30 



N. H. AGR. EXPERIMENT STATION 



[BuUetin 212 



Top-Dressmg Hay Land. 



The top-dressing tests of 1922 were duplicated by F. W. Taylor on the same 

 quarter-acre plots in 1923. The grass was practically straight timothy and 

 redtop. The top-dressing materials were apphed May 4. The hay was cut 

 July 12 and stored the 13th. 



Table XII. 



As an average of the past two seasons, one of which was very wet and the 

 other very dry, the nitrogenous materials have increased the hay yield from 

 1000 to 1200 pounds per acre over the check plots. Although 400 pounds of 

 acid phosphate increased the yield of hay 468 pounds per acre last season, this 

 was more than one could expect as an average. The average increase for a 

 period of nine years on similar soil at the college farm with an annual application 

 of 400 pounds was only 60 pounds of hay, while the average increase for 200 

 pounds of nitrate for the same period was 1046 poimds. 



The question of the economy of using fertilizing materials as top-dressing for 

 hay land is a vexing one. Four important factors are concerned: namely, the 

 cost of the fertihzers, the price of hay, the kind and condition of the turf, and 

 the season particularly as regards rainfall. Obviously, if the price of fertilizers 

 is high and hay is low, the average increase in yield wUl not pay the cost of 

 fertilizer and the labor of applying it; if the season is very wet, good yields of 

 hay will be secured without top-dressing; if very dry, the effect of the fertilizer 

 is lessened. If the turf is old and composed mainly of wild grasses, the increased 

 yield is not likely to be appreciable. On the other hand, with a comparatively 

 new sod in a normal season with hay and fertilizer at something like a parity of 

 price, the use of nitrogenous materials like nitrate of soda or sulphate of am- 

 monia will prove profitable. 



Pasture Improvement. 



The eight one-eighth acre sections of pastm-e land laid out in 1922 were 

 continued. Additional applications of nitrate of soda and nitrate of lime were 

 made in the spring. No additional limestone or grass seed was added. The 

 effect of the fertihzers was noticeable throughout the season, and the sections 

 which had received grass seed the previous season were apparently improved. 



It is planned for next season to lay out a much more extended and compre- 

 hensive series of experiments on a 40-acre pasture recently acquired on the 

 Foss Farm. 



Alfalfa. 



A one-acre plot of alfalfa was seeded this season with certified Grimm seed. 

 The land was a clay loam and was in corn in 1922. It was fall-plowed, and 



