80 Vermont Agricultural Report. 



First: — The need of improvement in the hay crop is shown 

 by the small yields per acre, the average yield in New England 

 being a little over one ton. Grass is a profitable money crop 

 when hay sells at from $12 to $15 per ton in nearby markets. 

 The better grades of coarse grasses are usually more profitable 

 to sell than to feed to dairy stock at ruling prices for dairy 

 products. 



Second : — The grasses should be grown with the clovers to 

 produce hay of a high feeding value. The clovers are of more 

 value as food for the production of milk, can be more econom- 

 ically grown than the true grasses, and will improve the fertility 

 of the soil. Hay with a considerable proportion of clover in it 

 makes a better balanced ration than hay from the pure grasses. 

 A saving can be made in the use of the nitrogenous grain feeds 

 wihen plenty of clover hay is available. 



Third : — Greater care needs to be exercised in the selec- 

 tion of the kinds of grasses and clovers to be grown together. 

 There is a tendency to grow too many kinds in one mixture, with- 

 out regard to the time of blossoming of each. In growing 

 grasses for hay, only kinds which bloom within ten days of each 

 other should be grown together. The alsike clover is worthy of 

 careful trial in northern New England. 



Fourth : — In making seed mixtures for pastures, kinds 

 should be selected which will produce a close, compact turf and 

 give a variety of forage throughout the season. A considerable 

 number of kinds may wisely be grown together on all pasture 

 lands. 



Fifth :— Hay, to be of highest value for feeding dairy stock, 

 should be harvested early. Late-cut hay is not only less digest- 

 ible atid less nutritious, but requires extra labor on the part of the 

 animal to make the food nutrients available. The extra energy 

 used in the work of digesting tough, woody fodders lessens the 

 available energy for building up animal products. 



Sixth : — Great improvement in the grass crop is possible by 

 the liberal use of nitrogenous manures and fertilizers. Nitrogen 

 especially favors the growth of the true grasses. Old meadows 

 may be made to produce from ly^ to 2 tons of hay more than 

 they do with an outlay of from 6 to 8 dollars per acre, for com- 

 mercial fertilizers with liberal quantities of nitrogen and potash. 



Seventh : — In addition to liberal increase in the yields from 

 the use of fertilizers rich in nitrogen the feeding value is also 

 improved by their use. Mixed grasses from lands well fertilized 

 with nitrogenous fertilizers have been found to contain consider- 

 ably larger proportions of protein than grasses grown on areas 

 where fertilizers were used which were entirely lacking in nitro- 

 gen. 



