14 Experiment Station Bulletin 345 



Type-of-Farming Areas in New Hampshire 



A study concerning the relative opportunities in commercial dairying 

 in the many areas of the state has been completed. Brief conferences on 

 the productivity of fields and pastures, on the type of farms, the topog- 

 raphy, the case and difficulties of cultivation, and on the trend in dairying 

 were held with individuals in each town. The market outlets were 

 noted. The land area in each town was differentiated on the basis of 

 opportunities in commercial dairying. Then these data and maps for 

 each town were considered and fitted into a pattern for each county and 

 finally for the state as a whole. The final result is indicated on maps for 

 each county and each town, and is based to a large extent on the ex- 

 perience and judgment of local people. 



The land areas were divided into four classes on the basis of relative 

 opportunities in commercial dairying. 



1. Favorable areas. 



2. Marginal areas. 



3. Unfavorable areas. 



4. Nonagricultural areas. 



The town inventories of the state record cows on almost 13,000 

 farms. But over one third of them have only one cow and 60 per cent 

 have three cows or fewer. 



There were 3,940 farms reporting cows in the unfavorable areas 

 but only 667 of these had over three cows. Only 93 farms in the un- 

 favorable areas had 10 cows or more, and about half of these were not 

 dependent upon economic production for their continuance. 



The bulletin in process of publication is of value as basic background 

 for extension and action programs. (H. C. Woodworth and John C. 

 Holmes) 



Land Use in Grafton County 



The effect of changing forest resources on local economy has been 

 under observation in one town for a period of seven years. The stripping 

 of the land and the effects of the hurricane resulted in the decline of as- 

 sessed valuations in the town of Dorchester of 36 per cent— from $234,770 

 in 1934 to $148,425 in 1940. 



The decline in valuations in the eastern third of the town, which 

 contains most of the farmsteads and summer homes, has been small— from 

 $97,485 in 1934 to $91,485 in 1940, or only six per cent. On the other 

 hand, the assessed valuations of the wild land in the western two thirds of 

 the town declined 58 per cent— from $137,285 to $56,820. Thus the wild 

 lands, which had accounted for over 60 per cent of the property tax in- 

 come in 1934, contributed only 38 per cent of such income six years 

 later. The local residents and the property owners in the eastern part 

 of the town must now carry a larger part of the burden of town govern- 

 ment. 



The town is making adjustments by gradually limiting the public 

 services in the more isolated areas. One farm, a potential high-cost loca- 

 tion, has been acquired by tax title and will be withheld from occupation. 

 Eventually it may be possible to reduce the mileage of roads maintained 



