April, 1940] PASTURE TOP-DRESSING IN N. H. 17 



although 46 pounds more protein were produced on the complete 

 fertilizer plot. The increased protein in the forage produced with 

 complete fertilizer is doubtless due to a greater proportion of clover 

 on these plots. 



\\'hereas yields during the wet season of 1938 were notably high- 

 er than those of 1939, the percentage of protein* in the forage was 

 significantly higher during 1939 than in 1938. The differences for the 

 various averages given vary all the way from two-tenths of one per 

 cent on the Seavey check plots to as much as 3.4 per cent on the ni- 

 trogen alone plots of Livingston pasture. 



While it is impossible to control rainfall and as yet no one has at- 

 tempted any sort of pasture irrigation in Xew Hampshire, these wet 

 and dry season data are interesting since they indicate that with 

 heavier rainfall pastures would be considerably more productive. 

 Presumably, in earlier years, pastures were more productive because, 

 after the forests were cleared, there was much organic matter in 

 the surface soil to hold moisture and yield it to pasture crops 

 during the growing season. As the years have gone by and as the 

 sod in pastures has become thinner, this orig'inal supplv of org'anic 

 matter has probably become depleted so that these soils are not as 

 retentive of moisture as once the}- were. This \vould account for 

 more serious effects of drought than formerly and at the same time 

 limit the possibility of having much w ikl white clover in many pas- 

 ture swards. 



It would be impossible, of course, for most farmers to irrigate 

 their pastures. But there are probably a good many dairymen in 

 the state whose pastures are near an unfailing water supply that 

 could be used during the hotter and drier portions of the summer. If 

 the }"ields of the pasture C(ndd be increased by one-half ton of dry 

 matter per acre, it might \\e\\ prove profitable since that amount of 

 feed will supply the forage needs of one cow for more than a month. 



Contour furrowing is another means of water conservation which 

 is as yet unexplored in Xew Eng-land pastures. This method, which 

 consists of plowing furrows on contour to establish ridges which 

 will hold back the water that would ntherwise run off, may be a 

 means of conserving moisture and improving pasture yields, al- 

 though the number of pastures in the state that would lend them- 

 selves to such a method would necessarily l)e rather limited when 

 compared with the total pasture acreage. 



Because of its moisture relationshi]\ the organic matter of the soil 

 of the pasture is felt to be of much importance. Most of the pres- 

 ent supply is in the surface soil and in some of the newer pastures 

 more recently cleared from woods it is likely to be most abundant 

 in the upper two or three inches. Plowing usually turns this high 

 organic layer deeper into the soil and may leave a surface with a 

 much lower organic content than before. Since most permanent pas- 

 ture plants are relativelv shallow rooted, plowing may result in a 

 disadvantage to them. Plowing is expensive in most instances, even 

 in tillable pastures, and since lime and fertilizers must be used anv- 

 way it may often be preferable merely to top-dress rather than to 



'Protein— N x 6.25 



