been combined into a strain which 

 shows a definite perennial tendency 

 and gives a high yield under New 

 Hampshire conditions. 



A system of chain crossing is be- 

 ing used to fix this perennial habit 

 in the progeny, and selections are 

 annually made among the families 

 to eliminate certain diseases. Har- 

 vests were obtained in 1949 from 

 seedings of this strain made in 1946 

 which still show as much as 50 per 

 cent red clover under optimum fer- 

 tilizer treatment. 



Ladino clover and timothy are al- 

 so being subjected to selection and 

 breeding in this experiment with the 

 objective of developing more de-' 

 sirable strains than are now avail- 

 able. 



F. S. Prince 



Pasture Renovation Costs Vari- 

 able. With such a variety of soils 

 as are encountered in New Hamp- 

 shire, it is not surprising to find that 

 costs of pasture renovation vary 

 widely. Two case studies of pasture 

 clearance in Durham well illustrate 

 this. One of the pieces of land 

 studied was a rocky three-acre strip 

 covered with pasture pine and brush 

 but having excellent soil. The total 

 cost to bring this piece from its 

 original wild condition into relative- 

 ly stone-free, tillable pasture was 

 $140 per acre. Of this total, $54 

 represented cash outlay and the re- 

 maining $86 was the estimated cost 

 of equipment operation, labor, and 

 materials, available on the farm, in- 

 cluding lime and fertilizer. 



The second site was on a lighter 

 soil. There, the cost totalled $19 

 per acre, divided into $7 per acre 

 for disc-tilling and $12 for rock 

 picking and fitting. 



While these costs are not directly 

 comparable (because in the first in- 

 stance fertilizers and lime were in- 

 cluded) the observations show much 

 disparity in costs of pasture clear- 



18 



ance; so much, in fact, that the final 

 result of this study cannot possibly 

 be in terms of average costs. On the 

 contrary, the cost range in relation 

 to the capacity of the soil to produce 

 good pasture must be the end that is 

 sought. It is hoped that an overall 

 index of New Hampshire soil types 

 as to their relative value for clear- 

 ing eventually may be achieved. 



This project has been a co-oper- 

 ative study between the New Hamp- 

 shire Agricultural Experiment Sta- 

 tion and the Soil Conservation Ser- 



vice. 



L. T. Kardos 

 J. B. Bartlett 



Potash, the Limiting Element to 

 Ladino Groivth. That potash is the 

 major limiting element to ladino 

 clover growth was confirmed in a 

 greenhouse test last winter. As lit- 

 tle as 25 lbs. of actual potash on an 

 acre basis gave a highly significant 

 increase in yield. Additional incre- 

 ments of potash continued to give 

 increases in yield up to 200 pounds 

 of potash per acre. This amount of 

 potash is equal to more than 300 

 pounds of potash in the muriate 

 form. 



Ladino responded also to lime ap- 

 plications up to two tons per acre, 

 although its response even to small 

 amounts of phosphorus was very 

 slight. Some of the minor elements 

 apparently influence ladino yields 

 since a mixture containing boron, 

 copper, manganese, iron, and zinc 

 caused a slight increase in yield. 

 Tests to determine which of these 

 elements are responsible for stimu- 

 lating ladino growth will be carried 

 on in a continuation of the experi- 

 ment in greenhouse trials. 



A soil of low fertility is being 

 used as a medium in this test, and 

 the test, itself, is preliminary to field 

 tests on pure ladino stands on some 

 of the major soil series of the state. 

 F. S. Prince, L. T. Kardos, 

 AND P. T. Blood 



