6 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 436 



Valley area to repay their crop loans in full from the 1945 production of tobacco, 

 potatoes, and onions. Only six of 23 borrowers with livestock and livestock-crop 

 loans paid their loans in full in the past year. Livestock loans have a longer 

 period for repayment while crop loans are generally for one year. 



Loans have been repaid on 134 of the 202 farms for which loans were made. 

 Loans were defaulted on 5 percent of the farms and 13 percent are now classified 

 as collection cases since these borrowers are no longer engaged in farming. Only 

 15 percent of the total number of farms since 1936 are now considered as active 

 cases and less than one-half of these received supplementary loans in 1946. 

 New loans in 1945—46 were chiefly to start potato growing and poultry farming. 



Generally the cash-crop farms have shown a higher rate of repayment of 

 loans and a lower proportion of collection and defaulted loans. The highly prof- 

 itable tobacco and potato crops of the past three years have furnished income 

 to pay off old debts and provided a surplus to finance farm operations for another 

 season. Borrowers on livestock farms generally have met scheduled payments, 

 but few have made advance payments on their obligations. 



Methods and Costs of Improving Land on Massachusetts Farms. (C. R. 



Creek and J. F. Hauck.) The cost of boulder removal from crop and pasture 

 land on Massachusetts farms varied from $40 to $100 per acre for the bulldozer 

 charge under normal conditions. Some records have shown a cost of $175 per 

 acre for boulder removal where a small bulldozer was used and many large boul- 

 ders were pushed out. On cropland where scattered large boulders were removed 

 the cost was about $35 per acre in one instance where 55 boulders were removed 

 from 2.5 acres. Costs were generally less per acre where larger bulldozers were 

 used, although the rate per hour was greater. 



Costs of removing stone walls from farms ranged from 25 to 50 cents per linear 

 foot under normal conditions, according to records obtained in 1945. Costs were 

 highest where the stones were loaded on trucks with a gas shovel and hauled to a 

 swamp for disposal. The cost was less where a trench was dug with a gas shovel 

 and a bulldozer used to push the walls into the trench and cover the stones to a 

 depth of three feet with soil. Costs were lowest where a wide and shallow trench 

 was made with a bulldozer, the stones pushed in and spread oves" an area about 

 eight feet wide and then covered with one to two feet of soil to make a dry road- 

 way through orchards or pastures. 



It is difficult to justify the removal of boulders and stone walls in order to 

 have larger, more open fields for the use of labor-saving machinery, although 

 many farmers contend that the cost will be repaid in seven to ten years in the 

 lower cost of production which will result from mechanization of crop production. 



A method of land improvement which has increased greatly in recent months 

 is the blasting of drainage ditches by the Soil Conservation Districts. Although 

 soil conditions vary between farms, the cost of dynamiting has ranged from 8 to 

 15 cents per linear foot for a ditch two to three feet deep and five to seven feet 

 wide. This size of ditch with the natural slope of the land will drain many marsh 

 and swamp areas to increase the acreage of pasture and hay land on farms. In 

 some areas the main drainage system will be dug with a shovel or dragline through 

 the cooperation of the Soil Conservation District and lateral ditches will be con- 

 structed by each farmer on his farm. Cooperative effort is necessary in most 

 instances to obtain a suitable outlet for drainage ditches. 



Methods and Costs of Harvesting Hay on Massachusetts Farms. (C. R. 



Creek.) Buck rakes mounted on a heavy car or truck chassis are an efficient 

 means of harvesting hay when the distance from field to barn is not over one- 

 fourth mile. The weight of load ranged from 500 to 800 pounds for these buck 



