
in one hand and handling with the 9TH
er a large knife for the purpose, cut
ting off the leaves with a single stroke.
One man can top from 8 to 10 tons pei
day, depending Oh the tonnage pc" acre.
In case of 20 or 80, ton crop, which
good farmers under good bitches usu.
ally have in Colorado, one man can top
as high as ten tons per day. The beets
are then loaded onto a wagon with
large forks, like potato forks. To as
sist in unloading them at the factory
or receiving stations. dumps are used
and it requires but few seconds to
unload wagon.
THE company is always ready and
willing to hear suggestions from the
farmers and matters in dispute can al
ways be arranged satisfactorily. The
farmer rarely has to use extra teams in
the work of hauling. He has almost
three months time in which to harvest
his crop. Before harvesting commences
the company sends out post cards to
the beet raisers asking them how much
they can deliver per week or per month";
and they make up the order according
ly and send it to them.
"The farmer has no difficulty in al
ranging his work in the beet field so
that it does not interfere with the rest
of his farm work. wish to say here
that the Colorado farmers haul with a
four horse team five tons of beets on
one trip in IA wagon box made especial
ly for the purpose. This box can be
constructed very cheaply by the farmer
himself.
$50 far have been talking about far,
mers who have limited amount OF
land put in beets, but there are Others
who undertake larger acreage and who
are not able to do the thinning them
selves. The price for this labor in this
county should not exceed $3.50 per acre.
We have plenty of Indians here who
would do the work by the day or by con
tract. If the farmer can not spare the
money to pay for the thinning the COM
pany will help him. Usually the farm
err has time to go through the fields
with the hoe after the thinning is done,
and also attend to the cultivating and
irrigating. The blowing and hauling
can generally be attended to by the
farmer but he may need assistance in
topping. The expense of this work
should not exceed So per acre, bringing
the total cost up to this period to
1895.
"a beetgrower who aims to do moth
ing except the cultivating and irrigat-
ing, would better have all the hand work
done by contract for the whole season.
This ought to be accomplished for SIS
or SIG per acre. Those who are com
PEELED to hire teams for the hauling will
find that the expense depends on the
distance from the factory or the sta
ton. 1t is not advisable to raise