8 BULLKTIX 735, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



lion of a crop. The rainfall in this region is not heavy, and manures 

 do not rot and become available plant food as rapidly as they do in 

 more humid regions. In averaging the result of the numerous 

 answers upon this point it was decided that the nearest correct 

 method of distributing the cost of manuring was to charge 40 per 

 cent to the first crop, 40 per cent to the second crop, and 20 per cent 

 to the crop grown the third year after the manure was applied. Some 

 men favored a longer period of distribution. That the manure on 

 land was worth as much to the second crop as it was to the first was 

 the almost unanimous opinion. As many farmers stated that the sec- 

 ond year was better than the first as the reverse, the usual answer being 

 that the two crops were equally helped. Considering this, the dis- 

 tribution stated above as to cost of manure and manuring seems to be 

 justified. That is, on the land where beets were grown but one year 

 after manuring, the charge would be 40 per cent of the value of the 

 manure in the yard and 40 per cent of the cost of the labor of spread- 

 ing the same. If the land had been manured for two years in succes- 

 sion before planting the beets, the charge would be 80 per cent of 

 the yard value plus 80 per cent of the cost of application. If land 

 had been manured for the three years previous to the growing of the 

 1915 crop of beets the charge would be 100 per cent of the cost of 

 the manure and all the labor charges. The cost of manure and 

 manuring was charged to every farm in this manner. Commercial 

 fertilizers were not used, and the growing of special green-manure 

 crops is almost unknown; however, a form of green-crop manuring 

 exists. It is common to plow under alfalfa that has some green 

 growth when being plowed. Most men who practiced this considered 

 a green crop of alfalfa as beneficial as a 15-ton per acre coat of barn- 

 yard manure. Of the 1,640 acres of alfalfa broken and planted to 

 sugar beets in 1915, a large part of it had some green growth at the 

 time of plowing. 



The value placed upon manures and the fact that commercial fer- 

 tilizers are not used is easily explained when the character of the 

 soil is taken into consideration. This is a soil that runs rather low 

 in humus but relatively high in mineral nutrients. 



Sugar-beet growers almost Avithout exception used their total avail- 

 able manure upon the land to be planted immediately to beets. 

 This might in part be due to the fact that no other cultivated crop 

 is grown to any great extent by most of these men, but their opinion 

 was that the manure was most readily available and most beneficial 

 when applied to beets. 



The methods of applying the manure varied, but most of the 

 growers used wagons and forks. Only 98 growers used manure 

 spreaders, while "207 used farm wagons. The manure is mostly 



