c. Decline in acreage of silage corn, commercial vegetables, and potatoes. 

 Home gardens decreased due largely to removal of urban residences. 



d. Decline in the acreage of hayland, open pasture, and brush pasture. 

 Use of land for hay appears to have decreased relatively more than use 

 of land for pasture. On the smaller pasture acreage, relatively more 

 young stock and dry cows are carried and fewer milk cows. 



Per-acre yields of silage corn do not appear t > have changed significant- 

 ly. Per-acre yields of hay and the carrying capacity of pastures show no 

 uniform rale or direction of change. In the Suiry Mountain area, hay yields 

 declined 50 percent from the pre-construction to the post-construction period, 

 and in the MacDowell area, did not change, while in the Franklin Falls 

 and Blackwater areas, yields increased 12 and 60 percent, respectively. 



In the Surry Mountain area, 3.9 acres of pasture were used per mature 

 cow equivalent in the pre-construction period and. in the post-construction 

 period, 4.5 acres. Respective figures for Blackwater were 5,5 and 2.8, and 

 for Franklin Falls, 5.1 and 4.1 acres. 



In terms of livestock numbers supported by lands in reservoir areas, the 

 greatest relative decline from pre- to post-construction took place in the 

 Surry Mountain area, followed by Edward MacDowell. Edward MacDowell 

 was and is at present the least important agricultural area. The decline in 

 livestock numbers was smallest in the Blackwater area. 



Total man-hours on crops and livestock declined during this period by 

 78 percent for Surry Mountain. 62 percent for MacDowell. 50 percent for 

 Franklin Falls, and 40 percent for Blackwater.^ 



B. Pre- and Post-Construction '"''Opiiniuni'"' Levels 



During both pre- and post-construction periods the level of management 

 used by the operatois varied a great deal. By raising the average level of 

 management to that practiced by the better operators, some increases in 

 yields and carrying capacity of the land could be achieved. (Tables 8-10.) 



The adjustment of post-construction management levels from the "actual" 

 to the "optimum" involves in most cases a greater percentage increase in 

 yields and carrying capacity than does the same adjustment of pre-con- 

 struction management levels. This occurs because of the residual treatment 

 many post-construction operators accord leased reservoir lands. "Actual" 

 post-construction average yields and carrying capacity are generally lower 

 relative to "optimum" levels than was true in the pre-construction period. 



Many pieces of agricultural land were left idle during both pre- and post- 

 construction periods. Under an "optimum" level of use of the reservoir 

 land such pieces would be used for farming. After bringing them into use, 

 and assuming "optimum" levels of management, land use patterns would 

 still contain the following shifts from pre- to post-construction: 



a. Declines in the total number of acres used for agriculture, ranging from 

 49 percent for Franklin Falls to 72 percent for Blackwater. 



1^ Total annual man-hours per head or per acre were interpolated from data pre- 

 sented by G. E. Frick and W. K. Burkett, "Farm Management Reference Manual," 

 N. H. Ext. Cir. 307, September, 1953. p. 46. See Appendix Table VII. 



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