6 MASS. EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETIN 417 



lifting and carrying in the packing shed. Bunching of the broccoli was paid for 

 on a piece work basis at a favorable rate and the work was done more quick!)- 

 because of this incentive paj'. 



Loan Performance on Low Income Farms in Massachusetts. (C. R. Creek.) 

 Through December 1943, loans had been repaid in full for 42 out of 92 cash-crop 

 loans made since 1936 by the Farm Security Administration in the three Con- 

 necticut Valley counties of Massachusetts. Payments were generally made in 

 large amounts from the sale of onions, potatoes, or tobacco. Two years (1942 

 and 1943) of good 3'ields and high prices enabled these crop farmers to pay off 

 delinquent loans as well as the 1943 operating loan. Total loans were $2345 

 per farm for a period of 1 to 7 years' duration and the average loan was $938 

 annually. Interest on the loans which were paid amounted to $72 per loan. 

 The average length of these crop loans that had been repaid was about 1.5 years. 



Loans on livestock-crop farming units were made on 74 diversified farms from 

 1936 through 1943 and 40 had been repaid bj^ the end of the latter year. These 

 loans were generally repaid in small monthly installments from the sale of milk 

 and eggs. Larger paj'ments were made occasionally from sales of crops, cattle, 

 or poultry. Auctions of livestock and equipment on dairy and poultry farms 

 were necessary to close delinquent loans on one-fourth of the farms. Five borrow- 

 ers had ceased to operate their farms since 1941 and had made large payments 

 through the sale of livestock and farm machinery. These loans were finally 

 closed by payments from wages earned in industrial employment. Sales of crops 

 and livestock products were used to repay the remainder of the loans. Total 

 loans were $1358 per farm for a period of 2 to 7 years and the average size of 

 loan was $823 annually. Interest on the loans which were repaid amounted to 

 $61 per loan. The average length of these loans was about 2.5 years. 



Repayment of loans has been more satisfactory on the cash crop farms than 

 on those farms having livestock enterprises. Crop losses from floods, frost, and 

 hail have prevented some crop farmers from paying off their loans, but most of 

 the delinquent livestock loans were due to poor management. 



DEPARTMENT OF AGRONOMY 

 Walter S. Eisenmenger in Charge 



Tobacco Projects. (Walter S. Eisenmenger and Karcl J. Kucinski.) 



Brown Root Rot of Tobacco. The experiment was designed to determine the 

 effect of the preceding crop on the yield and crop index of tobacco. The various 

 preceding crops were planted at three different times during the season. The 

 earliest matured completely; the two others did not mature. All were plowed 

 under in the spring after the tops had been almost completely dehydrated by 

 natural freezing, thawing, and drying. Those crops which had matured com- 

 pletely and contained a high percentage of fiber in the vegetative tissue reacted 

 unfavorabl}' to the tobacco crop. 



The amount of material to be plowed under was not an index of the yield or 

 quality of tobacco. Sunflowers and Jerusalem artichokes afforded abundant 

 material to be turned under; yet the tobacco crops after these plants were among 

 the best. 



Crops such as sunflower, artichoke, tobacco, and fallow might be classified 

 as the better preceding crops for tobacco; buckwheat, barley, rape, millet, wheat, 

 and rye are less satisfactory; and such crops as corn, oats, sudan grass, and 

 sorghum are consistently unfavorable when used in rotation with tobacco. 



