Farm Bureau Work in New York State for 1914 2177 



troducton^ work looking toward the reorganization of the Ithaca Poultry- 

 Producers' Association; (8) participation in placing and conducting farm- 

 ers' institutes and fann demonstration schools; (9) the introduction 

 of hardy strams of alfalfa; (10) the conducting of a p\ire-bred live stock 

 survey. 



The work of the past year was introductory,^ in character. It was not 

 as well planned as it might have been, and, due to the arrangements under 

 which it was done, it was naturall}- broken up more or less. The fact that 

 at the close of the year it received the hearty approval of those agricul- 

 tural organizations in the county that had at the beginning refused to 

 endorse it, is its best justification. 



V. B. Blatchley, 

 Farm Bureau Manager of Tompkins County. 



ULSTER COUNTY 



(Work begun April 15, 19 14.) 



The first year of the farm bureau was spent to a large degree in picking 

 out and conferring with the men who could be depended on to assist in 

 the work and in becoming acquainted with the topography of the county, 

 with the farmers and the location of their farms, with the resources and 

 the possibilities of the cotmty, and also with its fundamental agricultural 

 problems and the best available means of their solution. The following 

 report to Januarv^ i, 191 5, shows the work accomplished in the eight and 

 one-half months that the farm bureau has been established. 



Three hundred and twenty farmers have been visited on their farms. 

 Fifty-five persons, seeking information and ad\dce, have called at the ofhce. 

 Six hundred and fifty-four individual letters have been written in reply to 

 inquiries received and in transacting the business of the bureau. Five 

 circular letters, totaling 1500 copies, have been sent out to the members 

 giving information, suggestions, and inspiration. 



Twenty-five newspaper articles, giving agricultural information and deal- 

 ing with farm bureau affairs, have been written and published in all of the 

 local papers. In this way authoritative information was made available to 

 all fruit growers about a cheap and sure method of controlling the red spider, 

 the pest of raspberries. Up to the time this article was published, some 

 •growers were spraying with bordeaux mixture, some with arsenate of lead, 

 which was a waste of time and money. Other articles were prepared in 

 connection with the campaigns against fire blight and wild carrot, a weed 

 that disgracefully infests a large part of the county. A fourth article made 

 plain the facts about Stone Aleal, a fertilizer which costs the farmer $23 per 

 ton and contains soluble fertilizer constituents worth but $4.50 per ton, 

 according to the New Jersey Experiment Station. 



Twelve field demonstrations of agricidtural practices that were new to 

 the community, have been made to groups of farmers. 



A cow-testing association was organized at Wallkill, and is now in opera- 

 tion. It is the first of its kind in the county. Gradually farmers are 

 realizing that the profits in the dairy business depend on the net profit 

 of the individual cow and to that end are keeping records. An association 

 is being organized in the Rondout Valley, which will be brought to com- 

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