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 Kocky 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. 
