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 an 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. 
