32 BULLETIN 721, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



beans have ceased to be a competing crop because of local conditions, 

 the chief of which is the presence of certain bean diseases. It was 

 believed that beans could follow beans profitably in the same field 

 for a number of years, but this crop, like all others, is more satis- 

 factory in the long run when grown in proper rotation with other 

 crops. As in the case of sugar beets, continuous cropping with beans 

 has enabled certain diseases of the bean to be propagated from year 

 to year, thereby becoming more widespread and more destructive, 

 until bean production in certain areas is no longer profitable. If 

 properly handled beans should be a good crop to rotate with sugar 

 beets. They should not compete with the sugar beet to the exclusion 

 of the latter, for the reasons above stated. The diseases affecting 

 sugar beets and beans are for the most part verj^ different, and for 

 this reason these crops rotate well together. Again, the sugar beet 

 leaves the ground in good condition for the production of the bean 

 crop. If the beet crop has been properly handled the weeds are 

 eliminated, and in this respect the field is left in a good condition 

 for beans. If beans are planted on a field filled with weed seed, 

 either considerable time and labor must be spent in destroying the 

 weeds or they must be allowed to grow to the detriment of the bean 

 crop and be an annoyance and added expense when the beans are 

 harvested. Furthermore, sugar beets leave the ground in good 

 physical condition for a bean crop ; on the other hand, if beans pre- 

 cede beets they will leave the ground in good condition for the sugar 

 beets. The order of rotation, therefore, with these crops is not par- 

 ticularly important. 



Tobacco. — Tobacco is not generally grown in the sugar-beet areas, 

 but there are a few localities in which tobacco and sugar beets are 

 both produced. While the tobacco crop is expensive to handle, the 

 returns under favorable conditions make it a strong competitor. 

 The methods used in growing tobacco do not usually lend themselves 

 well to crop rotation ; for example, tobacco fields are usually heavily 

 fertilized with commercial fertilizers. Part of the results to be ex- 

 pected from these fertilizers should be apparent during the second 

 or even the third year after it is applied. Owing to this large expense 

 growers usually expect to use the same field for the tobacco crop for 

 a series of years, consequently it does not admit of ordinary crop 

 rotation. Again, the tobacco crop requires a large amount of labor, 

 some of which conflicts with the labor necessary for sugar-beet pro- 

 duction. If, however, a farmer can obtain sufficient labor to handle 

 both crops there should be no serious difficulty in producing both 

 sugar beets and tobacco, especially if both of these crops are produced 

 on comparatiA^ely small areas on the individual farm. It may be 

 found, also, that these crops will rotate one with the other to the 

 advantage of both. 



f 



