22 BULLETIN 917, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE-. 



5 it was applied to grain. These statements show that beet growers 

 consider beets to be the crop most responsive to the application of 

 manure. No use of commercial fertilizer was reported in these 

 districts. 



The hours of farm labor charged to manuring show that in each 

 of the three districts studied alfalfa was the farthest removed from the 

 manure application. In the Fort Morgan territory no manure charge 

 was made against alfalfa, as none of the growers visited had seeded 

 alfalfa on land that had been manured during the previous three 

 years. Where alfalfa is put on land which has received a heavy 

 application of manure there is an inclination toward the production 

 of coarse hay. Manure can not well be spread on alfalfa sod, for it 

 can not be properly incorporated into the soil and will be raked up 

 with the hay and injure its quality. However, the principal reason 

 for not manuring alfalfa is the better response of other crops to the 

 manure. Instances are recorded where the average yield of beets on 

 a field has been increased from 50 to 100 per cent with no other ap- 

 parent factor for the cause of this increased yield than the applica- 

 tion of barnyard manure. Manure can be best incorporated imme- 

 diately and mixed with the soil by putting it on land which is to be 

 devoted to a summer-tilled crop. The tilled crops of these districts 

 are beets, potatoes, beans, cucumbers, and cantaloupes. Cucumbers 

 and cantaloupes did not receive much manure. The men producing 

 these crops alone, as a rule, kept few live stock, and those who grew 

 beets and cucumbers or cantaloupes preferred to put the manure on 

 the beet land. 



After breaking out alfalfa, 75 per cent of the farmers in the potato- 

 growing section planted potatoes. On land with so much vegetable 

 matter in the soil from the alfalfa roots and foliage, it would not be 

 advisable to add manure, since it would add an excess of foreign 

 matter to the soil and make it difficult to cultivate. Some growers 

 claim that manure applied directly to the potato crop is likely to 

 cause an excess growth of tops or vine and also to promote disease or 

 increase the number of rough potatoes. Likewise, beans are some- 

 times inclined to have excess foliage or to be uneven in maturing when 

 heavily manured. 



The grain crops do not, as a rule, respond well to a direct applica- 

 tion of manure, as they produce a heavy growth of straw under such 

 conditions and the crop is inclined to fall down or lodge. 



Different types of soil respond differently when manured, and a 

 crop that on one type of soil would show little benefit from ah appli- 

 cation of manure might on another type near by show greatly in- 

 creased yields. However, the rule in these three districts is to put 

 the manure on the beet crop, because the maximum production of 

 beets is on land that has been treated with manure. 



