4 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 306 



appearance of the Gloucester stony fine sandy loam, which in the tables is des- 

 ignated by the letter "W". Observations of the effect of fertilizer treatments 

 were made on the ten experimental fields, and quantitative measurements of 

 yields were secured on as many as six in any one season. Four of the fields were 

 studied in detail. 



Table L — Mechanical Analysis* of Pasture Soils 



(Per cent of constituents) 



*According to hydrometer method of Boiiyoucos 

 **W=experiments in Worcester County. 

 H — •15=Amherst pasture experiment. 



Table 2. — Loss on Ignition, Organic Matter, and Reaction of Pasture 



Soils 



(Per cent oven-dry soils) 



Organic Matter* pH 



*Per cent carbon X 1.724. 



Another experiment was conducted on the Hobart farm in Amherst. The soil 

 is classified as Cheshire fine sandy loam, stony phase, and has characteristics 

 similar to those of Gloucester stony fine sandy loam, but contains more sedimen- 

 tary rock material. Red sandstone fragments give the Cheshire soils a reddish 

 brown or pink cast. This soil is designated as H-15 in the tables. 



With the exception of experiment W-8, all the experimental fields in Worcester 

 County had a fairly good sod to begin with. The flora consisted mainly of bent 

 gras.ses, small amounts of Kentucky bluegrass and white Dutch clover, and 

 varying proportions of weeds consisting of haircap moss (Polytrichum commune L.), 

 running cinquefoil (Potentilln canadensis L.), hardhack (Spiraea tomentosa L.), 

 sorrel (Rumex acetosella L.), poverty grass {Danlhonia spicata (L.) Beauv.), 

 another native grass {Paspalum MuhlenheroU Nash), bluets {Houstonia caerulea 

 L.), a small reddish weed (Hypericum geniiannides (L.) BSP.), etc. On field 

 W-8 the flora was mainly the weeds mentioned, with very little grass and with 

 Juniper shrubs also present. This was by far the poorest field studied. The 

 original vegetation of the Amherst field consisted mainly of haircap moss, with 

 occasional plants of running cinquefoil, sorrel, and bent grasses. 



