Irrigated Agriculture in the San Luis Valley 
29 
plantings may well be in pea-grain mixtures, to which reference has 
already been made. 
SUGAR BEETS. 
Sugar beets have been declared a failure for the San Luis Val¬ 
ley. The factory built at Monte Vista and operated for a short 
time is now idle, partly because of financial conditions, but largely 
because of the inability of the factory to get beets. The sugar beet 
crop must be looked upon and treated as a garden crop if successful 
and profitable yields are to be produced. There is no fundamental 
reason why beets shoLild not do well in the Valley, but to produce 
them profitably it is necessary to put the soils in proper tilth and a 
high state of fertility. The Valley soils contain abundant mineral 
constituents, but for the best production the soils must also have 
incorporated in them organic matter in considerable amounts. 
With the proper incorporation of organic matter, deep and thoro 
plowing and proper cultivation and irrigation, sugar beets might 
be a successful crop, but with present methods of management the 
yields generally will not be heavy enough to induce growers to pro¬ 
duce them. 
Upon many farms it might be desirable to grow some sugar 
beets, or preferably stock beets or Swedish turnips, to help out the 
winter supply of succulent feed. Sugar beets, stock beets and stock 
turnips all do well on land properly prepared and cultivated. Until 
a larger proportion of the community is willing to adopt the meth¬ 
ods necessary, these crops should be planted in very small acreages, 
as they are expensive of time and labor. 
' POTATOES. 
In the past potatoes have been considered an excellent crop 
for the Valley conditions. Some world’s record potato yields have 
been produced. In the past few years, however, blight and other 
diseases not yet understood have made yields verv uncertain. Po¬ 
tatoes make a very poor crop for new lands. When grown at all 
they should be planted on lands which have been under cultivation 
for some time—preferably lands which have produced several crops 
of peas or been in alfalfa or sweet clover. 
Potatoes as a iParket crop are only adapted to the more sandy 
lands. On such soils as have had their fertility built up by proper 
rotation of peas, alfalfa or sweet clover, potatoes are still a good 
crop when prices are good and diseases absent. Whether or not 
they should be grown is a ciuestion for each farmer to settle for 
himself because of the general uncertainties of production and mar¬ 
keting. Owing to the short season, potatoes should be planted 
early, preferably early in May. Under Valley conditions, whole 
