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hay crop in most sections of the State. It does not seem probable, 

 therefore, that the relative importance of the grass crop in Massachu- 

 setts' agriculture will decrease in the near future. 



Our survey of the facts pertaining to the aggregate production and 

 value, while interesting, does not throw light upon the question as to 

 whether the results now attained by our farmers can be regarded as 

 satisfactory. To determine this point we must know, not the aggre- 

 gates, but the returns per acre. The last United States census reports the 

 average product of hay per acre in the entire country to be 1.1 tons. 

 The average product in Massachusetts is reported to be exactly the 

 same. Such a product is far below the possibilities, as all good farmers 

 will at once admit. If the average returns from the area devoted to the 

 production of hay in Massachusetts could be increased to the extent of 1 

 ton per acre, the value of our agricultural products would be raised fully 

 f 8,000,000 i^er annum. Such an increase must mean greatly increased 

 prosperity among our farmers, provided the increase can be produced 

 at a figure materially below its value. That it can be so produced it 

 will be my effort to show in this article. 



Argument is not needed to convince the better farmers of the State 

 that this is possible, for few of them are satisfied with crops of less than 

 from 2 to 3 tons jier acre, while many of them doubtless make much of 

 their grass land yield annual crops averaging fully 3 tons per acre. Mr. 

 George M. Clark of Higganum, Conn., has in recent years written a 

 great deal concerning the hay crop and methods of increasing it. It 

 may be doubted whether his methods can be in all respects recom- 

 mended ; but thorough tillage of some sort in preparation for grass and 

 careful fertilization are essentials, and Clark's influence and example 

 have been vastly useful in stimulating improvement. He claims to 

 produce from 5 to 6 tons of hay per acre annually in two crops. Under 

 his system of management the profits have doubtless been large. His 

 investment in labor and fertilizers is heavy ; but the tremendous crops 

 obtained prove profitable, in spite of the heavy outlay. 



Upon the college farm at Amherst we have not upon the average 

 equalled the crops reported by Clark. We have not, however, as a rule, 

 expended more than a small proportion of as much in labor and in 

 fertilizers as he reports. Our profits are perhaps not inferior to those 

 which he has obtained. The area devoted to hay on the college farm 

 averages about 75 acres, and the average product per acre is often equal 

 to 24 tons. This result is obtained under the following conditions : 

 About 30 acres out of the 75 are kept permanently in grass. Most of this 

 area has not been plowed for about twenty years. It is managed in 

 part as a park, ])ut is mown twice annually. During a great part of the 

 time it has received an annual dressing with fertilizers at an average 

 cost of perhaps 16 per acre. The portion of the college farm managed 

 in rotation is usually left in grass three years, and receives no top-dressing 

 of any kind during the time it is in grass, the crop of grass being pro- 

 duced on the residual fertility remaining after the hoed crops, which 

 usually occupy the ground two or three years out of every five or six 

 years. The average crop on the old mowings amounts to about 2 tons 



