Agricultural Research in New Hampshire 23 



Pasture Trials of Species 



New seedings were made in the spring of 1941 on the Angell farm 

 in Lee on a .Merrimack loamy sand soil involving some of the larger 

 grasses, each seeded separately with ladino clover. Seeds for this test 

 were supplied by the Soil Conservation Service and include creeping 

 brome, noncreeping brome, orchard grass, Victoria perennial rye, creep- 

 ing red fescue, and meadow foxtail. 

 Reseeding on Old Pasture Sods 



During the autumn of 1940 and the spring of 1941 experimental 

 seedings of ladino clover were made on top of old pasture sods in 

 Durham, Fremont, and Hollis. Drought interfered somewhat with this 

 effort, as it did with most of our outdoor work last year. (F. S. Prince, 

 L. J. Higgins, P. T. Blood) 



Advanced Alfalfa Nursery Trials 



On jMay 27, 1941, two standard varieties of alfalfa and four new- 

 strains were planted at the Whenal farm, Greenland, New Hampshire. 

 Each variety was replicated five times in plots picked at random. During 

 the season weeds were kept under control. In 1942 the three middle rows 

 of each plot will be harvested and yield calculations made. 



The standard varieties are Grimm and Dakota Common. The new- 

 strains are four that did well here under the preliminarv trials: A- 145, 

 N. J.; A-69, Mich.; A-67, N. J.; and A-68, Mich. (Ford S. Prince) 



Pasture Clearing and Management 



The program of brush removal, as reported in Station Bulletin 326, 

 has been expanded to use a power mower, and otherwise enlarged to 

 include a study of the most economic methods of providing adequate 

 pasture. The economy of use of some poorer hay land for pasture, in- 

 tensified production of hay on the better areas, fertilization of such poorer 

 hay land as is used for pasture, fertilization of the better producing per- 

 manent pasture land, as well as removal and fertilization on the best 

 pasture soils are being studied. 



Nitrogen alone continues to show inadequate results either in brush 

 or weed control or improvement in desirable pasture herbage. Lime and 

 superphosphate are still superior to superphosphate and potash and are 

 equal to complete fertilizer and lime in bringing in wild white clover. 

 Although the dry season of 1941 was hard on pastures, the recovery this 

 spring has been remarkable. There still appears to be no material differ- 

 ence in effectiveness of brush removal by different methods; but unless 

 fertilized adequately, thus changing fertility level, brush soon returns. 



Faced with the possible restriction on amount of nitrate of soda 

 available, its lack does not appear to be a handicap in pasture improve- 

 ment. Lime and superphosphate seem adequate at the start, and a bal- 

 anced fertilizer has definite advantages over combinations of any two 

 for later fertilization. On the basis of brush removal, the cheapest method 

 will be adequate. This will depend on kind and amount of brush. If it 

 can be cut with heavy duty power mower, this is as satisfactory as any 

 method and much cheaper. Power mower plots have shown marked im- 

 provement with little brush regrow th. ( Max F. Abell, M \ry Geragh i y, 

 J. H. Swedberg) 



