American Falls press. [volume] (American Falls, Idaho) 1907-1937, 1917-01-25
PINTO BEANS; THE NEW CASH
CROP OF THE PLAINS
How Crop Is Handled in Colorado,
New Mexico and Wyoming.

staple food products produced for the
general market in Colorado, New Mex
leo and portions of Wyoming. The
sudden rise of this crop in the dry
farming sections has been due to two
causes, first war demand in 1915, and
second, to the 1916 bean shortage in
New York and Michigan, the two chief
bean growing states of the east. The
irrigated sections also have taken up
the crop and in the Greeley district
1t has been grown by many for seed
purposes, under contract with eastern
and western jobbers.
The principal variety grown in the
territory of Western Farm Life is the
pinto. This market term covers vari-
Gus mixed kinds generally designated
as Mexican, or frijoles, which have
been grown in the southwest for many
years. Whether these beans were
ORIGINALLY introduced by Spanish set
tiers in what is now New Mexico, or
further south in the Mexican republic,
or whether they we're developed from
a plant native to the arid regions Of
Central or South America is a matter
of conjecture, but beans have beer a
staple article of diet in the northern
states of the Mexican republic and the
bordering states of the union, as far
back as the history of white settle
ment goes.
Pinto the Market Term.
Pinto Is the market term for these
beans and growers are urged to stick
to this designation, as any other name
for the same general product is apt to
affect the price. These beans differ
from the navy bean in color and size,
being somewhat larger and usually of
a notified reddish brown, pale pink or
cream color. They have been discrim-
mated against in the market because
of their color, but since the consumer
has become acquainted with their
quality, he is willing to pay the same
price that he pays for white beans,
to which they are superior in flavor
and fully equal in food value.
At the time this is being written
there was but a slight difference in
the retail price at Denver, pintos be-
ing sold at three pounds for twenty
five cents and navies at 10 cents a
pound straight.
Growers are eager for more definite
information on the subject, as the
available government publications dc
not deal specifically with pinto beans
The Colorado experiment station is
preparing a bulletin which should be
ready for distribution by March LIST
and Western Farm Life will give due
notice Of its appearance. While the
general principles of bean growing
may be the same in all districts, there
is such a wide variation in condition.
of soil, moisture and methods of farm.
ing in the states where this crop hai
gained such sudden market Importance
that specific information is needed oil
all phases OF its culture. The crop il
considered the chief cash income il
some dry farming localities wher'
yields of 500 to 800 pounds an acre ar
considered good, and 1t is produced
extensively under irrigation where tn
grower looks for a return of 1900 t
1000 pounds per acre.
However, ii is as a dry land crol
that pintos are destined to be most i'm
portant in the farm economy of tn
mountain states, for the reason tina
the irrigation farmer is apt to dro.
the crop as soon as the attractive wa
prices cease to prevail. The dry Ian
farmer can grow them with good pro
fit even if he received no more tina
81 cents a pound. He grew them t
some extent at 2h cents. In the pas
season he got as high as z cents
beginning at 4 and rapidly advancin
to the first named figure, with tn
average of the beans sold after Nc
vember LIST right around 6 cents. A
this rate even the fields that, becaus
of 60-day drouth produced only 80
pounds to the acre, amply repaid tn
grower.
The value of the crop lies not onl
in the ready demand for a food pre-
duct, but in the fact that beans ar
a leguminous plant, gathering nitro
gen from the air and storing it i
the soil, thus improving the land fc
crops that follow; and further in tn
fact that the vines have high feedin
value, and can be utilized to gread az
vantage in feeding with silage on tn
dry land farm, where milk productio
is the chief business.
Methods of handling the crop al
given in brief form by the county agr
culturists in portions of Colorado an
New Mexico and from a grower
standpoint and experience in Nortl
ern Wyoming:
SOUTHERN COLORADO
Charles E. Smith. Agriculturist, L
Animas county, Colo.-Pinto bear
were planted all the way from Ma
21 to July 1. Two or three GUILTY.
tiopc oro oivap gThara was soma il