FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



trate of soda at the rate of 100 to 150 

 pounds per acre with acid phosphate and 

 potash increased the hay crop from 1200 

 to 1900 pounds per acre over unfertilized 

 parts of good mowings. The use of ni- 

 trate on the hay crop is now common 

 practice on the majority of our dairy 

 farms. 



The second step was to use acid phos- 

 phate to balance manui-e. Demonstra- 

 tions showed that acid phosphate to bal- 

 ance manure for corn increased the crop 

 and in many cases made possible lower 

 applications of manure. In this way 

 more manure was made available for top- 

 dressing of mowings and for other crops. 

 Besides balancing manure, acid phosphate 

 has been useful in rendering acid soils 

 less toxic for legumes such as clover, soy 

 beans and alfalfa. Work is still being 

 carried on to show the value of acid 

 phosphate when seeding down. 



The third step was the use of high 

 grade fertilizers on cash crops. Potatoes 

 are the main cash crop on most dairy 

 farms. It has been shown that most 

 farms could profitably use larger amounts 

 and higher grade fertilizer on this crop. 

 This results in better clover crops follow- 

 ing the potatoes. 



The fourth step has been the use of 

 lime where necessary. Last year soil 

 samples were tested on dairy farms in 

 about every town in the county. These 

 tests with practically no exception 

 showed that the soil was very strongly 

 acid. This explained why clover failed 

 so often and also why alfalfa was practi- 

 cally always a failure. In 1924 eighty- 

 six men were induced to use 356 tons of 

 lime. This year about four dozen Soil- 

 tex outfits have been used by the county 

 agent and by local leaders. The use of 

 lime has increased so that 1600 tons wei-e 

 used this year. While some of this was 

 used for alfalfa, the bulk of it was used 

 for clover. The value of lime on onions 

 has also been demonstrated this year. In 

 one case the man using it stated that it 

 had meant $2500 to him on this years 

 crop. 



With manure conservation, progi-ess 

 has been less spectacular than with the 

 other steps. Progress is being made 

 however in handling methods. New 

 manure pits are being built every year 

 and more attention is being given to the 

 consei-vation of the liquid portion. 



It has been found that where a farmer 

 could be induced to use one step in the 

 program, he soon tried another. At the 

 present time there is^ small group of 

 farmers who are carrying on the whole 

 program, the larger part of the work 

 from now on is to get more farmers to 

 see the value of the program as a whole. 

 The dairy farmers who co-opei-ated 

 with the county agent in carrying out 

 demonstrations of this soil fertility pro- 

 gram were responsible for the fine show- 

 ing that was made in the soil fertility 



program contest. Without this co-opera- 

 tion the program would simply be so 

 many written words. 



DAIRYMEN'S PROGRAM 



The following is the dairy program for 

 Thursday, .January 7, 1926 at the State 

 Armory, Worcester, Mass. 



10.00 A. M. "The Health of the Herd" 

 Dr. E. C. Deubler, Ardrassan Farm, 

 Ithan, Pa. 



10.45 A. M. "Abortion and Sterility" 

 Dr. W. W. Williams, Springfield, Mass. 



11.30 A. M. "Proposed Increase in 

 Milk Transportation Rates as Aff'ecting 

 Massachusetts" Richard Pattee, N. E. 

 M. P. A., 51 Cornhill, Boston, Mass. 



12.15 P. M. Luncheon. 

 1.30 P. M. "Dairying in South 

 America" Thomas Elder, Mt. Hermon 

 School, Mt. Hermon, Mass. 



2.30 P. M. "Co-operative Dairy Mar- 

 keting in New Zealand" Dr. Theodore 

 Macklin, University of Wisconsin. 



COW TESTING ASSOCIATION 



STARTS 



Testers Report Many High Producing 

 Cows 



Reports of Chester Smith and Henry 

 Phinney, testers for the Hampshire Coun- 

 ty Cow Testing Association show that 620 

 cows were milking in the herds of the 

 forty-eight members during November. 

 In these herds, many cows were making 

 fine production records. The following 

 are the cows making over forty-five 

 pounds of butter fat during November: 



Owner Breed 



E. P. West R H 



G. A. & G. N. Galusha R H 



Fred Frost, Mgr. 

 Ellis Harlow 

 .J. G. Cook 

 Ellis Harlow 

 W. H. Atkins 

 E. P. West 

 E. P. West 

 R C. Adams 

 Bisbee Bros. 

 D. C. Randall 

 Ellis Harlow 

 C. G. Loud 

 Ed. O'Neil 

 Q. A. Bagg 

 Bisbee Bros. 

