June, 1939] The Agricultural Conservation Program in N. H. 



15 



couimercial fertilizers, the lack of livestock indicates, in general, a sit- 

 uation where the land is receiving little attention and is declining rap- 

 idly in hay yields. Under present management it probably will be in 

 brush within 20 years. '^ An exception to this is the orchard areas where 

 large applications of fertilizer are regularly made. 



A larger acreage of tillage land, 31 per cent, was on farms with some, 

 but less than .2 of an animal unit per acre. It is thought that this land, 

 too, is declining in hay yields but at a slower rate. Only about 48 per 

 cent of the tillage laud was associated with more than .2 animal unit 

 per tillage acre. It will be noted in a study of Figure 3 that only a 

 small per cent of the tillage land associated with little or no livestock 

 was in the conservation program, while the land associated with con- 

 siderable livestock was well represented. This suggests again the situa- 

 tion existing in which the conservation program is likely to build up the 



" The problem of actual soil fertility is not involved in this statement. 

 There is evidence that yields of hay in this state decline on land not associated 

 with livestock and not fertilized and that after a few years the hay crop is 

 not sufficient to induce the operators in the neighborhood to harvest it. Under 

 New Hampshire conditions of soil and climate the brush and trees soon re- 

 claim land which is unmowed. 



In this process of going back to br*ush the soil actually may be increased in 

 fertility by the accumulation of forest humus. It is stated in a Kentucky 

 bulletin that there is evidence of a long rotation involving a few years of in- 

 tensive cropping, a long period of brush and timber, the clear cutting of tim- 

 ber resulting in pasture, and then intensive cropping again undertaken. Al- 

 though New Hampshire is an old settled country, there is so far little evi- 

 dence of reclaiming land for crops when once it has been absorbed by woods. 

 It is entirely possible that shifts in economic conditions may sometime in the 

 distant future induce men to reclaim land for crops. After decades of ac- 

 cumulation of forest humus, no doubt the land would be much improved in 

 fertility. 



Comparison of practices on 350 less active commercial farms in 

 1935 and 1937. 



Table 10. 



* Does not include new seeding in pastures. 



t Includes all less active commercial farms whether or not enrolled in the 



progi'am. 



