April, 1935] Agricultural Research in N. H. 9 



outfit, the power and the men are usually available. The depreciation of the 

 spray machinery is more a question of age and ])ecoming obsolete than of 

 excessive wear. If horses arc used they are on the farm and often would be 

 standing in the barn if not used on the particular spray. An extra man may 

 need to be employed for the short time. Some gasoline, oil, and other ex- 

 pense will be re(|uired if tractor power is used. 



So in making the decision as to the application of a certain cover spray, 

 the cost of material, including gasoline and oil, are the determining factors 

 on the expense side. 



However, if based on normal rates of wages for all labor, including that 

 of the operator and a proportional cost for spray machinery and j^ower, the 

 cost of applying each spray would about equal the cost of materials. Thus 

 the total cost would be about $.012 for each application. But since all the 

 equipment must be available for the other sprays when deciding about any 

 one spray, only the additional cash costs need to be considered on most 

 orchards. There is usually no competing use of men or power at these spray 

 periods. (£. S. Rasinitssen, H. C. ll'oodworth, and G. P. Potter — Purnell 

 Piind.) 



Egg Auction Sales 



In cooperation with the recently formed New Hampshire Egg Auction 

 at Derry, data are being obtained as to producer's name and number, weight, 

 size and grade, selling price, buyer and order of sale of every case of eggs 

 sold. Also an individual record of every producer is being tabulated which 

 gives us percentages of eggs falling into specials and extras, the classification 

 of all eggs not falling within those grades and the gross returns, charges, 

 and net returns for all eggs sold. 



Records for the first five months showed average monthly premiums of 

 2.2 cents to 5.1 cents for special large brown eggs over top Boston wholesale 

 quotations. (L. A. Dougherty— Pitnicll Piiiid.) 



Soil Fertility Experiments 



These studies, as in previous years, involve hay and legumes on neglected 

 hay lands, W'henal Farm, Greenland ; dairy farm rotation on neglected hay 

 lands at the Lane Farm, Pittsfield ; potatoes in a three-year rotation at the 

 J. R. Jackson Farm near Colebrook ; legumes in the Connecticut Valley at 

 the Livingston Farm. Claremont ; and scattered experiments on top-dressing 

 old pastures. The plot work is accompanied by chemical studies. 



Legumes on Neglected Haylands. The legume studies this year indi- 

 cated no significant increase for additional lime applied in 1933. For the 

 I)resent, two tons of limestone in 1926 is ])roving slightly su])erior to one 

 ton in 1933. All of the plots which had potash revealed significant differ- 

 ences in the first cutting of alfalfa, and also with one exception in the second 

 cutting. Nitrogen gave a significant increase in the first cutting only. Phos- 

 phorus appears to have stimulated the yield in the first cutting. 



When this experiment was begun, part of the alfalfa plots received two 

 tons and part four tons of ground limestone per acre. During the fifth and 

 sixth years, the acidity of the soils of these plots increased considerably. In 

 the fall of 1932 the pH values of these plots were 5.38 and 5.81 respectively. 

 In the fall of 1932 these plots were plowed. Soil samples taken in tlie spring 



