5G 



Annual report, E. P. Speek (pp. 337-340).— This iucludes a brief 

 accouut of the lines of work carried ou at the station iu 1889, together 

 with a finaucial statement. 



Massachusetts State Station, Bulletin No. 36, March, 1890 (pp. 16). 



Meteorological summary (p. 1). — For the four mouths ending 

 February 28, 1890. 



Some suggestions on the economical improvement of farm 

 LANDS, C. A. GoESSMANN, Ph. D. (pp. 1-9).— The object of this article 

 is " to discuss briefly some of the means of developing and economizing 

 the manurial resources of the farm." The results of experiments by 

 the station and of collateral observations of farm practice during a long 

 j)eriod of years are utilized for the conclusions and advice given. In 

 general, the farmer is advised to make a timely and thorough mechan- 

 ical preparation of the soil ; to select crops, as far as i)racticable, with 

 reference to their tendency to economize existing natural resources of 

 plant food; to make the most of all available home-made manure; to 

 increase the supply of such manure by the wise use of concentrated 

 feeding stuffs ; and to supplement home-made manure with commercial 

 fertilizers, as far as circumstances advise. Two special topics are dis- 

 cussed, viz., the selection and production of fodder crops, and the eco- 

 •nomical feeding of live stock. 



Selection and production of fodder crops.- — The decline in the original 

 productiveness of farm lands, which has occurred in almost every coun- 

 try where the land has been long under cultivation, has been attributed 

 mainly to — 



(1) A gradual but serious reduction in the area occupied bj' for.age crops, natural 

 pastures and meadows; and (2) a marked decline in the annual yield of fodder upon 

 largo tracts of laud but ill-suited for a permanent cultivation of grasses — the main 

 reliance of fodder production at the time. A serious falling off in the annual yield of 

 pastures and meadows is followed usually by a reduction in farm live stock, which in 

 turn causes a falling off in the principal home resource of manurial matter. This 

 chapter in the history of farm management has repeated itself in most countries. The 

 unsatisfactory results of that system of farming finds still an abundant illustration 

 in the present exhausted conditi ou of a comparatively large area of farm lauds in New 

 England. 



The scientific investigations of the past fifty years have not only de- 

 termined the causes of this impoverishment of the soil, liut " have also 

 materially assisted, by field experiments and otherwise," in the renova- 

 tion of worn-out lands. Among the means devised for this purpose 

 none is more important than the " more liberal production of nutritious 

 fodder crops." 



The sonndness of this advice is to-day fully demonstrated iu the most successful 

 agricultural regions of the world. Anjntensive system of cultivation lias replaced 

 in those localities the extensive one of preceding periods. Although the aii'a under 

 cultivation for the production of general farm crops has been reduced, the total value 

 of the i)roducts of the farm has increased materially. The change has been gradual 

 and the results are highly satisfactory. 



