36 



University of New Hampshire 



[Sta. lUill. 322 



Cropping plans 



On Farm A witli 56 acres of tillage land, the operator could main- 

 tain an organization of 18 to 20 cows and eight to ten head of \()ung 

 stock and four to five acres of potatoes. 



In planning the use of tillage land, the potato crop would be given 

 priority because it nonually represents a high return per acre. But 

 because the organization is basically a dairy farm, the potatoes would 

 he incorporated into a rotation in which hay is an important crop. A 

 four-year rotation on these dairy farms would involve approximately 

 20 acres for the potato-hay rotation fields. 



The best land for potatoes -on the farm is a 22 acre field which is 

 a good loam and well drained. This could he laid out into four plots 

 of 5.5 acres each. ( 1' ig. 19)- These areas. .\. B. C, and U. would 

 be rotated so that each field would have potatoes, oats, clover) and 

 hav each four-year period. These tillage fields would not be limed 

 or if limed the application would be limited to small applicati(Mis 

 which would not raise the pH above five. With liberal application 

 of complete fertilizer on the potato crop and an application of ma- 

 nure once in tlie rotation, the capacity of the land would be main- 

 tained and improved. The short rotation would control quack grass 

 and k)wer the labor requiremeiU on potatoes. After the system had 



In. I KK 1''. L iiippiiig plan tui a dair\ larm uilli al)i>iil tivc acres of 



potatoes each year. 



