March, 1933] Agric. Research in New Hampshire 7 



the development of soy beans. Manure also gave good results. Va- 

 riety tests showed Black Eyebrow beans to be the best yielders, with 

 Mukden second, Pekwa third, Manchu fourth and Dunfield fifth. 

 Their respective yields in pounds per acre were: 1,275, 1,238, 1,228, 

 1,187, and 1,078. Considering both yield and fineness of foliage to 

 determine forage value, Pekwa takes first place, Black Eyebrow sec- 

 ond, Mukden third, Manchu fourth, and Wilson 5 fifth place. 



Basic slag as a substitute for lime and superphosphate was tested 

 in the production of sweet clover. The conclusion is that if used in 

 sufficient amounts it is probably satisfactory. If costs are considered, 

 however, the use of slag will not be attractive until future trials in- 

 dicate better returns from smaller amounts, or the price drops. 



Begun in 1926 in Boscawen, the experiment with dairy-faiTn rota- 

 tion on worn-out hay land will be moved to Chichester and changed 

 to admit potatoes as a cash crop. The Boscawen field proved to be 

 unsuited to the production of biennial or perennial legume crops, due 

 to the fact that low areas held water and ice practically every winter. 



The 1932 trials with soy beans at Boscawen showed a response to 

 lime of nearly one-half ton of dry hay per acre. About a quarter of 

 a ton additional hay was obtained from the combined use of phos- 

 phorus and potash. 



Magnesium sulphate was used for the first time this year in the 

 three-j^ear rotation of potatoes, oats and clover at Colebrook. The 

 increase of approximately 32 bushels of potatoes per acre over the 

 check plot with its treatment of one ton of 5-8-7, suggests that the 

 use of magnesium sulphate is significant. In the rotation fertilizer is 

 applied only to potatoes, and on certain plots where lime is used it 

 is spread immediately after the potatoes are haiwested. 



Hay did best on the plots which received lime. The best oats came 

 from the plots which received 3,000 pounds of 5-8-7. 



Legume production in the Connecticut valley near Claremont re- 

 vealed that the best growth of sweet clover and alfalfa comes from 

 plots treated with potash. Lime and potash yielded about 2,800 pounds 

 more sweet clover per acre than the untreated check plot; lime, phos- 

 phorus and potash, 1,880 pounds more; and lime, nitrogen, phosphorus 

 and potash, 2,065 pounds more. 



In the case of alfalfa the increase over the untreated check plot was 

 1,744 pounds of hay per acre for potash alone; 2,418 pounds for lime 

 and potash; 2,877 for lime, potash and phosphorus; 2,543 for potash 

 and phosphorus; 3,583 for nitrogen, potash and phosphorus; and 3,877 

 for lime, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. 



Checks on the effect of top-dressing old pastures were made in 11 

 places in eight New Hampshire counties in 1932, following several 

 years of the same work previously. In Stratham the greatest jneld of 

 protein per acre — 393 i^ounds — came from the plot receiving 16 per 

 cent superphosphate and muriate of potash every three years. Plots 

 getting no treatment yielded only about 180 pounds of protein per acre. 



Other pastures in the state containing wild white Dutch clover and 

 still others with no clover responded best to the combined treatment 

 of lime, nitrogen, phosphorus and potash. This combined treatment 

 consisted of one and one-half tons of ground limestone per acre, 300 



