FARMERS' MONTHLY 



OP HAMPSHIRE COUINTV 



Vol. X. 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., DECEMBER, 192.5 



No. 12 



SOIL FERTILITY PROGRAM 



Judges and Farmers Agree That It 

 Works 



The soil fertility program for dairy 

 farms has been used in whole or in part 

 by a large number of dairy farmers in 

 this county. These men have found that 

 it works on their farms. It was indeed 

 gratifying to the county agent that this 

 program should have been awarded first 

 prize in the competition for the best 

 county soil improvement program. That 

 every farmer in the county may know 

 what the program is and the results ob- 

 tained by it the following report is given : 



Need of Soil Fertility Program 



After the Civil War economic condi- 

 tions were such that the more farming a 

 man did in Hampshire County the wor.se 

 off he was. This was because farm pro- 

 ducts such as grain and beef could be 

 shipped from the central west and sold 

 for less than they cost to produce here. 

 To meet these conditions, farmers of this 

 county adopted a long rotation in which 

 ninety per cent of the improved land is 

 devoted to forage crops and pastures. 

 Dairying became one of the major sources 

 of farm income. As long as low grain 

 prices continued it was more profitable to 

 take what hay the farm would produce 

 with little expense and depend upon pur- 

 chased grain to produce all of the milk. 

 The 1920 census figures show that on the 

 majority of farms this condition still 

 e.xists even though economic conditions 

 have changed. Grain is no longer cheap. 

 Under these changed conditions, roughage 

 production pays fair wages for the time 

 and expense put into its production. 

 These wages are received by dairy farm- 

 ers in terms of i-educed grain bills made 

 possible by substituting roughage for 

 part of the purchased grain. 



Forty-eight tliousand acres are devoted 

 to hay and forage. Thirty-five per cent 

 of this acreage is "timothy and clover 

 mixed." Other tame grasses make up 

 SA'/r, while timothy alone has nine per 

 cent of the acreage. The other 22% of 

 the "hay and forage" acreage is in silage 

 and other minor forage crops. The figure 

 for "timothy and clover" is at least fifty 

 per cent too high. Observation and the 

 fact that this land only yields 1.4 tons of 

 hay per acre substantiate this belief. The 

 yields of hay run from 1.3 to 1.6 tons per 



Continued on puge 2, column 3 



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K is the wish that the Trustees and 



W; Agents of the Extension Service 



K extend to every farm home in 



H Hampshire County. 



AGRICULTURAL REPORT 



Work of the County Agent for the Year 



The following is the annual report of 

 the County Agricultural Agent for 1925 : 



Work on Better Roughages for Dairy 

 farms. 



Work has been continued on the long 

 time program of soil fertility for dairy 

 farms. This program consists of five 

 parts: (1) Manure conservation ; (2) the 

 use of acid phosphate to balance manure ; 

 (3) the use of nitrogenous fertilizers on 

 the hay crop; (4) the use of high-grade 

 mixed fertilizers on cash crops; (5) the 

 use of lime where necessary. In past 

 years one or two steps in this program 

 have been emphasized. This year special 

 emphasis was placed on the use of lime. 



Last year the Soiltex Tester was used 

 on dairy farms in practically all parts of 

 the county to determine lime require- 

 ments. These tests all showed that the 

 soil was very strongly acid. The fact 

 that clover did not give as good crops as 

 it .should on these farms corroborated 

 these soil tests. At dairy farmers' 

 schools, these facts were presented. It 

 was pointed out that with such acid soil 

 it was practically impossible to get good 

 clover crops for two years regardless of 

 the fertilizer used. Local leaders were 

 equipped with Soiltex outfits and a cam- 

 paign was started to get more farmers 

 using lime. Articles were published in 

 the county paper to stimulate interest. 

 As a result of this work forty-eight Soil- 

 tex outfits were used and the use of lime 

 increased from 356 tons last year to 1625 

 tons this year. 



As a part of this work, a campaign 

 was carried on to get dairy farmers to 

 grow more and better roughages. Special 

 emphasis was placed on alfalfa and clo- 

 ver. As a result of this work, forty- 

 Continued on page 8. column 1 



WHO'S WHO WITH POULTRY 



Twenty-two poultrymen in this county 

 have sent in complete accounts of the 

 production of their flocks for the year 

 ending October 31, 1925. The completed 

 reports show an average production of 

 155.4 eggs per bird for the year. This 

 production shows that the 160 egg stand- 

 ard of egg production is about right 

 for our flocks. However, thei-e were 

 twelve of these flocks that did better than 

 the standard as follows: — 



Eggs 

 per Bird 

 Frank D. Steele, Cummington 205.2 



A. H. Ballou, Ware 186.6 



R. S. Schoonmaker, Amherst 183.5 



John Bloom, Ware 182.8 



Miss M. Moody, Amherst 179.4 



Hillside School, Greenwich 177.6 



Samuel G. Waite, Southampton 172.2 

 Mrs. E. H. Alderman, Middlefield 166.8 

 M. .J. Lowe, Amherst 166.8 



H. C. Booth, Belchertown 166.0 



P. L. Wheelock, Amherst 164.1 



Mrs. W. S. Chafi"ee, Pelham 162.5 



Frank Steele of Cummington takes 

 first honors in the contest with the truly 

 remarkable record of 205.2 eggs per 

 bird. This flock started out with 11.2 

 eggs per bird in November and unlike 

 many flocks kept well above the standard 

 every month in the year. More honor is 

 due Mr. Steele because he has bred these 

 birds himself. This flock average is the 

 result of seven years of intensive breed- 

 ing combined with skillful management 

 and the use of disease control methods. 

 If ever a flock showed the value of 

 "healthy stock, early hatched, com- 

 fortably housed, well fed and cared for" 

 this flock does it. 



A. H. Ballou of Ware placed second 

 with 186.6 eggs per bird. This flock 

 started out with 8.3 eggs per bird in No- 

 vember, did not suffer a winter pause and 

 maintained fine production through the 

 year. R. S. Schoonmaker got away to a 

 poor start with only 5.6 eggs per bird in 

 November, but maintained high produc- 

 tion without a serious winter pause for 

 the rest of the year. John Bloom of 

 Ware started out with 8.1 eggs in Novem- 

 ber and had difficulty in keeping up pro- 

 duction through the vdnter. Miss Minnie 

 Moody made a June record with her 

 flock. The birds started out with 10 eggs 

 each in November, increased to 18.2 in 

 Continued on page 10, column 2 



