22 Experiment Station Bulletin 345 



FIELD CROPS AND SOILS 



Pasture Species Under New Hampshire Conditions 



Work progressed during the year on selection and breeding of 

 timothy, red clover, and white clover strains. Several other species are 

 being studied also as to growth habits, persistence in pastures, ability to 

 recover after pasturing or clipping, and like factors of economic im- 

 portance. These include meadow foxtail, rye grass, orchard grass, 

 Canada bluegrass, some of the fescues, yellow trefoil, and bird's-foot 

 trefoil. 



Timothy 



Plants representing two types of timothy were selected during the 

 autumn of 1940. One of these was a vigorous, late-flowering, hay type, 

 and the other was a shorter but very prolific, semidecumbent type which 

 we believe may resist the effect of grazing animals to a greater degree 

 than the more erect strains. 



Plants from many sources, including 17 from native hedgerows, road- 

 sides, and pastures, were broken up and propagated clonally. Certain 

 greenhouse techniques have been worked out for producing seed during 

 the winter. Seed from various selections will be ready for distribution 

 in small quantities in the spring of 1943. 



Red Clover 



During the winter of 1940-41 reciprocal crosses were made among 

 ten families of red clover that had previously exhibited a perennial tend- 

 ency in the field. Seeds from these crosses were planted and these are 

 again being hand worked in the greenhouse to fix the perennial tendency, 

 if possible. Plants from each cross are now growing in the nursery. 

 Potash fertilizer as favoring conditions for longevity in red clover is re- 



ceiving attention. 



Wild White and Ladino Clover 



The Fi generation, which represents crosses between ladino and 

 native wild white, ladino and New Zealand, and ladino and S-100, was 

 propagated during the summer. Fortunately, with only a few seeds, 

 plants were secured from all of the crosses which were made in our bee- 

 proof greenhouse in 1940. Many of these plants have the required leafi- 

 ness but still lack the size that a strain of white clover should have to 

 compete with tall grasses, a point which is one of the favorable attributes 

 of ladino clover. 



Other Species and Strains 



Observations are being made on many other species and strains in 

 the nursery and in the greenhouse. In the autumn of 1941 cuttings were 

 taken from orchard grass plants that have been growing in the locality 

 of Durham for twenty years or more. 



From an original planting of isolated smooth brome grass plants, 

 seven plants with a creeping tendency have been isolated and propagated 

 clonally for seed-production purposes. 



Rye grass seed of one of the improved Welsh strains was picked from 

 a farm in Jefferson in 1940. This was propagated and the plants are 

 growing in the nursery. 



