B. P. I.— 544. 



niPROVEMEXT OF PASTURES IN EASTERN NEW 

 YORK AND THE NEW ENGLAND STATES." 



INTRODUCTION. 



One of the most importcant problems confronting farmers in the 

 Eastern States is the improvement of worn-out pastures. This is 

 especially true in eastern New York and the New England States. 

 The pastures in this region are of two general types: (1) Those that 

 are smooth enough to permit cultivation and which, if so desired, 

 can be included in a rotation system, and (2) those that are too 

 rough and too rocky to permit cultivation and can only be utilized 

 as pastures or allowed to grow up to timber. Figures have not been 

 obtained to show the relative percentage of these two types of pas- 

 tures. In eastern New York it is probable that the area of each kind 

 is about the same. In the New England States the country is more 

 broken, and the rough, broken pasture land that must always remain 

 as such greatly predominates. 



These pastures were cleared of timber from forty to one hundred 

 years ago, depending somewhat on the locality in which they are 

 situated. For the most part they were allowed to sod over by nat- 

 ural processes. So far as can be learned, they have been grazed 

 continuously from early spring until late fall, practically to their 

 full grazing capacity, ever since their establishment. During this 

 time almost no improvement in the way of fertilizing, seeding, or 



oNew England is primarily a region of live-stock farming, for the most part dairy- 

 ing. The problem of the old pastures of that region is closely associated with the 

 general problem of producing feed for dairy cows on the farms of those States. In 

 Farmers' Bulletin 337, entitled •'Cropping Systems for New England Dairy Farms," 

 it was pointed out that much of the tillable land in this region could be made more 

 productive by the use of better cropping systems. At that time it was fully realized 

 that the matter of pastures in this region was also of very great importance, as pas- 

 tures occupy a large percentage of the area of the average dairy farm. After 

 further investigations it has been deemed advisable to point out some of the funda- 

 mental principles in the improvement of these pastures, and this has been done in 

 this paper, which supplements the bulletin mentioned. — A. F. Woods, Acting Chief 

 of Bureau. 



[Cir. 49] 3 



