26 BULLETIN 917, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the bean plants grow rapidly from the beginning, there is less danger 

 of covering them than in the cultivation of sugar beets. The irri- 

 gation furrows between the bean rows are made somewhat deeper 

 than those for beets. The cost of the horse labor required to cul- 

 tivate beans is somewhat higher than for beets in the Greeley dis- 

 trict and less than for beets at Rocky Ford. More hand work is done 

 on beans at Rocky Ford than at Greeley, where beans are often grown 

 without using a hoe. One man and two horses can work approxi- 

 mately 7 acres of beans a day, the crop being cultivated about three 

 times and furrowed twice. A few farmers ditch alternate rows of 

 beans with a potato ditcher and four horses. Others use beet fur- 

 rowers and ditch each row or alternate rows as preferred. Very 

 little work is done on the beans after the plants begin to bloom. 

 Some beans grown for seed are rogued by the seedsman. (Fig. 17). 



Fig. 17.— Roguing beans. These beans have been planted for seed, and the seedsman is taking out such 

 plants as are not true to type, an important item in the production ot reliable seeds. 



The potato crop as studied at Greeley requires more hours of man 

 labor in cultivation than the sugar-beet crop. The horse labor neces- 

 sary in cultivating potatoes is more than twice that required for beets 

 or beans. Harrowing with a team of three or four horses usually 

 takes the place of the first cultivation of beans. Potatoes are har- 

 rowed before they come through the surface of the ground. The 

 cultivation of potatoes is done with the idea of ridging the potato 

 row very high and making a deep furrow between the rows. This 

 requires the use of 3-horse and 4-horse teams, usually the latter. 



In growing potatoes it is necessary to ridge the rows. When the 

 crop is irrigated it is advisable to have very deep furrows between 

 the rows, so that the water surface in the furrow is lower than the 

 potatoes growing on the plant roots. (Fig. 18.) Beans and beets 

 do not require as deep furrows for irrigation as potatoes. On account 

 of the large amount of work done by contract labor in hoeing the 

 beet crop, cultivation by the use of farm teams is greatly lessened 



