12 N. H. Agricultural Experiment Station [Sta. Bull. 273 



seeding occur more frequently — four years or less in hay rather than 

 six or more — obtain considerably larger yields and are able to incorpo- 

 rate the higher protein legume hays in the mixture. (Table 10) 



Table 10. Relation between length of hay rotation and yield of hay on 328 



farms. 



Years in hay Yield hay per acre 



0-3 1.57 



4-5 1.50 



6 1.34 



7+ 1.26 



Alfalfa. The use of alfalfa as a forage crop is increasing. There 

 has been some change in the method of establishing it. Rather than 

 attempting to obtain clear stands on difficult soils, more and more farm- 

 ers are relying on a seeding mixture including alfalfa. 



P'ifty of the 328 farms were growing some alfalfa. The 710 acres 

 reported was 4.6 per cent, of the total permanent hay acreage, and the 

 crop of 1775 tons made up 8 per cent, of the total hay. From the fre- 

 quent occurrence of alfalfa in every county in the State in stands of 

 varying age and mixture, it seems advisable to use a iiay seeding mix- 

 ture combining 4 to 5 pounds of alfalfa seed per acre on all fields except 

 those too wet to grow red clover satisfactorily. 



Such a practice on many farms would eventually result in more 

 legumes in most of the hay and would indicate those fields where alfal- 

 fa does well enough to warrant heavier applications of lime and a larg- 

 er proportion of alfalfa in the seeding mixture, or in a few instances. 

 pure seedings of alfalfa. 



On the larger more intensively operated dairy farms, quite a large 

 proportion of the permanent hay is in alfalfa or alfalfa mixtures. The 

 large yields of better quality roughage make possible greater amounts 

 of stock. 



The small amount of seeding done each year, 5.7 acres per farm 

 on the average. Table 11, gives a .small amount of legume roughage for 

 milk production, and is associated with a long rotation. Where alfalfa 

 is grown in the longer rotations it increases both tlie total yields of 

 hay and the quality in the later years of the rotation. 



Table 11. Amount of permanent and annual hay seeded each year. 



Acres seeded 

 Seeding Number farms 



Total Per farm 



Permanent 328 1908.8 5.8 



Annual 296 1406. 4.7 



Most of the farms including alfalfa in the rotation either alone 

 or in mixture cut the crop usually less than six years — only a slightly 

 longer period than that for all permanent hay. That group of farms 

 raising some alfalfa where the hay crop was regularly left down less 



