HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



:5 



IT'S CHEAP 



wall AiiologU'.s- to the B. G. Pratt Co. 



Jones buy.s a flivver for fifty bones 



The fenders are gone and the engine 



groans, 

 But it's cheap. 



He turn.^ it over till his face is blue, 

 .Juggles the .spark and chokes it too; 

 Though it i.sn't quite as good as new, 

 Yet it's cheap. 



He gets it going and starts to town ; 

 It hits on three and a tire goes down; 

 But it's cheap. 



He does his errands and hustles back; 

 The thing goes dead on the railroad 



track ; 

 They found the seat and the tire rack; 

 But it's cheap. 



■Jones' brother gets ready to seed ; 



For Red Top he has little need. 



But it's cheap. 



It needs no lime, just plenty of manure; 



It's easy to cut and easy to cure; 



'Twill make a stand, of this he's sure. 



And it's cheap. 



One crop a year was all it gave; 



Said he, "Tis labor I must save." 



Tho it's cheap. 



The cows ate it, 'twas the only way; 



The grain he used would never pay; 



The profit he made? He'd never say! 



But 'twas cheap. 



Now old man Greene is a wiser guy; 



Experience with him was dear to buy; 



Yet it's cheap. 



He uses LIME when he's seeding down; 



His clover yields are the talk of the town ; 



Sure it's cheap. 



His crops look better day by day; 



His farm improves in ev'ry way. 



And it's cheap. 



His cows are filled with an honest feed ; 



For great loads of grain he has NO need ; 



His bank account grows, but not by 



greed. 

 Yes, it's cheap. 



Will l.imr l-:i.vf 



t 'i>nt iiuii'd from p.-turc- 1. column '.' 



being weeds. This is a common occurence 

 in this county. Six tons of manure per 

 acre increased the yield over the two 

 nearest unfertilized plots 870 lbs. per 

 acre. Six tons of manure, plus lime, gave 

 an increase of 1,2-50 lbs. of hay per acre 

 over manure alone. We have the same 

 condition on many of our dairy farms. 

 Manure is not giving the results it .should 

 without lime. When six tons of manure 

 plus lime plus 400 lbs. of acid phosphate 

 were used, the hay crop increa.sed 110 lbs. 

 over that given by manure and lime. 

 When 10 tons of manure plus acid phos- 

 phate and lime were used, the hay in- 

 creased 690 lbs. per acre over the plot 

 having the 6 tons of manure plus lime 

 and acid phosphate, or 2,720 lbs. per acre 

 over the unfertilized plots. This amount 



of manure is nearer to the amount used 

 in this county than 6 tons. In other 

 words, this experimental work shows 

 manure plus lime and acid phosphate 

 pay.^ better than manure alone on dairy 

 farms with acid soils. 



Is Your Hay Clover or Weeds? 



The value of lime is brought out in an- 

 other way when we study the composition 

 of the hay crop. The plots in the follow- 

 ing table were all fertilized with .SOO lbs. 

 nitrate of soda, 400 lbs. acid phosphate 

 and 150 lbs. muriate of potash per acre. 



Table 3. Yield per acre of clover liai/ 

 Pic. Bid. 166. 



Plots 1 and 2 were given enough lime 

 to meet lime requirements. 



Comparing total yield of plots 1 and 6 

 shows where many people make a mis- 

 take. It took over 2 tons of lime to pro- 

 duce 1,150 lbs. of hay — an expensive prac- 

 tice. When we study the amount of clover 

 on these two plots the difference is over 

 11 tons of clover hay per acre. Another 

 thing which is striking is that ground 

 limestone is fully as efficient as hydrated 

 lime when used in all but the very small- 

 est amounts. The table also shows the 

 economy of using the right amount of 

 lime per acre on very acid soils rather 

 than trying to economize by putting on 

 smaller amounts. This is one place where 

 many farmers have lost faith in lime. 

 Many of the soils in this county need 2i 

 to 3 tons of limestone or 3,800 to 4,500 

 lbs. of agricultural lime per acre to put 

 them in shape to grow leal crops of clover 

 and alfalfa. One ton of lime per acre 

 seems to be most farmer's limit and the 

 results obtained are clearly shown in the 

 above table when we study the column 

 showing the lbs. of clover per acre. 



How to Buy Lime 



We are often asked what is the best 

 kind of lime to buy. Experiments have 

 shown that a pound of calcium oxide in 

 finely ground limestone is just as efl'ective ; 

 as a pound of calcium oxide in agricul- 

 tural or other forms of lime. Prices re- 

 ceived from lime companies near here in- i 

 dicate that prices at the kiln are practi- 1 

 cally the same so it boils down to a matter 

 of freight rates. For example, Middle- 

 field and Huntington have a low freight | 

 rate on agricultural lime, while the rate 

 on limestone is high. In Williamsburg, 

 limestone and agricultural lime cost about 

 the same delivered at the station. Since 



it takes only 1,500 lbs. of agricultural 

 lime to equal a ton of ground limestone, 

 the agricultural lime is the best buy. In 

 othei- sections, particularly on the Boston 

 and Maine, ground limestone is a better 

 buy than the agricultural lime. 



One of the worst trimmings that farm- 

 ers get is in the purchase of lime ashes. 

 The word "ashes" seems to work a charm 

 as many farmers pay more for them than 

 they do for agricultural lime. Lime com- 

 panies however quote lime ashes at about 

 50 cents per ton less than agricultural 

 lime and at this figure, they are about as 

 good as agricultural lime. The reason 

 for farmers paying a long price for lime 

 ashes seems to be that some smooth sales- 

 men tell them that the lime ashes contain 

 a lot of phosphoric acid and potash. 

 Send for the latest lime bulletin from the 

 Experiment Station at Amherst and see 

 how much acid phosphate and potash is 

 actually found. You'd be surprised and 

 save money! 



Farmers Can Reduce Price of Lime 



We have been told that lime companies 

 have made no money in selling limestone 

 and agricultural lime in recent years. 

 There have been, we believe, two contrib- 

 uting factors: (1) Farmers have been 

 spending so much money for grain that 

 they have never seen enough dollars on 

 hand to purchase lime; (2) When sales- 

 men are selling lime alone, it costs them 

 so much to make sales that the price 

 charged is excessive. Both of these facts 

 have lessened the volume of business done 

 by lime companies. This has caused some 

 companies to raise their price per ton and 

 only aggrevates an already serious condi- 

 tion. We firmly believe that if faimers 

 will use lime as they should, co-operate 

 with their neighbors so as to purchase in 

 carload lots and pay cash, that lime com- 

 panies will be able to do business on a 

 narrower margin of profit per ton than 

 they can at present. 



How to Have Soil 1 ested 

 for Lime Needs 



We want the lime companies to con- 

 tinue in business because the farmers of 

 this county in many cases will get greater 

 returns per dollar invested in lime than 

 in any one thing. We believe that it is 

 the farmers' first move to help this condi- 

 tion. We have offered to supply farmers, 

 grain dealers, fertilizer agents and others 

 with Soiltex testers, at cost, so that farm- 

 ers could know how much lime they 

 should u.se per acre. The response to this 

 service has not been ovenvhelming to 

 date. The following are people who are 

 equipped with testers and who will gladly 

 test your soils for lime requirements. 



J. W. Tufts, Amher.st. 



Robert Adams, No. Amherst. 



Earle Ingham, Granby. 



G. Newell Galusha, Granby. 



E. T. Clark, Granby. 



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