INTRODUCTION 



The idea of applying scientific investi- 

 gation to agriculture originated in Scot- 

 land and Germany in the mid-1800s. In 

 1862 the United States Congress passed 

 the Morrill Act to provide grants-in-aid 

 to the states for the establishment of 

 colleges which would teach agricul- 

 ture and the mechanic arts. Twenty- 

 five years later the Hatch Act autho- 

 rized establishment of the land-grant 

 college agricultural experiment sta- 

 tions. The New Hampshire Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station was formed 

 by "legislative assent" in August of 

 1887 as a department of the New 

 Hampshire College of Agriculture and 

 the Mechanic Arts, at Hanover. The 

 Hatch Act then provided the New 

 Hampshire College with $15,000 an- 

 nually for research. 



Some 300 years ago, New Hamp- 

 shire was almost completely covered 

 by forest. By the mid-1800s, there were 

 over 30,000 farms in the state, but by 

 1970 less than 3,000 remained. Indus- 

 trial expansion accompanied the de- 

 cline in agriculture, and much of the 

 acreage once used for farming reverted 

 to forest. Today, approximately 85 per- 

 cent of New Hampshire is forested, a 

 fact that impacts heavily on the present 

 economy of the state. 



Early research emphasized ways of 

 improving fertility of "run out" soils 

 depleted by continuous cropping. By 

 the mid-1930s, increasing specializa- 

 tion in various fields of science required 

 a cooperative attack on agricultural 

 problems by researchers in different de- 

 partments. In time, applied research 

 failed to meet the needs, or interests, of 

 certain segments of the agricultural 

 community and some scientists under- 

 took more basic investigations. 



Social and economic problems of 

 rural New Hampshire were investi- 

 gated early by Station scientists even 

 though the maj or research thrust was to 

 increase agricultural production. Ex- 

 tending electricity to the farm and farm 

 home was an active Station project 

 beginning in 1925. Eleven years later, 

 over 60% of New Hampshire farms had 

 electricity, a higher percentage than in 

 any other state. 



The Great Depression of the 1930s, 

 evidenced by falling milk and potato 

 prices, credit difficulties of farmers, 

 and depressed buying power of con- 

 sumers, prompted labor efficiency 

 studies in dairying, the state's major 

 agricultural enterprise. Action agen- 

 cies established under the New Deal 

 requested many types of information 

 which Station personnel were called 

 upon to provide. The Civil Works Ad- 

 ministration asked the Experiment 

 Station to organize projects and con- 

 duct studies which involved groups of 

 office and other white collar workers. 



The role of the Station changed 

 dramatically during World War II. 

 Calling of researchers into military 

 service necessitated project termina- 

 tion, suspension and/or revision. Em- 

 phasis turned to areas such as conser- 

 vation of trucking facilities, gas, tires, 

 labor, animal protein. Studies were 

 done to find ways to increase produc- 

 tion of roughage on dairy farms. 



Following World War II, strong 

 emphasis was placed on marketing of 

 agricultural products because of the 

 belief that if the high levels of produc- 

 tion attained during the war were al- 

 lowed to continue, another depression 

 might be triggered. 



