Foreword 



This bulletin conveys the 68th annual report of the Director of the 

 New Hampshire Agricultural Experiment Station. Listed herein are 

 the numbers, titles, and personnel for each of the more than 90 for- 

 mal projects active during all or any part of the fiscal year ended 

 June 30, 1956. Also included are a listing of the staff, the titles and 

 authors of publications, a financial statement, and a description of 

 state services. 



Publications of the Station consist of bulletins, reports, reprints 

 of scientific articles in professional journals, mimeographed com- 

 mentaries, and the Progress Report. A printed list of available 

 publications may be obtained from the Mail Clerk upon request. 



Many, public, private, and industrial organizations have made 

 generous contributions to many of our more significant research 

 projects. We acknowledge these gifts with gratitude. Three emplo- 

 yees of the United States Department of Agriculture are attached to 

 the Station as cooperative agents. They contribute much to the re- 

 search program. 



On occasion we in New England hear about a declining agricul- 

 ture — fewer people living on farms, fewer farms, and fewer acres 

 in farms. These trends are national in scope and indicate progress, 

 not decline. Production per farm and production per man are rising 

 with tremendous strides. This is progress — the results of successful 

 research. Any statement about a declining agriculture in New 

 England must be interpreted in relation to the remainder of the 

 country. If New England agriculture retained its status quo of 25 or 

 30 years ago, producing the same amount of food with the same 

 number of people and the same number of farms, it would be 

 declining. On the contrary, New England agriculture is progressing, 

 as evidenced, for instance, by the production of more milk from 

 fewer farms, with fewer cows and with fewer workers. A capital in- 

 vestment of $50,000 to $100,000 is not uncommon. 



Colleges of agriculture today are not turning out well disciplined 

 scientists in sufficient numbers to meet the demand. This situation 

 creates a serious problem for administration of research with res- 

 pect to recruitment of competent personnel. A century or so ago 

 most problems concerned with the production, processing, and dis- 

 tribution of food were farm problems. Today, many of these 

 functions or services have moved off the farm and consequently a 

 large segment of our economy concerns itself with services once a 

 part of farm production. The situation is now such that opportuni- 

 ties for young people are largely in industries off the farm, but 

 allied with the production of food. The commercial farmer as a 

 producer is really in business and as such is involved in business 

 relationshlips with the outside world. This relatively new situation 

 in which the farmer finds himself emphasizes the importance of 

 expanded research on the farm unit as an efficient business, but not 

 at the expense of research in such areas as more efficient marketing, 

 better insecticides and fungicides, improved plants, new crops, and 

 new uses for farm products. 



Harold C. Grinnell 



Director 



Mathias C. Richards 



Associate Director 



