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HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 





FARMERS' MONTHLY 



Vol. X. 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., FEBRUARY, 1925 



No. 2 



MILK PRODUCTION 



Every Farmer Can Widen Margin of 

 Profit 



Dairy faiTners agree that the margin 

 of profit in milk production is small. 

 Some state that they are making no 

 profit at all, simply getting a new dollar 

 for an old one. If such is the case, why 

 keep cows? One of the main reasons is 

 that most farms have some hay, corn sto- 

 ver, cull vegetables, etc. which, due to 

 their low value or bulk, cannot be 

 marketed in their original .state. Fed to 

 cows they help to make manure to keep 

 up fertility and also help to make milk. 

 The milk is more easily ti'ansported and 

 finds a more ready market then the origi- 

 nal products. There are other farms 

 which have the choice between producing 

 milk or timber. With brush land valued 

 around five dollars an acre the latter is 

 not very attractive. Other farms are so 

 situated that they have a good mai'ket for 

 milk and dairying combines well with 

 their other farm enterprises. There are 

 other farms that would be far better off 

 with fewer cows. More attention paid to 

 cash crops would pay far better. Still 

 other farms keep a few cows to supply 

 the family with dairy products. 

 Co'operatixe Efforts 



That farmers are dissatisfied with 

 present results is shown by methods that 

 have been adopted to widen the margin of 

 profit. 



Particularly in the past few years, 

 dairy farmers have been trying to in- 

 crease their profits by the co-operative 

 purchase of grain. Grain is the largest 

 single item of expense on most dairy 

 farms. There is a general feeling that 

 gi'ain dealers have been making excessive 

 profits. In many towns, purchasing of 

 grain co-operatively has lowered grain 

 prices by furnishing more competition for 

 local dealers. In most cases, this has not 

 amounted to over five dollars per ton and 

 in many cases it has been decidedly less. 

 At this figure, it means a saving of 25 

 cents per cwt. Since the majority of 

 farmers feed 1 pound of grain for every 3 

 pounds of milk produced this has meant 

 a reduction of 8 cents in the cost of pro- 

 ducing 100 lbs. of milk, or seventeen 

 hundreths of a cent per quart. While 

 this saving has been worth while, it is not 

 as great as some have supposed . 



C'ontinufd on p.ig^e 3. column 1 



POULTRY BREEDERS' SCHOOL FRUIT GROWERS MEET 



Methods of Breeding for High Tgg 

 Production Uutlined 



Thirteen poultrymen from five towns of 

 the county attended the Poultry Breeders' 

 School held in the Extension Service 

 Rooms, Northampton, .January 27. Every 

 minute of the time from 10.30 A. M. un- 

 til 4.00 P. M. was, devoted to breeding 

 methods by which poultrymen could pro- 

 duce birds of high egg-laying ability. 

 Prof. W. C. Monahan, Extension Poultry 

 Specialist, conducted the school. 



The purpo.se of the meeting was to get 

 a group of poultry breeders started on a 

 constructive program so that there may 

 be a local source of day old chicks and 

 breeding stock of high egg-laying ability. 



He stated that too few poultrymen re- 

 alized that birds bred to produce 190 eggs 

 per year were worth from .$1 to $3. .50 

 more than ordinary .stock at maturity. 

 This value is simply from the standpoint 

 of egg production alone and does not con- 

 sider breeding value. When poultiymen 

 come to realize this fact, more of them 

 will want to know what egg production is 

 behind their day old chicks. Then they 

 will not try to save a few cents on the 

 chicks, thus losing dollars, when it is 

 found that the mature pullets are in- 

 capable, because of their breeding, to 

 average more than 120 or 140 eggs per 

 year. 



The first requirement in breeding in- 

 volves the selection of the individual 

 birds. Selecting the birds that come up 

 to the ideals of the breeder without the 

 use of the pedigree may be called mass 

 selection. All birds selected should pos- 

 sess abundant constitutional vigor. This 

 means the ability to resist disease and to 

 stand up under reasonable conditions in- 

 cident to the production of eggs. Birds 

 for breeding should possess the follow- 

 ing desirable characteristics: (1) Early 

 maturity; (2) Persistency (ability to 

 lay); (3) Standard points; (4) Size; (5) 

 Quality of Eggs; (6) Non-broodiness. 



In actual practice and in experiments, 

 mass selection has reached maximum ef- 

 ficiency in three years when carefully 

 carried out. It results only in eliminat- 

 ing low producing lines. Its weakness is 

 that it does not intensify high producing 

 lines. By mating a two hundred egg hen 

 with a male from a two hundred egg dam. 

 Continued on page 8. column 2 



Program Committee Elected to Work 

 with County Agent 



In spite of a threatening storm and zero 

 weather, over fifty fruit growers, repre- 

 senting eight towns of the county, met 

 in the Extension Service rooms at North- 

 ampton on January 29 to discuss Hamp- 

 .'^hire County fruit problems. The morn- 

 ing session was devoted to production 

 problems. Dr. J. K. Shaw of the Mass. 

 Experiment Station took up "Soil Man- 

 agement and Fertility of Apple Or- 

 chards." This was followed by a discus- 

 sion of "The Spray Program for 1925" by 

 Prof. R. A. VanMeter. 



At 12.30 the group adjourned to Boy- 

 dens for an excellent dinner. The after- 

 noon se.ssion was devoted to marketing 

 and to the planning of a County Program 

 of Extension Work for Fruit Growers. 



Orchards Need Fertilizer 

 Dr. J. K. Shaw told the fruit growers 

 that orchards in New England needed 

 fertilizer sooner or later to keep them 

 bearing profitably. By turning under a 

 sod one can get fair production for a 

 period of about eight years. Even dur- 

 ing this period, fertilizer might help to 

 produce better crops. Little is really 

 known regarding the value of cover crops 

 in orchards. At the Agricultural Col- 

 lege, apple trees in sod have given splen- 

 did results when fertilized. 



There is a great difference between 

 young trees and those in bearing. Young 

 trees have a heavy coating of foliage over 

 the top of the tree and the fruit spurs 

 that set fruit buds have more leaves on 

 them than spurs that are not setting fruit 

 buds for another year. In bearing trees, 

 the top is more open .so that the light can 

 get to the spurs and develop leaves on 

 them. Too many blossoms on a tree ai-e 

 not desirable particularly on trees that 

 are apt to set heavily, such as Baldwins. 

 Trees that tend to bear annually, like 

 McInto.sh, blossom heavily but only a 

 .small peicentage of the blossoms set fruit. 

 Thinning of apples on a heavily set tree 

 does not make the tree blossom another 

 year. 



Bearing trees only grow in length to 



July first but diameter increases through 



the entire growing season. Fruit buds 



for the next year's season are full formed 



Continupd on piige 2, column 1 



