FARM OF THE NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURAL

COLLEGE.

REPORT FOR THE YEAR 1886-1887.

BY GEORGE H. COOK.

The farm belonging to the Trustees of the New Jersey State Agricultural College comprises 97.4 acres of land. It is located mostly within the bounds of the city of New Brunswick. It is a mile and a balf south from the Pennsylvania railroad depot on George street, and is reached by way of that street and Nichol avenue-upon the south side of which latter street is the farm entrance. The farm is known to have been occupied since 1717, though less than half of it was in cultivation, and one-third of it was in stumps and young sprouts, having never been cleared, when it was bought by the Trustees in 1864. Since that time it has been entirely cleared and underdrained, and there is now no land on the place which cannot be cropped and cultivated. The farm buildings have been re-arranged and greatly enlarged, and provision made for carrying on the farm operations properly. The two maps of the farm which accompany this report will give a better idea of the farm than can be got from any written description.

Map No. I. shows the topography of the farm, and the lines of the ditches. The curved contour lines, with numbers on them, indicate the elevation of the ground on which they lie, in feet, above the surface of the fish pond, which latter is about seventy-five feet above mean tide. The farm buildings are also marked on this map: a is a dwelling-house; b a spring-house; c is the farm-house; d is the silo; e is the main barn; f is a small barn; g is a hovel; h is the cowstable; i is a tool-house; j is an ice-house and carriage-house; kis the corn-crib; is the hennery; m is wagon-house and corn-crib; n is pig-sheds.

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Map No. II. shows the division of the farm into fields, and the crops grown upon them in the season of 1887. The fields are designated by numbers, and are separated from each other by heavy dotted lines. Subdivisions of the fields are marked by letters a, b, c, d, &c.

The Indian corn crop was grown upon the flat ground at the south end of the farm, and was damaged somewhat by the heavy rains at the end of July and the early part of August. Under this adverse influence the average crop, 53 bushels of shelled corn per acre, was all that could be expected on good ground.

The crop of wheat was good. Like most wheat fields, this was somewhat damaged by the winter, but the average, 31.3 bushels per acre, is probably as much as can be looked for in ordinary seasons.

The rye crop was hardly up to the average of former years, though 38.8 bushels per acre is enough to show the value of this unpopular grain, and to fairly bring up the question as to whether it is not a more profitable crop than wheat, proper allowance being made for the straw in each case.

The oat crop, 40.1 bushels per acre, appears to be a light one. The deficiency, however, is not in the crop itself, but in the failure to secure it properly at the time of harvest. The heavy rains which began the 22d of July, and continued for nearly two weeks, in which

time 7 inches of rain fell, were sufficient to waste more than onethird of the crop, and to greatly damage the remainder.

The potatoes were grown upon some of the best soil of the farm. The season was not specially favorable for the growth of potatoes, but 66 bushels per acre can hardly be called a paying crop. On our soil the yield has never been large, though the ground is well drained. It is a sandy loam with a little gravel in it, and has been well manured both with barn-yard manures and with commercial fertili

zers.

The turnip crop was a failure, partly from bad seed.

The

The crop of carrots, 480 bushels per acre, was a good one. objections to growing them are the limited demand for them, and the heavy expense for labor in the early stage of their growth, in keeping them from being overrun by the rapid-growing weeds.

The growth of timothy and clover was very good on the fields recently seeded, but on the larger field, which had been in grass for two years, the yield was light. The average on the 24.5 acres mown for hay was 2.3 tons per acre.

The cows are mostly sustained by soiling, and 38 tons of grass were fed green, and 33.5 tons of fodder-corn were also fed to them fresh as they were cut from the field.

Trial plots of sorghum on one acre of ground were grown upon the farm. A violent wind broke down the stalks so much and so unevenly that the experiment was spoiled, and only a little of it was used as a green fodder late in the season, when fodder-corn was dried

up.

Lucern, or alfalfa, was tried in two small plots of one-twentieth of an acre each. The seed was put in the ground on the 28th of April; one-twentieth in drills, so as to be cultivated, and the other twentieth was sown broadcast. The growth was fair in both cases.

That which was cultivated came forward the most rapidly, and was cut three times, each time just as it began to flower. The first cutting was July 7th, the second, August 18th, and the third, September 27th, making nearly twenty-one tons per acre for the season's growth.

That which was sown broadcast was very much covered by weeds at first, but by mowing them off, the lucern got fair possession of the ground, and the crop at the end of the season was a very satisfactory

one.

The lucern was fed green to the dairy cows, and furnished very superior food, both to the liking of the cattle, and for the flow of milk.

The experiments in lucern, sorghum, hay and oats were conducted by the New Jersey Agricultural Experiment Station, and the detailed results will be given in the annual report of the Station for 1887. The stock kept upon the farm consists of