Diseases of Beans 
23 
DISEASES OF BEANS 
By WALTER G. SACKETT 
As mentioned elsewhere, the growing of beans in Colorado for 
seed purposes is one phase of the industry which has developed at a 
remarkably rapid rate, considering the length of time that the crop 
has been raised with this in view. In all probability, one reason for 
this has been the desire on the part of the seedsmen to obtain seed 
grown under conditions which normally tend to reduce the percent¬ 
age of diseased seed. Such conditions obtain to a greater or less ex¬ 
tent in both the dry land and the irrigated sections of the State. The 
absence of moisture in the form of rain, which tends to spread disease 
over the plants and from plant to plant, together with abundant sun¬ 
shine are both valuable assets to the localities where beans are being 
grown. 
Another consideration which made Colorado a desirable place 
for raising seed beans was the fact that until two years ago the dis¬ 
ease question was practically negligible. There was plenty of disease- 
free land, new so far as bean culture was concerned, on which there 
was good reason to believe that no difficulty would be experienced 
for years to come in the line of plant diseases. But the inevitable has 
happened, and in the remarkably short space of two years. 
Someone innocently planted diseased seed from which unhealthy 
plants developed, and from these as a starting point, it has been a 
relatively simple matter for the infection to spread from vine to vine, 
plant to soil, and field to field. 
Where irrigation is practiced, the irrigating water, flowing as it 
does thru infected fields, carrying more or less trash and diseased soil 
with it, cannot be lost sight of as a means of disseminating the var¬ 
ious ailments to which the bean is heir. 
Our severe and prolonged winds which may assume the form 
of sand storms, transport quantities of soil, irres]:)ective of whether 
it is diseased or not, from one locality to another. The mechanical 
injury to the pods and beans which results^ from this incessant pound¬ 
ing by the sand grains, not only weakens the plant, but also opens up 
the way for subsequent infection with germ-laden soil particles. 
Some growers have failed to use beans in a rotation and have 
planted beans after beans on the same land, having lost sight of the 
fact that, aside from this being poor farm practice, the dangers from 
disease are increased very greatly by such a ])rocedure. 
Little if any attention has been given either to the planting or 
the selecting of disease-free seed, with the result that we have built 
up a big seed business in a phenomenally short time, but a business 
which is destined to' fail, as has been the history elsewhere, unless we 
