ANNUAL REPORT, 1943-44 11 



Influence of Soil Fertility on Productiveness of Pasture Species. (Hrant M. 

 Yegian.) The data collected in 1943 and the spring of 1944 substantiated results 

 obtained during the preceding two years. All the species continued to respond 

 to increases in soil fertility. Plots receiving an annual application of 600 pounds 

 of 5-8-7 in April and June and 400 pounds in August consistently produced more 

 grass than plots receiving 400 pounds of 5-8-7 in April and June or only one 

 application in April. 



The response to fertilizer was more pronounced during the prolonged dry 

 weather in the spring of 1942 and 1944. Kentucky bluegrass, timothy, and red- 

 top suffered more during periods of drought than meadow foxtail, reed canary 

 grass, orchard grass, or smooth brome grass. 



The effect of temperature upon growth varied with different grasses. Kentucky 

 bluegrass, orchard grass, meadow foxtail, and reed canary grass grew almost 

 as well in summer as in spring, provided there was sufficient moisture throughout 

 the growing period. 



Orchard grass, Kentucky bluegrass, and reed canary grass made rapid recovery 

 after cutting. 



Some of the grasses were non-persistent, especially at a high level of soil fer- 

 tility. Perennial rj^egrass was winterkilled during the winter of 1941-42, and 

 orchard grass, meadow fescue, and rough-stalked meadow grass during the winter 

 of 1943-44. Timothy began to thin out after the third year. 



A few of the grasses made more rapid growth in the spring than others. On 

 the first of May, 1944, reed canary grass was eleven inches tall, smooth brome 

 grass six inches, and foxtail five inches; while redtop, Kentucky bluegrass, 

 timothy, fowl bluegrass, and colonial bent were only three inches tall. 



Redtop and fowl bluegrass gave as high a yield the first harvest year as the 

 second and the third year; timothy produced most the second year and meadow 

 fescue, orchard grass, and meadow foxtail, the first year; while reed canary grass, 

 smooth brome grass, and Kentucky bluegrass gave their highest yield in the 

 third year. 



The fact that most of the species differ from each other in one or more im- 

 portant agronomic characteristics suggests the use of several of these well- 

 adapted species on a farm in order to insure, through a proper scheme of manage- 

 ment and soil fertility, a satisfactory and uniformly distributed feed supplj' 

 throughout the season. 



Experiments at Amherst with Hay and Pasture Seeding Mixtures. (W. G. 



Colby.) Additional data were obtained from a series of plots planted in 1940 

 with different hay and pasture seeding mixtures. Details of the layout of the 

 experiment were given in a previous report (Mass. Agr. Exp. Sta. Bui. 388:14-15, 

 1942). 



Most of the seed mixtures included in this experiment were simple ones in 

 which one grass was seeded with ladino clover alone or with ladino clover and 

 alfalfa. Except for the first and second years in the plots first cut for hay, al- 

 falfa has not been an important constituent in any of the mixtures. The failure 

 of alfalfa to become established in the pasture series and to persist in the hay- 

 pasture series can probably be attributed to the system of grazing management 

 which was followed. 



During the first grazing season (1941) the pasture series was grazed rotationally 

 five times. Under this heavy system of grazing only weak stands of alfalfa were 

 established and these were lost during the following winter. In the plots first 

 cut for hay, the alfalfa was well established before the hay was cut and a good 

 stand was obtained in all alfalfa seedings. However after a crop of hay had been 



