6 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 378 



various crops with a yield of 7.2 tons per acre. This silage was ted to 

 3994 cows at the annual rate of 2.6 tons per cow. 



Mixed clover, alfalfa, and grasses were cut on 18.6 acres per farm for 

 31 farms to make 38 percent of the grass silage produced on these farms. 

 Legume hay (clover and alfalfa) was cut on 23 of the farms with 14 

 acres each to make 22.5 percent of the total volume. Oats, wheat, rye, 

 and barley were harvested green for silage on Zl farms with only 7.5 

 acres per farm to make 18.7 percent of the grass silage production. These 

 small-grain crops were combined with vetch and peas, or millet and sudan 

 grass with soybeans on 19 farms for 12.5 percent of the total tonnage 

 from 9.5 acres per farm. Perennial grasses and millet and sudan were a 

 small proportion of the entire crop although the yield of the two latter 

 crops was highest at 8.5 tons per acre. Legume hay and mixed hay pro- 

 duced over seven tons of silage per acre, with some farmers obtainmg as 

 much as 10 tons. 



Grass silage was made chiefly on institutional farms and tlie larger 

 private dairies where special loaders and blowers could be purchased. On 

 15 farms both items were purchased at a total cost of $600 while other 

 farm operators bought cutters at $425 or loaders at $170. The special 

 grass cutter and blower was considered by these dairymen to be more 

 essential to efificient operation than the grass loader. 



Most frequently mentioned advantage of grass silage was the fact that 

 unfavorable weather caused no delay in putting up the crop. Milk pro- 

 duction was maintained during the summer of 1939 by feeding grass silage, 

 and some dairymen stated that production was increased over corn silage 

 in winter feeding. Other points which were mentioned were less waste 

 in coarse first cutting of grasses, higher quality hay from second crop, 

 continuous use of land with a rotation of annual crops for grass silage, less 

 expensive than green feed and more uniform distribution of labor during 

 the summer when grass silage was produced. 



Some disadvantages had to do with poor quality of feed because the 

 grass was cut too late, and disagreeable odors from the molasses silage 

 which were probably due to spoilage because insufficient molasses was 

 used. Extra help and special equipment costs were other drawbacks. 



Vegetable Farming in Bristol County, Massachusetts, in 1939. (Norman 

 R. Urquhart — in cooperation with the Bureau of Agricultural Economics 

 of the United States Department of Agriculture.) Cash expenses of 

 growing vegetables and operating the farm business used up all the cash 

 income from sales of produce and other sources on 22 commercial vege- 

 table farms in Bristol County for the 1939 crop year. Low yields and 

 low prices combined to make this one of the most unprofitable seasons in 

 recent years. Adjustments in inventories and the charge for family labor 

 produced a $300 loss per farm in farm income. Interest on investment 

 increased the loss to $692 in labor income. 



One-third of the farms that were the most profitable had a net cash 

 return and farm income of more than $1000 per farm and a labor income 

 of $485. However, the seven farms with greatest losses had cash expenses 

 of $1080 more than receipts. The acreage of vegetables per farm was 

 almost equal in these two groups, but the yield of all crops was 16 percent 

 larger and prices were 11 percent higher on the more profitable farms. 

 Labor cost was higher per acre on the latter farms because of harvesting 

 work, but labor return M'as 22 cents per hour compared to three cents on 



