18 



N. H. Agricultural Experiment Station [Sta. Bull. 314 



their management in this respect. Where the management is already 

 effective in reseeding there would be little social gain in increasing 

 seedings but, on the other hand, payments should not be denied the 

 operators who are following good practices even if the payment does 

 not result in change. Such operators are doing the thing that the pay- 

 ment should induce others to do. 



Of the 176 operators who increased their reseeding in 1937, seventy 

 had seeded no acres in 1935. 



Reseeding is an important practice and yet some of the payment is 

 not bringing about results. Instead of abandoning the practice, how- 

 ever, it would be best to find a way to make payment conditioned on suf- 

 ficient amount of reseeding to bring real improvement in soil fertility. 



Effect of Management on Tillage Land Abandonment 



Combining the effect of these factors of livestock association and re- 

 seeding on the farms of the 12 towns, there were 9,782 acres of tillage or 

 about 19 per cent of the total on farms where no livestock were kept 

 and no new seedings were made in 1937. In addition 8,134 acres of 

 tillage had some livestock (less than .2 animal unit per acre) but no 

 new seedings were made in 1937. (Table 19) Thus it would seem 

 that about one-third of the present tillage is under management that is 

 not favorable to soil building for crops. On a state basis this means 

 that about 150,000 acres now classed as tillage is in process of being 

 diverted to other uses. 



These data on livestock-tillage land ratio and reseeding ratio have 

 been stressed in some detail because it has been important to examine 

 and present the trends in soil conservation. 



Even with the conservation program, present management means 

 the eventual loss of large acreages of tillage land. There is little in the 

 economic outlook to suggest a denuuid and price situation in the next 10 

 years that will be great enougii to bring forth the management and ex- 



Table 12. Comparison of practices on 805 residence farms in 1935 and 1937. 



* Does not include new seeding in pastures. 



t Includes all residence farms whether or not enrolled in the program. 



