HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Itolniifl A. I'ayne, County Agent 

 Mildred W. Boice, 



Home Deiiionstrntion Agent 

 Nornilln F. AVIiippen, County CInl) Agent 

 M:ir>' DiiiioEid. Clerk 

 Mjiry .SnllivMn, Asst. Clerk 



Office First National Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 

 Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 

 1915, at the Post Office at Northampton. 

 Massachu.'setts, under the Act of March 

 8, 1879. 



"jVotiee of Kntry" 

 "Acceptance for mailing at special rate 

 of postage provided for in section 1103, 

 Act of October 3. 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31. 1917. 



Price, 50 cents a ye:ir 



Officers of the I rustees 



Charles E. Clark, President 

 Charles W. Wade, Vice-President 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Roland A. Payne, Secretary 



Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture 



Edwin B. Clapp, Easthampton 

 Charles E. Clark, Leeds 

 Clarence E. Hodgkins, Northampton 

 Milton S. Howes, Cummington 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 John A. Sullivan, Northampton 

 Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 

 W. H, Atkins, Amherst 



roiiltry ScIiooIh Held 



(.\intinued from page 1. column 1 

 a premium for eggs. This can be main- 

 tained only by identifying our eggs so 

 that the consumer may be sure of what he 

 is getting. 



Greatest competition will be among 

 local producers. In this competition, only 

 the men who are efficient can hope to 

 make a profit. The profit per bird is not 

 likely to be as great in the next five years 

 as it has been in the past five. The men 

 who adopt labor saving methods will 

 be able to care for more birds, however, 

 and by so doing maintain or even increase 

 the profit per man. Ways of increasing 

 volume of business on poultry plants were 

 discussed. 



In his talk on brooding and rearing. 

 Prof. Monahan stated that recent develop- 

 ments in brooding and rearing had made 

 possible great savings in labor and in the 

 mortality of chicks. Leaving glass out of 

 brooder houses and the use of cod liver 

 oil make possible the growing of chickens 

 in confinement. He stated that Messrs. 

 Kingsley and Perkins of Westhanipton 

 were growing 7,000 chicks indoors by us- 

 ing cod liver oil. These chicks are to be 

 marketed as broilers about Easter, The 



importance of running a hot stove in a 

 cool hou.se was stressed. The infoi'mation 

 concerning feeding is given elsewhere in 

 this paper. 



The County Agent stressed the import- 

 ance of continuing disease control meth- 

 ods this year. Last year 223 people agreed 

 to carry out the Disease Control Program 

 which consists of using Corrosive Subli- 

 mate to disinfect brooder floors, moving- 

 brooder houses to clean land, the use of 

 tobacco dust in the dry mash on plants 

 where intestinal worms are found and the 

 thorough disinfection of the laying houses 

 before pullets aie housed in the fall. 152 

 poultrymen completed the year's work 

 and raised over .36,000 pullets by this 

 method. These men used over 1,500 lbs. 

 of tobacco dust and only six noticed il! 

 results. These stated that the birds ate 

 less mash. Of the 152 that carried on the 

 work, 146 agreed to carry it out this year. 

 This shows that the program works in the 

 hands of practical poultrymen. 



In speaking of labor economy on jwul- 

 try plants, the County Agent stated that 

 iViuch labor could be saved by carefully 

 planning w-ork. The use of hoppers for 

 scratch feed and grain on the range 

 makes it possible to do the feeding once 

 a \vee\i. At Greenwich, Fred Lego stated 

 that their hoppers were filled once a 

 month directly from the wagon. The use 

 of kegs, barrels, or pipe systems was ad- 

 vocated to save labor in watering. 



As usual, Belchertovm led in attendance 

 with 63 present. An audience of this size 

 gives the speakers inspiration and a bet- 

 ter meeting is the result. It is strange 

 that several poultrymen from outside of 

 the county attended these meetings while 

 some of our local men who could be helped 

 stayed at home. Perhaps distance lends 

 enchantment; if so, many of the men we 

 should reach must be under quite a spell. 



FRUIT COMMITTEE MEETS 



Progress made on County Program 



The County Fruit Committee recently 

 elected by the fruit growers of this county 

 to plan a program of Extension Work for 

 Hampshire County met in Northampton, 

 February 11. After discussing problems 

 in general, it was decided to form two 

 committees as follows: (1) Marketing 

 committee composed of William Fiske, 

 Westhampton; W. H. Atkins, Amherst; 

 and Chas. H. Gould, Haydenville; (2) 

 Purchasing Committee: Chas. Gould, 

 Haydenville, Chairman ; Clayton Green, 

 Belchertown ; W. H. Atkins, Amherst; 

 and Earle Ingham, Granby. 



The committee stated that four lines 

 of work should be emphasized this year 

 in fruit production: (1) Use of nitrate, 

 particularly in orchards which are in sod; 

 (2) Proper pruning so that light may be 

 allowed in a part of the tree and so that 

 spraying may be more effective; (3) 

 More careful spraying to control insect ' 

 pests and fungus diseases; (4) Thinning 



of apples. To cairy out this work, it 

 was suggested that a fruit census be 

 taken so as to get an up-to-date list of the 

 fruit growers of the county and that this 

 list be used to send timely information to 

 fruit growers through the year. A fur- 

 ther suggestion that demonstration or- 

 chards where the effects of the different 

 production practices could be shown be 

 established with interested fruit growers 

 in as many of the towns as possible this 

 year. The work in these orchards is to be 

 carried on over several years. 



In the discussion, it was brought out 

 that every one of the members of the com- 

 mittee used nitrate of soda in their or- 

 chards and found the practice profitable. 

 The suggestion was made that another 

 fruit growers' meeting be held at the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College to see 

 the experimental work which has been 

 carried on regarding the pruning of 

 young trees and also to visit the Owen 

 Orchard which shows what good care will 

 do in bringing back an old orchard. This 

 meeting will be held March 19, at 10.30 

 A. M. in Stockbridge Hall, A moving- 

 picture showing the value of nitrate of 

 soda in orchards will be a feature of the 

 day's program, 



A lively discussion was held regarding 

 thinning of apples, John Clark of North 

 Hadley stated that he had thinned apples 

 for ovei' 30 years in his orchard, "You 

 don't suppose I'd do it if it didn't pay, 

 do you?" he asked, Wright A. Root of 

 Easthampton stated that it was one of the 

 best paying operations in the orchard. 

 Edward Searle said that he found that 

 thinning cut in two the cost of sorting 

 apples. 



It is interesting to note that all of the 

 men on the committee are practicing what 

 they believe .should be preached. The 

 general feeling was that one of the first 

 steps in a marketing program is to pro- 

 duce the kind of fruit that the market de- 

 mands and will pay for. The whole com- 

 mittee is to meet after the Amherst meet- 

 ing to complete their program of work. 



The Purchasing committee met later 

 and it was decided that Charles Gould of 

 Havdenville act as chairman. Since most 

 of the spray materials have been ordered 

 for this year, it was felt that little could 

 be done. By comparing notes, it was 

 found that another year a real saving 

 may be effected by pooling orders. Mr. 

 Atkins is handling a car of peach baskets 

 and the other members are handling 

 spray materials. Mr. Gould is looking 

 up prices on barrels, boxes, ladders and 

 other materials. This committee will re- 

 port at the Amherst meeting. 



In accordance with the wishes of the 

 committee a blank has been sent to all of 

 the fruit growers in the county whose 

 names we could obtain. If you have not 

 received this first letter, please ask for 

 a copy. We want every fruit grower in 

 the county on this list. 



