^113 T7 



M. 



FARMERS' MONTHLf- 



OF MAMRSHIRE COUINTY 



Vol. X. 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., SEPTEMBER, 192.5 



No. 9 



BERKSHIRE COUNTY VISITED 



Local liolstein Club Inspects Alfalfa 

 and liulstein Herd 



Fine alfalfa fields, excellent Holstein 

 cattle and one of the few pleasant days 

 since the first of July combined to make 

 the field trip of the Franklin-Hampshire 

 Holstein Friesian Club a success. Leav- 

 ing Northampton at 8.30 A. M. Saturday, 

 August 8, the fifty members and friends 

 of the club went over the Berkshire Trail 

 to Pittsfield. In the morning, County 

 Agent L. A. Bevan of Berkshire County 

 showed the party alfalfa fields and then 

 conducted them to Highfield Farm, owned 

 by Mr. .John G. Ellis of Lee. 



At Abbey Lodge Farm, Pittsfield, al- 

 falfa was the main subject under dis- 

 cussion. Alfalfa has been grown on this 

 farm for several years with much suc- 

 cess. The land is limed and manured 

 heavily and the alfalfa is .sown in oats. 

 Grimm seed is used entirely. Only a 

 bushel-and-a-half of oats are used per 

 acre. Last year one piece of Grimm al- 

 falfa was harvested for seed and pro- 

 duced about sixty pounds per acre. 



The second stop was at the Bartlett 

 Farm in Lenox. Mr. Bartlett learned al- 

 falfa production in Dakota. His fields 

 showed that the Dakota methods work 

 equally well in Berkshire County. This 

 year he put in a two and-a-half acre field 

 of alfalfa that is as near perfect as any 

 in the state. His method of seeding is as 

 follows: — He selects a piece of sod land 

 and manures it at the rate of fifteen to 

 twenty loads per acre. This manure is 

 thoroughly di.sced into the sod with a cut- 

 av.'ay harrow. Then the piece is plowed 

 and heavily limed. About eight hundred 

 pounds of acid phosphate and eight hun- 

 dred pounds of high-grade mixed ferti- 

 lizer per acre is harrowed in. Then the 

 piece is cultivated with the cutaway har- 

 row and the weeder till the middle of 

 June. By this time the weeds in the sur- 

 face soil are practically all killed and the 

 alfalfa is sown. The alfalfa on the piece 

 seeded this June was knee high August 

 8. Mr. Bartlett said that he would now 

 clipp the top of the alfalfa so as to kill 

 the few weeds that had started and leave 

 the clippings on the ground. 



In an adjoining field a four-acre field 

 was seen which was sown in this way 



Continued on page 10, column 2 



SAVE OCTOBER 16 

 Every one interested in Holstein 

 Cattle is invited to attend the field 

 trip of the Hampshire-Franklin 

 Holstein Friesian Breeders' Club to 

 be held Friday, October 16. The 

 following is the program: 



11.00 A. M. — Meet at Quouquout 

 Farm, F. W. Wells, owner, 

 Whately, Mass. Inspection 

 of herd and farm. 

 12.30 P. M.— Basket Lunch. 

 1.30 P. M.— Visit other farms in 

 Franklin County under 

 direction of County Agent 

 J. H. Putnam. 



FRUIT GROWERS ORGANIZE 



Officers Elected for Hampshire County 

 Fruit Growers Association 



The fifty Hamp.shire County fruit 

 growers that met at Charles Gould's Hill- 

 side Orchard, Haydenville, Thursday, 

 August 27, decided that there was need 

 of a County Fruit Growers' Association. 

 They elected Charles Gould of Hayden- 

 ville, President; Wilfred A. Parsons of 

 Southampton, Vice-president; William 

 Fi.ske of Westhampton, Secretary-Treas- 

 urer. The officers were instructed to pre- 

 pare a constitution and by-laws to be pre- 

 sented at a later meeting. It was also 

 planned to actively back National Apple 

 Week by seeing that every merchant in 

 Northampton who is willing to make an 

 apple display is supplied with the neces- 

 sary fruit. 



In the morning the fruit growers went 

 over the orchard with Mr. Gould. They 

 saw a fine crop of Wealthies which were 

 ready to pick. The arrangement for 

 easily filling spray tanks attracted much 

 attention. Mr. Gould stated that he used 

 nitrate of soda from four to six pounds 

 per tree on most of the orchard. On the 

 older trees that are in sod an 8-6-6 mixed 

 fertilizer was used to get a better quality 

 .sod. All blocks showed healthy color and 

 good growth. All of the trees were 

 sprayed three times except the Mcintosh. 

 This variety got five applications. A 

 comparison between thinned and un- 

 thinned Wealthies was seen. Thinning 

 did not do away with all small sized fruit 

 but it did increase the number of A grade 

 apples. 



Continued on page 11. column 1 



PASTURE IMPROVEMENT 



Land for Sweet Clover Should be 

 Limed Ihis Fall 



Down in Maine, they tell of a farmer 

 who took his sheep to the blacksmith and 

 had their noses drawn out to fine points 

 so they could reach in among the rocks 

 for grass. Professor Eraser goes the 

 Maine man one better by proposing that 

 Eastern dairymen breed a new race of 

 cows with muzzles two feet broad and 

 speeded up to eighteen miles a day in 

 order that they may gi'aze over enough 

 of our Eastern pasture, in the course of 

 the day, to get a belly full — either that 

 or else a radical improvement in the 

 pastures. 



Perhaps the latter alternative is the 

 more feasible, on the whole, as cows with 

 muzzles wider than ordinary lawn mow- 

 ers would be a bit bizarre in appearance, 

 not to mention the danger of being bitten 

 by one of them! 



And pasture improvement isn't such an 

 impossible proposition after all if we can 

 but rid ourselves of the old idea that 

 whatever land is not tillage land is past- 

 ure and that pasturage is a gift of the 

 gods, requiring no attention from man 

 other than fencing. There is a lot of 

 land, probably far more than half our 

 present so-called pasture, that is not good 

 pasture and cannot be made into good 

 pasture at any reasonable cost. Forget 

 it. Fence the cows out of it instead of 

 into it and give the trees a chance to 

 grow. That isn't the kind of pasture that 

 we are talking about improving. 



The kinds of pasture land really worth 

 improving are, first, rather heavy natural 

 grass lands that will grow good grass and 

 white clover if the brush is kept down 

 and the fertility kept up; and second, 

 lighter land which is more or less easily 

 tillable and which, while not good grass 

 land, will grow sweet clover entirely suc- 

 cessfully if fertilized a little and limed. 



Both the Massachusetts and the Con- 

 necticut Stations have demonstrated good 

 results from the judicious use of fertilizer 

 on the first type of pasture land in sea- 

 sons of normal rainfall. 



These and other Stations and .some 

 farmers have demonstrated the ease with 

 which sweet clover can be grown once the 

 land is limed heavily enough and ferti- 

 lized a little. The middle western Sta- 



Continued on page 11. column 1 



