

HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY. 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 



Agriculture 



STAFF 



Roland A. Pnync* County Agent 

 Mildred W. Uoice, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 Norninn !•'. AVIiIiipen, County Club A^ent 

 Mary Diiiiond, Clerk 

 Mary Sulliran, A»st. Clerii 



Office First National 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, 1S79. 



"Xotiee of FIntry" 



"Acceptance for mailing at special rate 

 of postage provided for in section 1103, 

 Act of October 3, 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31, 1917. 



Price, I»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, Amherst 



COUNTY NOTES 



What Pullets Will Eat 



C. P. Otis of Williamsburg has been 

 feeding 190 pullets by the hopper method 

 this fall to find out just what they will | 

 eat when they have their choice. They 

 have cracked corn, oats, mash (200 lbs. 

 Wheat Mixed Feed plus 100 lbs. Corn 

 Meal), beef scraps, green feed and oyster i 

 shells before them all of the time. Here 

 is what Mr. Otis says: | 



"In December, 190 pullets consumed j 

 1470 lbs. of cracked corn, 100 lbs. oats, 

 700 lbs. mash, 110 lbs. beef .scraps and ' 

 80 lbs. of oyster shells. This means that 

 they ate nearly twice as much grain as i 

 mash. Also notice the relatively low con- 

 sumption of beef scraps. According to 

 my figures, the mash that the hens mixed 

 for themselves ran only 13.5% scraps. I 

 think I am going to prove to my satisfac- 

 tion that some of the ready mixed mashes 

 are too rich in beef scraps." 



Since Mr. Otis' flock averaged 13.9 

 eggs per bird in December, his figures 

 carry conviction. They show that at this 

 time of year pullets should get twice as 

 much grain as mash (by weight). This 



proportion of grain to mash should hold 

 till April when it comes to the 1:1 proposi- 

 tion. Many poultrymen state that 100 

 1 of their birds will not eat over 15 lbs. 

 of cracked corn or scratch feed per day. 

 Mr. Otis' flock, of its own free will, ate 24 

 lbs. of cracked corn per 100 birds daily. 

 The birds in this flock are extra large 

 Rhode Island Reds and were early hatch- 

 ed. Smaller birds would not eat as much, 

 but the proportion of grain to mash holds 

 with them. 



Charles I'.. Clark, Elected President 



Charles E. Clark of Leeds w-as elected 

 President of the Hampshire Trustees for 

 County Aid to Agriculture at the annual 

 election, held December 22, 1924. Mr. 

 Clark is well known in Northampton and 

 vicinity as one of the leading dairy 

 farmers of the section. He has been vice- 

 president of the organization for several 

 years. He succeeds E. B. Clapp of East- 

 hampton who has been president for the 

 past four years. Mr. Clapp asked to be 

 relieved of the oflice which lie has so ably 

 administered. The trustees regretfully 

 complied with his request. 



Charles W. Wade of Hatfield was elect- 

 ed vice-president. The other officers elect- 

 ed were: Warren M. King, Treasurer; 

 Roland A. Payne, Secretary; Warren M. 

 King and J. A. Sullivan, Executive Com- 

 mittee. 



Western Hampshire Farmers' Exchange 

 Meets 



Thirty members of the Western Hamp- 

 shire Farmers' Exchange attended the 

 annual meeting of this organization held 

 December 13 in Cummington. Manager 

 Almon Howes' report showed that the Ex- 

 change has made a healthy growth in the 

 four years of its existence. In 1921, 13 

 carloads of goods were purchased at a 

 cost of .$11,000; in 1922, 22 cars were 

 handled, valued at $20,000; in 1923, 36 

 cars, at $42,000 and in 1924, 48 cars, at 

 $63,700. All of the business has been in 

 the field of co-operative purchasing. The 

 Exchange handled feeds, fertilizer and 

 seed potatoes. Besides effecting a saving 

 on these purchases for the member.^, there 

 is a balance of about $2,000 on hand. The 

 credit for the success of the Exchange 

 can be laid to the excellent work of Man- 

 ager Howes and the Board of Directors. 



Certified Chicks 



Every year requests are received from 

 poultrymen for a list of places where they 

 can be sure of getting day-old chicks 

 absolutely free from White Diarrhea. 

 While the Experiment Station has been 

 testing flocks for this disease for several 

 years, no lists of flocks which were clean 

 have been available. This year there 

 will be such a list made possible through 

 the Mass. Certified Poultry Breeders' 

 Association. These flocks have to be ab- 

 solutely free from White Diarrhea as 

 shown by the tests made by the Experi- 



ment Station. In addition, all of the 

 flocks are culled by the manager and only 

 birds of desirable type and vitality are 

 used as breeders. Hence the chickens 

 from certified flocks are free from White 

 Diarrhea and also have desirable type 

 and vitality. 



While the list for the whole state is 

 not available at the present time, the 

 following flocks in the county have been 

 entered for certification and will un- 

 doubtedly meet requirements: 



Rhode Island Redi< 



Luther Banta, Sunset Ave., Amherst 

 S. Ellis Clark, Williamsburg 

 Mrs. Ida Rhoades, Williamsburg 

 Robert Schoonmaker, Amherst 



White Plymonth Rocks 

 W. A. Munson, Huntington 

 S. Ellis Clark, Williamsburg 



S. C. White Leghorns 



Emory Bartlett, Enfield 



The idea of this association is to pro- 

 duce the highest quality chick.'. They 

 are not trying to see how cheap they can 

 sell them. Last year a good many men 

 bought cheap chicks and have learned a 

 lesson. The premium these chicks com- 

 mand over untested stock is money well 

 spent. 



Buy Certified Seed 



This year there seems to be an abun- 

 dance of certified seed potatoes so that no 

 potato grower has any excuse for plant- 

 ing but ceTlified seed. As usual, certified 

 seed costs more than selected stock, yet it 

 is worth far more than the extra price 

 when it comes to producing a profitable 

 crop. Farmers can assure themselves of 

 good seed by placing their orders now. 

 It is poor business to wait until time to 

 plant before ordering. Orders placed 

 now will give the parties handling th(- 

 seed an opportunity to order wisely and 

 benefits both parties. 



Certified seed potatoes can be secured 

 from the following places in the County 

 this year: — 



J. E. Merrick & Co., Amherst. 



J. A. Sturges & Co., Easthampton. 



Earl Ingham, Granby. 



A. D. Howes, Swift River. 



J. A. Sullivan & Co., Northampton. 

 Local grown certified seed can be ob- 

 tained direct fiom the growers. This list 

 is as follows: — 



Wm. Baker, Jr., Chesterfield. 



H. L. Merritt, Chesterfield. 



Ernest Dodge, Chesterfield. 



Arlin Cole, So. Worthington. 



Homer Granger, So. Worthington. 



A. H. Streeter, Cummington. 



W. H. Morey, Cummington. 



G. R. Tedford, Cummington. 



F. F. Fiske, Plainfield. 



Geo. L. Barrus, Goshen. 



Tilton Farm. Goshen. 



