FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY IT PAYS TO GROW ALFALFA PROF. J. B. ABBOTT RESIGNS 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



■STAFF 



Roland A. Tayne, County Agent 

 Nildreil W. Iloice, 



Home Denion.strntion Agent 

 N'orninii l-^. Wliippen, County Club Agent 

 Mary l>iin(»nil. Clerk 

 Miiry Siiilivanf A^st. Clerk 



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, 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. 



I'rice, .'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 

 Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 

 W. H. Atkins, Amherst 



FALSE STARTS 



"No chance! No chance!" shouts the 

 starter of the horse race as he wildly 

 clangs his bell. Sometimes a driver is 

 warned that it will cost him fifty dollars 

 to repeat a certain manoeuver. The dri- ^ 

 vers turn their horses and are given I 

 further instructions. Once in a while the < 

 word "go" is given even though the start 

 is poor. Usually the horses line up as ' 

 they should and the race is on. 



Alfalfa production has some points in 

 common with horse racing. Many who 

 try to grow this crop are in no position 

 to start. It is their good fortune if some 

 one tells them that there is "no chance" 

 the way they are starting. Those who do 

 make false starts are usually penalized 

 more than fifty dollars for their errors. 

 The County Agent has acted as starter 

 of a good many alfalfa fields. While 

 there are cases where the word "go" has 

 been given even though every thing was 

 not as it should have been, the big ma- 

 jority have had to be right before the 

 signal was given. There is no need of I 

 demonstrations showing how to fail with 

 Alfalfa. 



Doubters do not achieve; skeptics do 

 create. — Culvin Coolidge. 



Dairy farmers frequently ask if it pays 

 to grow alfalfa. Economists, agronomists 

 and others have asked the same pertinent 

 question. There are two correct an- 

 swers — yes and no. If a man is not will- 

 ing to do all of the things right in start- 

 ing the ciop, the answer is that alfalfa 

 production does not pay. Very few are 

 willing to go the whole way in preparing 

 for alfalfa and either partial or com- 

 plete failure results. It is from these 

 failures that public opinion of the crop 

 is formed. It is said that old maids' 

 children are always the best behaved be- 

 cause they haven't any. It is also true 

 that the man who is not growing alfalfa 

 believes that it does not pay., otherwise he 

 would be growing the crop. 



Census figures show that there was 

 small possibility of anyone answering yes 

 to the question if alfalfa pays from per- 

 sonal experience. In 1910 only 10 acres 

 in the whole county were devoted to this 

 crop. In 1920 the total reached 92 acres. 

 This year our figures show that there are 

 about 350 acres of alfalfa grown in the 

 county. Earle Bagg of South Hadley has 

 been growing alfalfa for five years and 

 has as many acres devoted to the crop as 

 anyone in the county. The other day we 

 asked him if he really believed it paid to 

 grow the crop. He gave us a look of dis- 

 gust and said, "Figure it out yourself. 

 Up to five years ago I had never more 

 than two-thirds filled my barn with hay. 

 This year the entire barn is full with only 

 space enough on the floor to get in fi'ont 

 of the cows to feed. The second crop 

 filled the upstairs part of my cider house 

 and I have pastured the second crop from 

 about five acres as I did not have any 

 place to put it. Five years ago I had 

 twenty cows and fed fifteen hundred 

 pounds of grain a week. This year, I am 

 keeping thirty head and only feeding 

 seven hundred pounds of grain a week. 

 I have increased milk production one hun- 

 dred quarts a day and have at the same 

 time reduced my grain requirements over 

 half. If anyone asks you if it pays to 

 grow alfalfa, tell them that the first five 

 acres are the hardest to get, after that 

 the rest just seems to come along." 



Since Mr. Bagg has more alfalfa on his 

 farm than there was in the whole county 

 in 1910, he is in a position to judge. That 

 he is not alone in his opinion that it pays 

 to grow alfalfa is shown by the con- 

 stantly increasing acreage devoted to this 

 crop. When the census figures are taken 

 in 1930, we shall be disappointed if the 

 total is not over 1,000 acres. 



FOR SALE : M. A. C. Poultry Account 

 Books. Just the book you have been 

 looking for. Price 25 cents each. Hamp- 

 shire County Extension Service, 59 Main 

 St., Northampton. 



It is with regret that we announce the 

 resignation of Prof. John B. Abbott as 

 Extension Agronomist to become consult- 

 ing agronomist of the National Fertilizer 

 Association for the northeastern states. 

 Prof. Abbott has made many friends in 

 this county through his sound judgment 

 and advice. While we regret his leaving, 

 we are glad that his new position ofi'ers 

 advancement in his chosen field. 



Professor Abbott was born and raised 

 on a Vermont farm, attended Tufts Col- 

 lege and later graduated from the Uni- 

 versity of Vermont in the class of 1907. 

 That same year he was appointed a 

 deputy State chemist at the Indiana Ex- 

 periment Station in the fertilizer control 

 division. A year later he was trans- 

 ferred to the department of soils and 

 crops where he spent six years in re- 

 search and extension work. During this, 

 time he planned and laid out a number 

 of valuable soil fertility experiments, 

 most of which are still being carried on. 

 In 1914 Professor Abbott returned to the 

 East as State leader of County Agents 

 in New Hampshire. In this position he 

 organized most of the counties in that 

 State and secured the appointment of 

 County Agents. In 1916 he resigned his 

 position intending to devote his entire at- 

 tention to his farm near Bellows Falls, 

 but a little later was induced to become 

 County Agent of Middlesex County, 

 Massachusetts, in which position he 

 served until 1919. In that same year he 

 bought a run-down farm near Bellows 

 Falls and in six years has been able to 

 develop it into a profitable dairy farm. 

 He attributes his success to a liberal use 

 of commercial fertilizers and lime and to 

 sound farm management practises. He 

 has been able to more than double the 

 yields of most crops and to increase the 

 live stock carrying capacity of the farm 

 accordingly. 



In his new position with the National 

 Fertilizer Association Professor Abbott 

 will co-operate with the Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Stations, with the Agricultural 

 Extension Forces and with county agents 

 in an effort to make Northeastern agri- 

 culture more profitable and the North- 

 eastern farmer more prosperous. Pro- 

 fessor Abbott is convinced that the East- 

 ern dairy farmer is spending too much 

 for concentrated feed. He believes that 

 more money should be spent for fertilizer 

 to be used in the production of feed crops, 

 which will replace a large portion of the 

 grain that is now purchased from the 

 Western States. High freight rates, 

 serving as a tarifl' wall, and an ever in- 

 creasing population will materially aid 

 the development of Northeastern agi'i- 

 culture. 



Professor Abbott will co-operate with 

 all of the organizations that are working 

 toward the imiJiovement of agriculture 