 Ellis Harlow 

 C. E. Clark 

 Ellis Harlow 

 H. H. Bi-ssell 

 H. H. Bissell 



Milk 



1974 



1425 



1446 



1179 



1755 



1074 



120614.6 



1575|3,5 



1710 3.2 



1350|4.0 



163813.25 



Test lbs, fat 



RH 



RJ 

 RH 



RJ 



RJ 

 RH 

 RH 

 RH 

 GH 



RJ 

 RH 

 RH 

 RH 



GH 11326 

 RJl 993 



GHI1302 

 Rj| 819 



RHI1591 



G HI 1290 



3.2 



4.4 

 4.0 

 4.9 

 3.2 

 5.2 



1110 

 948 

 1674 

 1260 

 1524 



4.7 



5.5 



3.1 



4.0 



3.3 



3.75 



5.0 



3.8 



6.0 



3.05 



3.75 



4.3 



3.7 



4.1 



G. A. & G. N. Galusha R H11125 

 S. S. Clark GH11272 



J. G. Cook GJI1134 



Pelissier Bros. GH1118513.9 



L. L. Titus GG 121513.8 



Pelissier Bros. RH|153013.0 



W. H. Atkins RJl 81015.i6 



Fred Frost, Mgr. R HI 1509 13.0 



Pelissier Bros. R H|1308|3.45 



Sixteen cows produced over 

 pounds of butter fat in November while 

 thirteen more produced over forty-five 



63.17 

 62.7 

 57.8 

 57.8 

 .56.1 

 155.8 

 55.4 

 55.12 

 .54.72 

 54.0 

 53.2 

 53.0 

 52.1 

 51.9 

 50.4 

 .50.2 

 49.7 

 49.65 

 49.5 

 49.1 

 48.6 

 48.4 

 48.3 

 47.1 

 46.5 

 46.2 

 46.1 

 45.9 

 45..36 

 45.3 

 45 13 

 fifty 



pounds of butter fat during the month. 



These records show that there are some 



high producing cows in the herds. The 



following table shows the leading five 



herds in milk production per cow on the 



basis of the number of cows milking. 



Average 

 Nil. ot No. lbs. 

 Cows Milk i>er 

 Name Milking Cow 



J. G. Cook, Hadley 8 1121 



Bisbee Bros., Chesterfield 9 1088 



H. H. Bissell, Goshen 10 1050 



Pelissier Brcs., Hadley 7 1010 



R. Pomeroy, Amherst 7 967 



Ten herds averaged better than 849 

 pounds of milk per cow for the month. 



The leading herds in butter fat per 

 cow are as follows: — 



No. of Av. lbs. 

 Cows B. F. per 

 Name Milkin;; Cow 



J. G. Cook, Hadley 8 36.9 



H. H. Bissell, Goshen 10 36.3 



Pelissier Bros., Hadley 7 35.7 



R. Pomeroy, Amherst 7 35.2 



Ellis Harlow., Amherst 28 34.8 



Eleven herds averaged better than 30 



pounds of butter fat. 



LOCAL LUMBER MARKET 



The native lumber market of southern 

 New England is in the process of a read- 

 justment and like all such readjustments 

 is being accompanied by more or less con- 

 fusion and loss. 



For thirty years or more second growth 

 white pine has been the principal timber 

 crop of this region and the leading mar- 

 ket for white pine has been in the wooden 

 box industry. Owing to a variety of 

 circumstances, but chiefly due to the fact 

 that fibre boxes have been substituted, 

 the wooden box industry has been cut in 

 half and a substantial per cent of the 

 market for native white pine eliminated. 

 This condition of the pine market has 

 been made worse by the fact that in the 

 boom period following the war many men 

 went into the lumber operating game and 

 cut down many millions of feet of pine 

 timber which could not be sold when the 

 boom burst. This last condition is slow- 

 ly correcting itself as the surplus pine 

 lumber is gradually finding a mai'ket, but 

 the curtailment of the wooden box in- 

 dustry is more or less permanent, al- 

 though even here there will be some im- 

 provement to come when our other in- 

 du.stries get to running full time. The 

 net result, however, will be to keep the 

 stumpage price of pine lumber at $2 or 

 $3 less than it would have otherwise been 

 if this change in the box business had not 

 come about and also makes it question- 

 able whether our land owners should put 

 the same dependence on low grade second 

 growth pine as chief woodlot product as 

 has been our custom in the past, but we 

 will discuss this phase of the problem 

 more fully in a future issue. 



H. O. Cook, Extension Forester. 



