FARMERS' MONTHLY 



OR HAMPSHIRE COUINTV 



Vol. XL 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., JANUARY, 1926 



No. 1 



PULLETS LAYING WELL 



November Records Have 22 Flocks 

 Above 160 Kgg Standard 



Thirty-eight poultrymen sent in re- 

 ports of their flocks for November, the 

 first month of the county egg laying con- 

 test. Twenty-two of these flocks report- 

 ed egg production of over 8 eggs per bird 

 which is the production called for by the 

 160 egg standard. The average produc- 

 tion per pullet for all flocks reporting 

 was 10 eggs per bird. The following are 

 the leading flocks in the county for 

 November : 



Eges 

 Birds i)er Bii'd 



Hillside School, Greenwich 373 20.4 



Mrs. F. T. Frary, South'ton 180 18.86 



Mrs. J. R. Gould, Bel'town 1.52 16.05 



Mrs. W. S. Chaffee, Pelham 114 14.93 



H. I. Bean & Sons, 



Florence 184 14.19 



J. W. Fuller, Palmer 130 14.06 



H. C. Booth, Bel'town 1420 13.4 



Geo. H. Ball, No. Amherst 289 13.4 

 .Smith School, Northampton 233 13.25 



These records show splendid production 

 which was partly made possible by early 

 hatching. Early hatched birds are like- 

 ly to moult. In severe cases this is ac- 

 companied by decreased production. The 

 use of electric lights combined with heavy 

 scratch grain feeding does much to avoid 

 this condition. In case of moult birds 

 should be given all the scratch feed they 

 will consume. Leghorns should clean up 

 fi-om 14 to 16 pounds per 100 birds daily 

 while Reds should eat from 18 to 23 

 pounds per 100 birds. 



The state summary in which our coun- 

 ty flocks ai'e compared with state aver- 

 ages shows the following: 



The 

 State 



No. farms reporting 194 



No. of females per farm 



(end of mo.) 

 Percentage of hens 

 Percentage of pullets 

 No. flocks reporting 



deaths 

 Average No. deaths 



per flock for those 



reporting 4.6 2.1 



Deaths per 1000 birds 



(all flocks) 



Eggs laid per hen 

 Eggs laid per pullet 

 Total production 



per bird 

 Price reed, per doz. 



for eggs 



396 

 19 

 81 



102 



Hamp- 

 shiru Co. 



39 



342 

 11 

 89 



18 



6.1 

 2.8 

 8.4 



6.9 



2.8 



2.7 



10.0 



9.1 



flocks reporting in this county: 2 flocks 

 with over 1000 birds; 8 flocks having be- 

 tween 500 and 999 birds; 24 flocks with 90 

 to 499 birds and 5 flocks of less than 90 

 birds. We should like to have more 

 poultrymen sending in these monthly re- 

 ports. This gives you an opportunity to 

 compare your flocks with others in the 

 county and in the state. For further in- 

 formation write to the County Agent, 

 Northampton, Mass. 



$.7651 $.745 



The following shows the size of the 



FARM BUREAU ELECTS OFFICERS 



Raymond Dickinson of Amherst was 

 elected president of the Hampshire Coun- 

 ty Farm Bureau at the annual meeting 

 held in Odd Fellows Hall, Northampton, 

 December 30. He succeeds A. D. Monta- 

 gue of Westhampton in this office. Other 

 officers elected were G. Fred Pelissier, 

 Hadley, vice-president; Joel Seafle, Had- 

 ley, treasurer; Fred Bean, Florence, 

 secretary; executive committee, E. P. 

 West of Hadley and A. D. Montague of 

 Westhampton; Legislative Committee, 

 Wright A. Root of Easthampton, W. R. 

 Cutter of Hatfield and Roland A. Payne 

 of Northampton. 



The report of the treasurer showed 

 that ninety members had paid their dues 

 in 1925 and that there was a balance of 

 $740.15 in the treasury. Secretary Fred 

 Bean who represented the local Farm 

 Bureau at the annual meeting of the 

 national association in Chicago gave a 

 report of his trip in which he stated that 

 President Coolidge was opposed to legis- 

 lative price fixing. 



Silas Wetherbee of Stowe, president of 

 the Massachusetts Farm Bureau stated 

 that farmers here are in much better 

 shape than farmers in the middle west. 

 Legislative activities have been one of 

 the great functions of the national as- 

 .sociation. He stated that farmers in the 

 past had organized only for defense and 

 hoped that in the future they would be 

 more aggressively on the offense. At 

 present the state organization is pushing 

 a bill to return the administrative 

 authority to the trustees of the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College. Other im- 

 portant lines of work have been on fire 

 prevention and insurance. Plans are be- 

 ing formulated to buy co-operatively 

 through the state organization certain 

 materials which counties cannot get in 

 large enough quantities to get favorable 

 discounts. 



THAT OLD APPLE TREE 



Use Either the Axe or the Pruning Saw 



"Good fruit" or "good fuel" is the 

 present-day verdict against the old apple 

 tree. And just at this ij^ason the ques- 

 tion "Shall we cut it down or prune it 

 up?" should receive serious consideration. 

 Some of the most profitable orchards in 

 Massachusetts are more than fifty years 

 old, and yet many a younger tree should 

 go to fill the wood pile instead of the 

 apple barrel. 



The following points will determine the 

 worth-while-ness of a tree: (1) Is it of 

 a desirable variety? (2) Is it in a 

 favorable location as regards drainage, 

 possibility of spraying, etc.? (3) Is the 

 trunk rea.sonably sound? If the ti-ee can 

 answer these questions in the affimative, 

 renovation is likely to yield a mighty 

 good profit. 



Any tree worthy of the space it oc- 

 cupies should be pruned and sprayed. 

 Some states have even gone so far as to 

 insist that every orchard be sprayed. If 

 the owner fails to do it himself, the job 

 may be done at his expense. The reason 

 for this is very obvious. One of the out- 

 standing causes for the prevalence of 

 such pests as the curculio and railroad 

 worm is that the "antique tree," so com- 

 mon in our state, offers an ideal breeding 

 ground. Here these pests multiply from 

 year to year, unmolested. 



The conclusion to be drawn is merely 

 this, — if a tree for any reason cannot be 

 made to bear good fruit, it should be cui 

 down. If it seems to be worthy of at- 

 tention, that is what it should receive. 

 Renovation, or the development of new 

 bearing wood, is the thing most needed 

 in the average old tree. Many of the 

 fruit spurs have outlived their usefulness, 

 and the tree is likely to be either too 

 high or too thick, or both. 



The first year, all dead limbs should be 

 cut out and the top thinned out quite 

 heavily, with the aim in view of using 

 water sprouts in the development of new 

 branches where needed. Excess scaffold 

 branches must be removed and the sun- 

 light permitted to reach those parts of the 

 tree where growth is desired. Two or 

 three years should be taken in renovat- 

 ing the tree because heavy "topping" will 

 stimulate growth where the tree is al- 

 ready too thick. Limbs exposed by such 

 cutting are also very subject to sun scald. 

 W. H. Thies, M. A. C. 



