GROWING FIELD CROPS IN SUGAR-BEET DISTRICTS. 23 



There is need of more humus in most soils in these districts. The 

 practice of efficient irrigation requires that the soil have good water- 

 holding capacity, and the climate of the districts is such that the 

 humus rapidly burns out of the soil. Many farms lack a sufficient 

 supply of manure for the land, and few farms use green crops for 

 turning under to supply humus. Some farmers grow sweet clover 

 and turn it under, others turn under considerable foliage when alfalfa 

 sod is broken, but many are inclined to pasture off all alfalfa foliage 

 before plowing the land. Beneficial results were usually reported 

 from the turning under of alfalfa foliage, and the practice is increas- 

 ing. There is a demand for more care in building up the humus con- 

 tent of the soils of these districts. 



Manure is usually hauled to the fields at a time when teams would 

 be idle or when the farm crops are not in need of attention. This 

 hauling is done at all seasons of the year, but least in the late spring 

 and summer months and most in the early spring. More hauling 

 would be done in the winter if it were not for the heavy winds that 

 prevail, causing the manure to drift or dry out on the soil surface. 

 Manure should be spread and disked or plowed under immediately. 

 Where this is not possible it is often placed in small piles over the 

 field and spread with forks at plowing time. Another plan is to 

 place manure in large piles on or near the field and distribute it with 

 spreaders just before plowing. Most farmers used manure spreaders 

 with 3 or 4 horse teams. A number of them had an extra helper to 

 assist in loading the spreader. Where manure was left to be spread 

 until the ground was in condition to be disked or plowed, there was 

 need of the efficient use of the manure-spreading equipment of the 

 farm. The hauling of manure placed in piles was usually done by 

 one man and two horses. 



Most of the manure spread was produced on the farms, but in some 

 cases it was hauled from near-by towns and from the sugar-factory 

 feed yards. The greatest quantity was hauled from factory feed 

 yards in the Rocky Ford district. This practice greatly increased 

 the labor required to apply the manure. 



The greatest labor expended per acre for applying manure was at 

 Rocky Ford, and the least at Greeley. More tons of manure per 

 acre were applied at Greeley than in either of the other districts; 

 the least at Rocky Ford. In the Greeley district the crews averaged 

 larger and the distance hauled was less than at Rocky Ford. The 

 manuring practice at Fort Morgan more closely resembles that at 

 Greeley than that at Rocky Ford. Beet growers at Greeley manured 

 49 per cent of the land planted to beets, at Fort Morgan 47 per cent, 

 and at Rocky Ford 41 per cent. Other crops had only a small per- 

 centage of the area manured. 



