■eitU) EXPERIMENTS. 27 



The experiment clearly indicates ' the value of thorough 

 preparation of the seed bed and liberal application of fertilizer 

 for the production of grass. If half the quantity of seed had 

 been used, the yield would probably have been greater and the 

 hay of more desirable quality for horses. 



The fertilizers used in growing this crop of 6 tons of hay cost 

 about $40, and the seed and labor of preparation, seeding and 

 harvesting cost about $37. In the next season and succeeding 

 seasons the cost of fertilizers recommended by Mr. Clark and 

 harvesting would be about $25 a year. If three successive crops 

 equal to the first were obtained, the 18 tons of hay would be 

 grown at a cost of a little more than $125. The hay would be 

 worth according to the location of the farm in Maine from $8 

 to $12 a ton in the barn, or at an average price would bring 

 about $180 — a profit of $55 to pay the interest on the capital 

 invested and taxes. With thinner seeding probably a larger crop 

 would have been obtained. If the four tons per acre that Mr. 

 Clark expects from the first cutting were obtained, the profits 

 would be materially increased. It is to be noted that a very 

 considerable part of the profit that Mr. Clark figures comes from 

 the second crop that he can obtain in Connecticut with the 6 

 weeks longer growing season. 



Although it is probable that thorough preparation and fertili- 

 zation of the soil for hay will in the long run prove profitable 

 even in Maine with its distance from markets, growing grass for 

 the purpose of selling hay is probably not the best kind of agri- 

 culture for the average farmer in this State. In a few locali- 

 ties near to the larger cities hay farming may prove a profitable 

 industry. 



While thoroughly endorsing the general proposition that 

 thorough preparation and high manuring of the land is essential 

 to the highest success in grass raising, the Station does not 

 recommend the adoption of the Clark method by Maine farmers, 

 chiefly because it does not fit in with mixed farming and rota- 

 tion of crops. The coarse products of the farm should be fed 

 upon the farm and the manure returned to the land in order to 

 maintain and increase fertility. Selling hay is selling fertility 

 from the farm. Three tons of timothy and red top remove * 

 about 69 pounds of nitrogen, 27 pounds of phosphoric acid and 



* BuUetin 107 of this Slation, p. 187. 



