GROWING FIELD CROPS IN SUGAR-BEET DISTRICTS. 15 



sequent crop. The longer the period between the two plowings the 

 less the number of crowns that will retain sufficient vitality to send 

 up shoots. Where the land is plowed twice there are few plants 

 that do not have the taproot severed. Where alfalfa land is plowed 

 but once there is need of more work in disking and leveling to get the 

 land in condition for a seed bed. 



Alfalfa does not leave land in condition to be easily prepared for a 

 seed bed, due to the coarse root system of the plant, but the vegetable 

 matter of these roots contains ingredients very beneficial to the pro- 

 duction of most crops. Beet land is left in the best state of tilth 

 for the succeeding crop. Grain crops are often sown after beets with 

 little further preparation of the soil for the seed bed. Grain lands 

 are usually plowed for the succeeding crop, while potato and bean 

 lands are often sown to grains- without plowing. Cantaloupe and 

 cucumber lands are usually plowed before planting the next crop. 



DISKING. 



The disk harrow is used extensively in the preparation of the seed 

 bed for all crops in each of the three districts studied. At Fort 

 Morgan 17 of 41 men growing grain reported the use of the disk and 19 

 of 66 beet growers used it. At Rocky Ford 8 of 14 bean growers, 10 

 of 16 cucumber growers, 100 per cent of the cantaloupe growers, 10 

 of 16 grain growers, and 61 of 109 beet growers used the disk in pre- 

 paring the seed bed. Rocky Ford growers made a greater use of the 

 disk than those of Fort Morgan or Greeley. At Greeley the disk was 

 displaced by such tools as the spring-tooth harrow. The farmers at 

 Rocky Ford use the disk to pulverize clods and to kill small weeds. 

 There is a greater tendency for the ground to be cloddy at Rocky 

 Ford than at Greeley or Fort Morgan, owing to the distribution of the 

 annual rainfall. Most of the disk users at Rocky Ford plowed before 

 or after disking, while in the northern Colorado district the disk was 

 used more often to take the place of plowing, especially for grain crops 

 and beans planted on potato or beet land. For pulverizing the soil 

 in these three districts the disk is next to the plow in efficiency. 



The crew for disking is most commonly one man and four horses, 

 although a greater or lesser number of horses is occasionally used. 



SPRING-TOOTH HARROW. 



The spring-tooth harrow was used on approximately one-third of 

 the beet land in the Greeley district and on 72 per cent of the grain 

 land. This shows the importance of this implement in this region 

 in the preparation of the seed bed. The Rocky Ford operators do not 

 use the spring-tooth harrow much, and in the Fort Morgan region it is 

 used only to a limited extent. In the Greeley territory it is used in 

 the preparation of the seed bed for all crops. Its most frequent use 

 is in preparing the seed bed for grains. On the row-tilled crops where 



