March, 1938] Agricultural Research in N. H. 21 



On the oats crops it is apparent from the data that lime and phos- 

 phorus are both eifeetive in stimulating oats yields. The 4-16-7 and 

 4-16-14 both give positive increases and the basic slag series, either be- 

 cause it carries lime or because the slag holds the availability of the 

 phosphorus better, caused a stimulation in yield. 



The lime applications all caused yield increases, although the increase 

 for the 500-pound application is scarcely large enough to be significant. 

 In the series without potash (2 T. L. ; 1 T. 4-8-0), lime apparently more 

 than compensates for the omission of potash in oats growth. 



Data for the hay crops show significant increases for use of lime. 

 This is not surprising considering the acidity of the soil. Even the 

 500- and 1,000-pound applications cause significant yield increases. 

 The use of basic slag to stimulate clover is apparently justified, for with 

 a yield increase of this extent the extra cost of slag over superphosphate 

 w^ould be more than paid. 



Experiments in Topdressing Old Pastures 



A five-year summary of the tests conducted at the Seavey Farm in 

 Stratham shows that the principal response on this pasture may be at- 

 tributed to the element nitrogen. Although for the past two seasons 

 more or less wild Dutch clover has appeared, it is not entirely possible 

 to correlate this appearance with fertilizer treatment as has been the 

 case on the Livingston pasture. Of the nitrogen carriers sulphate of 

 ammonia ranks first, nitrate of soda second, Cal nitro third, and cyana- 

 mid fourth. Fifty pounds of nitrogen from cyanamid has not given 

 much more stimulation to the grass so far than has 25 pounds of nitro- 

 gen from nitrate of soda. 



With respect to the annual and triennial applications of phosphorus 

 and potash, the large triennial application of phosphorus and the smaller 

 annual application of potash seem to be superior. It is doubtful wheth- 

 er yield ditiferences are sufficient to be significant, however. The re- 

 sponse for these elements applied singly is small, but their combination 

 increases yields and protein to a significant degree. 



When added to nitrogen, however, a corresponding increase over 

 nitrogen alone is not apparent. It may well be that moisture is a lim- 

 iting factor to yields after a certain point on this soil. 



In the plots on the Livingston Farm at Claremont, nitrogenous fer- 

 tilizers alone fell considerably short of the 8-16-16 and 0-20-20 plot. 



This difference in yield response may be ascribed to the appearance of 

 wild white Dutch clover in the plots where phosphorus and potash are 

 applied and its non-appearance where none is used. Furthermore, the 

 character of the vegetation produced with nitrogen alone is not so sat- 

 isfactory for pasture as that where the other elements are used or where 

 complete fertilizers are applied. 



With respect to nitrogen cq,rriers, nitrate of soda seems to be superior 

 on this soil. {Purnell Fund) 



A Soil Survey of New Hampshire 



This project was started in 1935 and during that season Grafton 

 County was completed and Sullivan County started. In 1936 the Sul- 

 livan area was completed and the Cheshire and Coos areas were begun. 



