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



13 



On the less active commercial farms the use of lime per farm in- 

 creased from .12 ton in 1935 to 1.24 tons in 1937 and new seedings from 

 1.08 acres in 1935 to 1.56 acres in 1937. Changes in other practices 

 were less significant. While these changes may seem small, the use of 

 lime and more reseeding may serve to maintain the yielding capacity 

 of many individual farms in this group. This is indicated by the in- 

 crease of practices on the 185 farms enrolled in the program (Table 10). 

 The average use of lime on the less active farms enrolled increased from 

 .16 ton in 1935 to 2.3 tons per farm in 1937, and the new seedings in- 

 creased from 1.6 in 1935 to 2.4 per farm in 1937. Practically all the 

 increase is accounted for on the 185 farms enrolled in the program. 



As would be expected, the non-commercial farms were not affected 

 greatly by the program. However, on the 114 subsistence farms en- 

 rolled in the program the use of lime per farm was increased from .1 

 ton in 1935 to 1.6 tons per farm in 1937 and new seedings from .7 acre 

 in 1935 to 1.5 acres per farm in 1937. Roughly one-third of the sub- 

 sistence and one-half of the resident farm operators who enrolled in- 

 creased their soil-conserving practices. (Tables 11 and 12) The in- 

 crease is very small on these places but on account of the small amount 

 of tillage land the change in practices may check the decline in yields 

 of hay. 



Conservation Payments 



Since many farmers carry out practices in excess of their allotments, 

 the actual cost of each practice or the cost of the changes made are not 

 known. The official data from the county associations indicate com- 

 pleted practices equal to a value of $24,536.14 for the 12 towns. (Table 

 13) The actual payment checks will total $20,236.27, which allows 

 for a deduction of one per cent for expense.^ 



* This is not the total expense of local administration. 



Table 8. Comparison of practices on 1900 farms in 1935 and 1937 



Practices 



Total prac- 

 tices on 

 1900 farmst 



Total prac- 

 tices on 664 

 farms en- 

 rolled 



1935 I 1937 1935 | 1937 



Change 1935 to 1937 



1900 

 farms 



664 



farms 



enrolled 



Per 

 centt 



Lime used, tons 



New seeding hayland, acres* 

 Fert. on new seeding, tons 



Fert. on hayland, tons 



Pasture improvement, acres 

 Fert. on pastures tons 



New seeding in pastures, acres 

 Green manure, acres 



Mulching orchards, tons 



Forest trees planted, M. 



Woodland improvement, acres 



339 



1842 



18 



18 



135 

 41 

 24 



303 

 69 

 12 

 18 



1925 



2515 



116 



98 



785 



36 



99 



319 



74 



9 



94 



318 



1610 



18 



17 



122 

 41 

 18 



303 

 69 

 12 

 14 



1873 



2248 



115 



97 



776 



36 



92 



318 



74 



8 



87 



+ 1586 

 + 673 

 + 98 

 + 80 

 + 650 

 - 5 



+ 75 



+ 16 



+ 5 



- 3 



+ 76 



+1555 

 + 638 

 + 97 

 + 80 

 + 654 

 — 5 

 + 74 



+ 15 



+ 5 



- 4 



+ 73 



97.3 

 89.4 

 98.8 

 98.4 

 98.9 



100.0 

 93.9 

 99.5 



100.0 

 94.1 

 92.6 



* Does not include new seeding in pastures. 

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

 % The per cent of the total change accounted for by the 664 farms that 

 were enrolled in the soil conservation program. 



