Foreword 



This bulletin represents the 66th annual report of the 

 Director of the New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station, 

 an integral part of the College of Agriculture at the University of 

 New Hampshire. The progress reports for the formal research 

 projects were prepared by the respective project leaders. They are 

 grouped by departments and not necessarily by subject matter in 

 all instances. The diverse nature of New Hampshire's agriculture 

 is occasion for research in many areas. 



In the United States today the number of farms and the 

 number of people living on farms is declining, and yet the total 

 population of the country is increasing rapidly. Only about four- 

 teen percent of the total population now lives on farms. In other 

 words, fewer and fewer farmers are producing the food and fiber 

 for more and more people. This is progress. No country in the 

 world today can enjoy even a modest standard of living and at the 

 same time maintain an increasingly larger proportion of its pop- 

 ulation on farms. Again in the United States, food is of higher 

 quality and is more plentiful today than ever before. Moreover, an 

 industrial worker can buy more food with an hour of work than at 

 any time in history. This is evidence of a healthier and more com- 

 fortable living for all segments of our society. 



Agricultural research has contributed much to this economic 

 progress. The impact on all the people represents the dividends 

 on a public investment. Surely, it is only through research that 

 society can be assured of an adequate supply of good quality food 

 at a reasonable cost. Research in agriculture has therefore been 

 supported largely by public funds, both Federal and State. It was 

 never intended that producers alone should reap the benefits from 

 agricultural research. The beneficiary is our entire society. 



Each state has one or more agricultural experiment stations 

 which are supported by both Federal and State funds. In nearly 

 all states, the funds are direct appropriations. For the United 

 States as a whole the experiment stations are expending more than 

 five dollars of state money for each dollar of Federal appropria- 

 tions. In four small states, including New Hampshire, consider- 

 ably less than one half of the expenditures are derived from State 

 funds. 



The New Hampshire station has outgrown its facilities. A 

 spacious Agricultural Sciences building is badly needed to replace 

 the present Dairy Building and to house other departments, there- 

 by relieving the crowded conditions found in nearly all units of the 

 station. A Home Economics building must be forthcoming if this 

 department is to conduct a modest research program in addition to 

 its teaching obligations. Forestry is in a somewhat similar situa- 

 tion. Poultry disease work and dairy nutrition research are handi- 

 capped by space limitations, as are Chemistry, Economics, Agron- 

 omy, Botany, and Horticulture. 



A review of the progress reports contained herein will evi- 

 dence an increasing attention toward investigations of fundamental 



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