26 



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



capacity of the farms. For instance, Mr. Noyes of Littleton began a 

 system some 40 years ago of using some lime and reseeding frequently 

 with clover and alfalfa and has gradually built up yields and livestock 

 numbers. In 1936 this farm carried 16 animal units on 141/^ acres of 

 tillage land. Mr. Hough of Lebanon has followed a conservation sys- 

 tem of lime and frequent reseeding with clover and alfalfa for over 40 

 years and in spite of increasing his herd has a surplus of hay. For 

 additional evidence of the possible favorable effect of a conservation 

 program on total yields, reference is made to the results obtained in the 

 roughage production study in 1932. ^^ Mr. Abell found that the yields 

 of hay were higher on the farms with larger acreages in corn silage 

 and it is thought that this resulted largely from the shorter rotations 

 and more frequent reseeding. 



In this study covering over 200 dairy farms, for every 100 acres of 

 tillage land devoted to roughage in Group 1, there were 7.5 acres of 

 silage and the yields of hay on the other 92.5 acres totaled 107.3 tons 

 or 1.16 tons per acre. In Group 2, there were 12 acres of corn silage 

 and the yields of hay on the other 88 acres totaled 121.4 tons or 1.38 

 tons per acre. In Group 3, there w'ere 17 acres of silage and the yields 

 of hay on the other 83 acres totaled 131.4 tons or 1.58 tons per acre. In 

 Group 4 there were 25 acres of silage and the yields of hay on the other 

 75 acres totaled 135 tons or 1.8 tons per acre. 



"While the land may have been more easily tilled and also better to 

 begin with, in all these instances the results are probably accumulative 

 and the greater yields have developed slowly. The larger yields of 



" Abell, M. F.; Roughage Production in New Hampshire; New Hampshire 

 Agricultural Experiment Station, Bulletin 273, 1933; page 5. 



Table 18. Distribution of 1,869* farms according to number of animal %mxts 

 per acre of tillage land a7id per cent of tillage land reseeded. 



* Thirty-one farms were excluded from this table. Ten had no tillage 

 and on 21 farms the animal unit-tillage area ratio was not determined. 



