HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture , 



STAFF 



Rolnnd A. rayne. County Agent 

 Mildred W. Boice, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 Norman F. Wliiiipen, County Club Agent 

 Mary DIniond, Clerk 

 Mary Sullivan, Asst. Cleris 



Office First ISational Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 

 Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 

 1915. at the Post Office at Northampton, 

 Massachusetts, under the Act of March 

 8, 1879. 



"Notice of Entry" 

 "Acceptance for mailing: at special rate 

 of postage provided for in section 1103, 

 Act of October 3, 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31, 1917. 



Price, J>0 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



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, Amher.st 



ALFALFA IN MASSACHUSETTS 



The great value of alfalfa in a dairy 

 ration is a matter of common knowledge. 

 The technical difficulties encountered in 

 growing the crop are not serious. The 

 fact that good yields can be produced in 

 Massachusetts was demonstrated a long- 

 while ago, certainly more than 30 years. 

 Fields of the crop of greater or less ex- 

 tent have been grown, at one time or an- 

 other, in evei-y county in the state if not 

 actually in every important agricultural 

 community. The crop has been "boosted" 

 by farmers' institute speakers, extension 

 men and the agricultural press. Yet it 

 has not made headway. The census of 

 1920 found a few hundred acres only. 



Why? Simply because, for about a 

 generation, grain prices were so low that 

 most Massachusetts farmers found it 

 cheaper to buy nutrients than to grow 

 them. That practice seems to have be- 

 come a fixed habit, though it surely has 

 outlived its usefulness, as there has been 

 little or no cheap grain to be had in ten 

 years or more. The price of grain is get- 

 ting to a point where it is forcing Mass- 

 achusetts dairymen to pay more attention 

 to home-grown feeds or go out of busi- 

 ness. 



Funny, isn't it, that nothing less dras- 

 tic than a threat of starvation, a sheriff's 

 sale, 01' a funeral will serve to oust an 

 outworn system of agriculture in favor 

 of a fitter one? Old dog — new tricks — 

 no can do. It's an old story. 



Eventually — usually after a "lag" of 

 about a generation — the system of agii- 

 culture changes to meet the changed con- 

 ditions. 



The principal change which seems to 

 be indicated now lies in the production 

 of more and better home-grown rough- 

 age. That includes alfalfa, and, as is 

 usual in such cases, the man who suc- 

 ceeds in getting the new system to work- 

 ing first makes the most money. It is 

 time to quit fooling with alfalfa and 

 grow it. 



BETTER MARKET REPORTS 



Fruit Growers Spend Profitable Day 

 at M. A. C. 



Better market reports were promised 

 Hampshire County Fruit Growers by W. 

 A." Mun.son, Director of the State Bureau 

 of Markets, at the Fruit Meeting held at 

 M. A. C. March 19th. Professor R. A. 

 Van Meter stressed the importance of 

 knowing how much rather than what 

 should be taken out of trees when prun- 



; ing. "Pomona uses White Magic" a 

 "movie" showing the results of nitrate of 

 soda, was enjoyed by the group. The 

 day, though damp and dark, could not 

 keep the fruit growers inside as they 

 were bound to see the results of pruning 

 experiments carried on at the Experi- 

 ment Station. 

 Mr. Munson explained the market news 



I service which the state furnishes fruit 

 growers regarding the Boston Market. 

 He stated that the quotations given were 

 the prices received by wholesalers and 

 gave ranges of price for goods of vary- 

 ing quality. The fact was brought out 

 that the fruit growers of this County felt 

 that the apple report of the Springfield 

 Market could be improved by giving bet- 

 ter definitions of grades of apples, by re- 

 porting receipts of fruit and, later in the 

 season, by giving cold storage holdings 

 of apples in and around Springfield. It 

 was suggested that quotations be ob- 

 tained from peddlers as well as from 

 commission houses since most of the ap- 

 ples are marketed through peddlers at 



' present. Since most of the fruit growers 

 obtain market quotations through the 

 Springfield papers, a rather detailed re- 

 port was requested twice a week. In ad- 

 dition, plans are being perfected to have 

 the market quotations given out over the 

 radio every noon. 



Professor R. A. Van Meter, discussing 

 pruning, stated that fruit growers should 



I use the information already available 

 rather than to look for new and startling- 

 ideas. "Sound judgment is needed in 

 knowing when enough has been taken 



from the trees," he said. Starting with 

 trees to be set, he stated that one year 

 trees were best if they were set early in 

 the spring and in fertile soil. Otherwise 

 two-year old trees should be used. The 

 young trees have to be cut back severely 

 as they must be forced to grow rapidly. 

 In these tiees eveiy effort should be used 

 to get the scaffold limbs properly placed. 

 The secret of getting well-shaped trees 

 is to grow t?ie tree as fast as possible 

 rather than to depend on pruning. In 

 young- trees he advised pruning to keep 

 the central leader ahead of the other 

 branches. This and cutting out rubbing 

 branches is the only pruning that ever 

 should be done. In the young tree all ef- 

 forts are directed to growing the tree 

 rapidly. The less pruning, the faster the 

 tree grows. 



With bearing trees the aim of pruning 

 is difi"erent. Instead of striving for 

 growth we ti-y to get well-colored 

 fruit. The tree should be thinned out so 

 that the wood which is left can get light 

 and air. He warned the fmit growers 

 against the common practice of doing 

 three years' pruning in one. This kind, 

 of pruning never has and never will pro- 

 duce good fruit. He advised moderate 

 yearly pruning on mature trees so as to 

 maintain a balance between the roots and 

 the top. 



In the pruning experiment block, it 

 was shown that the trees which had only 

 been pruned to maintain a central leader 

 ! and to remove crossing limbs made the 

 best growth and had also set the largest 

 number of fruit spurs. 



EMERGENCY HAY CROPS 



Two drouthy seasons over the greater 

 part of Massachusetts have meant two 

 years of short hay crops and almost cer- 

 tainly mean another short hay crop this 

 year, irrespective of the kind of a season 

 we get, as both old mowings and new 

 seedings must have suff"ered permanent 

 injury last summei- and fall. Short hay- 

 crops, in turn, mean a low level of 

 roughage feeding with a correspondingly 

 higher expense for grain and probably in 

 a good many cases, the purchase of hay 

 as well. 



Both purchased hay and grain cost 

 ca.sh and there is a limit to the amount of 

 cash which a wholesale milk producer 

 can spend if he expects to have any of it 

 left for himself. Every pound of nu- 

 trients which the farm can be made to 

 furnish cuts down by just that much the 

 amount which must be purchased for 

 cash. Of course, the home-grown feeds 

 cost something but that cost is principal- 

 ly in terms of labor, for which the dairy- 

 man himself gets the pay in terms of a 

 reduced grain bill. 



Of cour.se, ideally, dairy cows should 

 always be fed on the best of silage and 

 alfalfa, clover or clover-mixed hay and 

 also, ideally, should be cows of high pro- 



