ANNUAL REPORT, 1942 5 



Labor-Saving Methods and Practices on Massachusetts Farms. (C. R. Creek.) 

 An outline has been prepared to apply the r-esults ot previous research on labor- 

 saving practices to the production and harvesting of vegetable crops on small 

 farms. Inexpensive and homemade adaptations of labor-saving equipment are 

 recommended for these farms. 



Comparative Costs of Producing Corn and Grass Silage. (C. R. Creek.) Prelim- 

 inary tabulations and calculations have been made of various items in the cost 

 of producing corn and legume-grass silage on dairy farms in the Connecticut 

 Valley counties. Cash costs of growing and harvesting corn for silage ranged 

 from less than $1 per ton on a farm with no hired labor and no fertilizer expense 

 to $5.06 per ton on a farm where machinery was hired for all growing and harvest- 

 ing work and all labor was hired. Total costs were much higher and ranged from 

 $4.93 to $9.13 per ton. Total costs included such non-cash items as family labor, 

 depreciation, interest, and the value of manure. The acreage of corn for silage 

 ranged from 3 to 21 acres per farm with a total production of 20 to 200 tons. 

 Yields ranged from 5 to 16.5 tons per acre. 



Cash cost of legume-grass silage ranged from $2.37 to $3.60 per ton and total 

 costs from $5.30 to $9.45 per ton. Acreage of the various crops ranged from 2.5 

 to 40 acres per farm and yields of grass silage were from 3.8 to 8 tons per acre. 

 Small acreages of oats used as a nurse crop for clover seedings were ensiled on a 

 few farms. Cash costs ranged from $2.55 to $4.53 per- ton and total costs from 

 $5.90 to $10.69. Yields varied between 6 and 10.5 tons per acre of oats for silage. 



Loan Performance on Low-Income Farms in Massachusetts. (C. R. Creek.) 

 Data and information have been obtained from the farm plans for Fann Security 

 Administration borrowers in Franklin, Hampden, and Hampshire counties. 

 Tabulations have been made by counties for cash-crop and for livestock farms. 

 Preliminary observations indicate that the rate of repayment of loans has been 

 much higher on the cash-crop (onions, tobacco, and potatoes) farms than on the 

 dairy and poultry farms. A small number of the latter have been liquidated at 

 public auction to repay the Farm Security Administration loans. 



The chief reason for loans to cash-crop farmers in the Connecticut River Valley 

 was the loss of crops in the flood and hurricane of 1938. Low prices for crops and 

 low yields in earlier years were responsible for the deplorable credit situation of 

 many small operators. Increasing the size of business from a part-time or sub- 

 sistence level was the reason for many livestock loans, particularly on poultry 

 farms. Some of these operators have now returned to a part-time farm business 

 and are working in industrial plants in nearby cities. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY 



Walter S. Eisenmenger in Charge 



Tobacco Projects. (Walter S. Eisenmenger and Karol J. Kucinski.) 

 Brown Root-Rot of Tobacco. In the experiment to determine the effect of 

 preceding crops on tobacco it was found that tobacco, artichoke, and sunflower, 

 as well as fallow, were beneficial as contracted with such crops as corn, sudan 

 grass, and sorghum, which in all cases seemed to have a deleter-ous effect on yield. 

 The crops preceding tobacco were planted at three different times: the first, 

 earh ; the second, thirty days later; and the third, thirty days later than the 

 second. The earliest planting was completely mature; the others matured to a 

 lesser degree. The earliest planting developed more lignin than the others. 

 These plants were permitted to stand and become thoroughly dehydrated by 

 subsequent freezing and thawing. 



