No. 4.] THE HAY CKOP. 359 



in all respects recommended ; but thorough tillage of some 

 sort in prepai'ation for grass and careful fertilization are 

 essentials, and Clark's influence and example have been 

 vastly useful in stimulating improvement. He claims to 

 produce from 5 to 6 tons of hay per acre annually in two 

 crops. Under his system of management the profits have 

 doubtless been large. His investment in labor and fertil- 

 izers is heavy ; but the tremendous crops obtained prove 

 profitable, in spite of the heavy outlay. 



Upon the college farm at Amherst we have not upon the 

 average equalled the crops reported by Clark. We have 

 not, however, as a rule, expended more than a small pro- 

 portion of as much in labor and in fertilizers as he reports. 

 Our profits are perhai)s not inferior to those which he has 

 obtained. The area devoted to hay on the college farm 

 averages about 75 acres, and the average product per acre is 

 often equal to 21 tons. This result is obtained under the 

 following conditions : About 80 acres out of the 75 are kept 

 permanently in grass. Most of this area has not been 

 plowed for about twenty years. It is managed in part as a 

 park, but is mown twice annually. During a great part of 

 the time it has received an annual dressing with fertilizers 

 at an average cost of perhaps $5 per acre. The portion of 

 the college farm managed in rotation is usually left in grass 

 three years, and receives no top-dressing of any kind during 

 the time it is in grass, the crop of grass being produced on 

 the residual fertility remaining after the hoed crops, which 

 usually occupy the ground tuo or three years out of every 

 five or six years. The average crop on the old mowings 

 amounts to about 2 tons per acre ; on the rotation mowings 

 the average must be close to 3 tons. 



We possess the most exact records concerning one of the 

 fields of the experiment station. This field has an area of a 

 little more tlian 9 acres. Most of it was seeded about 1893, 

 and none of it was reseeded until the summer of 1902. 

 Between 1893 and 1902 the average yield for the entire 

 area was 6,619 pounds. In 1902 tlie average was less, for 

 a part of the land was plowed after the first crop and re- 

 seeded in August. This portion of the land, however, gave 



