1893.] PUBLIC DOCUMENT — No. 33. 209 



8. Keport on General Farm Work (1892). 



The lands assigned for the use of the Massachusetts State 

 Agricultural Experiment Station cover an area of fifty acres. 

 Ten acres are natural woodlands, and forty acres, includ- 

 ing the space occupied by the buildings, are used for the 

 raising of farm cro})s. At present from fifteen to sixteen 

 acres are under cultivation, and from sixteen to seven- 

 teen acres are })ermanent grass lands. As every portion of 

 the land is at present serving for some special experiment, 

 the general management of the farm is to a controlling 

 degree subjected to the requirements of the work called for 

 in connection with the various questions under investigation. 

 The adoption of a thorough mechanical preparation of the 

 soil, supported by a careful, clean cultivation of the crops 

 raised, has brought the lands into a fair condition for field 

 experiments. Each field has had for years its own system 

 of manuring, and becomes thereby from year to year more 

 valuable for experimental purposes. Wherever circum- 

 stances have been favorable, forage crops have been chosen, 

 for the purpose of studying the influence of various systems 

 of fertilization and cultivation on their growth and special 

 character. This practice has resulted already in the success- 

 ful introduction of some valuable forage plants new to our 

 locality, and has also materially assisted us in an economical 

 support of quite extensive experiments in stock feeding. 

 The beneficial effect of many of these crops on the physical 

 and chemical condition of our cultivated lands is everywhere 

 noticed, when compared with their previous general condi- 

 tion. 



During the past season several varieties of soja bean, 

 serradella, Canada peas and oats, summer vetch and oats 

 have been raised, to supplement our current farm crops, as 

 corn, rye, barley, Hungarian grass, etc., for feeding pur- 

 poses. 



Three silos have been filled with mixtures of different 

 crops ; one silo is filled with equal weights of fodder corn 

 and soja l^ean, one with two parts soja bean and one part 

 fodder corn, and the third with three parts serradella and 

 one part Hungarian grass. 



