4 
The Colorado Experiment Station 
and not increase yield materially. Ordinarily one to two irriga¬ 
tions are sufficient. 
Harvesting should be done preferably with a bean harvester. 
This is especially true where any considerable acreages are 
planted. On very small acreages, they may be harvested by taking 
the mold board off the plow or by using a shovel. 
Beans shatter in thrashing very easily, consequently the bean 
huller should be used unless the acreages are very small. There 
are special attachments which may be used on the regular grain 
separator, provided the separator is run at very low speed. Patches 
of one to two acres can be thrashed with a flail as cheaply as by 
machine unless a machine is near. Machines for cleaning are avail¬ 
able and should be used, as they increase market value. 
Pinto beans, the chief Colorado market sort, will average from 
300 to 800 pounds under dry lands and may yield as high as 1,800. 
The same beans will average from 1,200 to 2,000 pounds under 
irrigation, and may yield as high as 3,000 pounds or even above. 
Market prices may be increased by putting beans up in uni¬ 
form packages and having them thoroly cleaned. 
Bean straw should be carefully saved, as it is a valuable feed. 
This applies especially to dry lands. 
Beans make an excellent rotation crop. Wheat on the dry 
land after beans will do as well as after clean summer fallow most 
seasons. 
The yield of beans may be increased and their quality im¬ 
proved by wise field selection. 
Seed beans should be hand picked to get uniform quality and 
freedom from disease. Care should be taken not to plant beans 
which have been frost bitten. 
There are many diseases which affect beans. The best meth¬ 
ods of controlling these diseases is the picking of clean seed and 
following a rotation. Beans should not be planted on the same 
land two years in succession. Two to three years should elapse 
before beans are again planted on the same land. 
INTRODUCTION 
The Colorado bean acreage has been steadily growing for the 
last ten years. The rate of growth in 1915 and 1916 has been as 
great as in the previous eight years. According to the Bureau of 
Statistics, United States Department of Agriculture, 38,000 acres 
were grown in Colorado in 1916, a jump from 21,000 acres in 1915, 
and 20,000 acres in 1914. The total production of the State in this 
period has jumped from 18,000,000 pounds to 25,440,000 pounds, in 
round numbers. In other words, the acreage has increased 81 °/ 0 
