April, 1940] PASTURE TOP-DRESSING IN N. H. 7 



of one kind or another but should probably not be compared with 

 trials where brush and shrubs would need to be cut before improve- 

 ment could begin. In other words, the pastures covered by these 

 tests were average open New Hampshire pastures, the dry matter 

 yields indicating that they would carry about one cow to each five 

 acres, untreated. Under treatment this carrying value was increased 

 to about one cow to each one and one-half acres on the heavily fer- 

 tilized plots with the other values ranging between these two figures. 



The most pertinent question that can be asked in respect to work 

 of this sort is, "Will top-dressing pay?" This question was answered 

 in the publication previously mentioned in that all the fertilizer treat- 

 ments on the clover pastures returned about two dollars' worth of 

 feed for each dollar invested in materials. This statement also holds 

 true for the complete fertilizer and lime treatment on the grass pas- 

 tures. These statements refer to the average of the pastures con- 

 cerned, and would of course have to be modified for the individual 

 pastures in which case the returns might run considerably more or 

 less than the averages quoted. 



More extensive top-dressing experiments were laid out in 1932 in 

 the Seavey pasture, Stratham and in I93?t in the Livingston pasture. 

 Claremont. Xew Hampshire. 



A preliminary report of these two experiments was included in 

 Station Circular 48, April, 1935, in which the results secured up to 

 and including the season of 1934 were discussed. 



These tests have been continued, with certain modifications, and 

 it is our purpose in this publication to present and discuss the results 

 of this work up to the end of the 1939 pasture season. 



The Seavey pasture is located in the edge of the town of Stratham. 

 While there is no soil survey of this area, the soil concerned has been 

 identified l\v soil survey men as belonging to the Charlton series, 

 although the texture of both surface and subsoil permit somewhat 

 better drainage than this same soil series in the Connecticut Vallev 

 counties. Because of this factor the soil would ])robably not be con- 

 sidered ideal for pasture since wild white clover does not form a 

 uniform and integral part of the sward even under optimum fertili- 

 zer practice. 



In contrast to Seavey, the Livingston pasture soil belongs to the 

 Sutton series. The imperfect drainage of this series makes for a 

 well watered soil, one in which wild white clover develops to a max- 

 imum if its fertility requirements are met. On plots treated with 

 superphosphate and potash, this species assumes as much as 75 per 

 cent of the vegetation in the sward and even when fertilized with a 

 complete fertilizer having- a 1-2-2 ratio wild white clover quicklv as- 

 sumes at least 50 per cent of the proportion of the vegetation. These 

 facts apparently help to explain the relative responses from various 

 fertilizer ingredients on these two fields. 



Both these fields have in the past been cultivated, although the 

 Livingston field, because of imperfect drainage, has been used as a 

 pasture for many years. The Seavey field has more recentlv been 

 under cultivation although the herbage in the stand has prettv well 

 progressed to the native species, particularly Kentucky bluegrass. 



