32 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 436 



3. The classification of soil and field investigations carried out in a number 

 of towns indicate that improvement of undeveloped areas, where the cost is 

 justified by resulting benefits, may serve to enlarge and improve land resources 

 on existing farms, to make possible the replacement of poor land now in use, and 

 to provide for new farming units. 



4. Improvement in the condition and productivity of pasture and hay lands, 

 the most important assets in Massachusetts agriculture, will reduce costs and 

 improve the position of many Massachusetts farms. 



5. Management of farm woodlands, which represent about 37 percent of the 

 total area of Massachusetts farms, should be integrated with other farming 

 operations to secure higher returns to producers. 



6. The position of Massachusetts agriculture in the postwar period will be 

 determined by the successful reduction of costs through the adoption of the most 

 efficient methods, whether they are in the use of land resources, the employment 

 of labor, the use of machinery, or the marketing efforts. 



Additional material, prepared in connection with agricultural readjustments 

 was presented in a manuscript dealing with the 1946 production program for 

 Massachusetts agriculture. 



DEPARTMENT OF ENGINEERING 

 C. I. Gunness in Charge 



Cranberry Storage Investigation. (C. I. Gunness, H. J. Franklin, and H. F. 

 Bergman.) Storage investigations on cranberries were continued during the 

 1945 season. Berries were put in storage on September 7 and removed and 

 screened on November 1. Losses under different conditions of storage were 

 as follows: 



Percentage Loss 



At Screenhouse At 45 degrees 

 Temperature 



In normal atmosphere..... 8.4 5.6 



In controlled atmosphere: 



11 percent carbon dioxide 12.3 



2.5 percent carbon dioxide . 7.4 



Berries stored in a carbon dioxide atmosphere, even at the low concentration 

 of 2.5 percent, colored much less than those stored in normal atmosphere. Ber- 

 ries stored at 45 to 50 degrees color much more than those held at lower or higher 

 temperatures, all being stored in normal atmospheres. 



Storage of berries in refrigerated rooms at temperatures from 35 to 45 degrees 

 will reduce storage losses considerably below that which occurs in the common 

 screenhouse. Storage in controlled atmosphere holds but little promise of success. 



Poultry House Investigation. (C. I. Gunness and W. C. Sanctuary.) In the 

 study of poultry housing, emphasis was placed on method of ventilation and 

 arrangement of equipment to permit the housing of the maximum number of 

 birds in a given pen. The test pen housed 150 birds, allowing 2.66 square feet 

 per bird. This pen would normally house only 100 birds, and this number was 

 housed in the check pen which is equal in size to the test pen. Better use of 

 floor space was obtained in the test pen by raising feed hoppers and watering 

 troughs off the floor. The down-draft baffle ventilator was used in this pen, 

 opened to the extent that ventilation was increased proportionately with the 



