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Show BEET ACREAGE SIGNUP BEGINS Growers Can Expect Increase in Prices Fieldmen of the Amalgamated Sugar company began today con- ' tracting for 1944 acreage and will continue throughout the coming two weeks, D. E. Smith, Lewis-ton Lewis-ton district manager, announced after receiving information on factory price payments. Growers can expect a maximum price of $12,50 per ton for beets with 16.2 per cent sufiar content at a net price of $14.50 per ton to processors, he explained. Last year's maximum price was $10.70 on the same basis. Fieldmen, ami the districts they will cover, were listed by Mr. Smith as follows: L. E. Crookston, Logan, south Cache county; Ted Gessell, Logan, central Cache county, North Logan and Hyde Pp;-k ?rr.i:; LciO Nlso", Smith-field, Smith-field, Smithfield, Amalga, Benson, Trenton and Newton areas; Dan Buttars, Lewiston, north Cache county. A preliminary survey revealed that acreage will fall short of the 9,500 acres recommended by the Cache county crops planning oemmittee, but a 25 to 35 per cent increase is expected over last year's comparatively low acreage, he announced. The early survey revealed, however, that approximately approxi-mately 98 per cent of the crop would be planted with segmented seed. He advised farmers to consider carefully all factors concerning their plantings and contract acreage acre-age accordingly. He warned to watch rotation and plant beets on land free from nematode, especially es-pecially farmers in the South Cache canal and Wellsville areas. The crops planning committee recommended that farmers use from 12 to 15 tons of manure to the acre and one bag of super ' 4 phosphate to prepare beet lands. Sugar company officials report that approximately 4000 bags of super-phosphate are available to growers. Discussing segmented seed planting, Mr. Smith pointed out that proper drill settings are imperative if the farmer is to get a good stand. "Trial plantings plant-ings indicate that approximately five pounds of seed per acre should be planted in the Cache Valley area," he said. "Check your drill thoroughly to make sure it is clean, that all parts are tight and that each seeding ' unit is discharging a uniform quantity of seed." He warned against driving tractors trac-tors faster during planting oper-tions oper-tions than an average team will walk, as fast travel will reduce rate of seeding as much as 1.5 pounds per acre. Tests conducted last fall indicate indi-cate that from one to one-fourth inch is proper depth to plant the seeds, he concluded. |