8 Experiment Station Bulletin 367 



purchased at a sacrifice if necessary or pressed into greater service to off- 

 set human labor. 



Much of our organized experimental work in agriculture during the 

 war has reemphasized the importance of helping the farmer to attain 

 more production and much more efficiency. Studies of transportation 

 systems for milk in the rural areas to save distances travelled and reduce 

 the consumption of gasoline and rubber; studies of "fast milking" and 

 other "chore practices" to make better use of equipment in the barn and 

 greatly reduce the hours of man labor required; the selection and methods 

 of application for new insecticides, of which DDT is a well-known ex- 

 ample, to favor better growth and better quality of plants and better pro- 

 duction of animals; studies of trace elements in soils leading to spectacu- 

 lar improvements in the health of livestock; better combinations of fer- 

 tilizer elements and methods of application that shall contribute to larger 

 crops; similar studies with newly discovered and greatly improved fun- 

 gicides for the control of plant diseases; significant progress in the breed- 

 ing of better crops of vegetation for humans and better forage for ani- 

 mals have been effected. These are but examples of cooperative effort and 

 progress with a diversity of work well distributed among a conscientious 

 research staff. Much service work of special importance to the State in 

 a war economy has been accomplished in the inspection of feed, ferti- 

 lizers, and seeds; and thousands of tests and diagnoses of diseases among 

 poultry and large animals have been made. 



In other words, not all changes incident to war are confined to the 

 strategy of deploying troops; not all inventions are confined to weapons. 

 Radar and possibly atomic bombs may have their civil applications. The 

 old maxim that there can be no great loss without some small gain should 

 emphasize to farmers the likelihood of possible positive changes even in 

 the ancient business of cultivating crops and harboring animals. Some 

 of the new things developed by regular agricultural research, such as new 

 farm management techniques resulting from labor emergencies and new 

 field machines as coutnerparts of those used for the solution of war prob- 

 lems, will doubtless contribute to significant change. 



Farmers in New Hampshire must, therefore, realize that change is 

 imminent. This change will involve keeping up-to-date in selecting bet- 

 ter seed and better varieties of crops; in using better adapted fertilizers 

 with possible better methods of application; in using machinery not alone 

 to plow and harrow but to elevate crops from the ground to the wagon 

 or to the barn, perhaps; to clear manure from the stable and shovel it on 

 the spreader; to remove stone walls, brush, surplus water and other im- 

 pediments to pasture improvement and larger and more economical field 

 arrangements. This all means more production per man-hour of labor, 

 than which there is no better measure of efficiency in American farming. 

 With hand milking, ten cows twice a day was a man's job, but with im- 

 proved milking machines and a better understanding of the physiology of 

 the cow, a man's stint may become forty cows instead of ten. These enu- 

 merations are but examples of new things that must happen in farming, 

 even in New Hampshire, in order to keep up with progress. Farming is 

 a dynamic, changing business. Every new farm machine that is invented 



