LIBRARY of. hfe 

 r.^assackusoti-S 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



OF HAMPSHIRE COUINTY 



MAR 2 VJ 1926 



r\cu\tural 

 College. 



Vol. XL 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., FEBRUARY, 1926 



No. 2 



ANNUAL CLUB MEETING 



Boys Win $644.00 



Own 80 Animals 



Young owner.s of dairy animal.s from 

 towns in the county attended the first an- 

 nual meeting of the Hampshire County 

 Dairy Club held at the Hampshire Coun- 

 ty Extension Service Rooms in North- 

 ampton on .January 23. Seventeen par- 

 ents and twenty-seven club members were 

 present. Others brought the attendance 

 up to fifty-five. Members were present 

 from Cummington, Huntington, Chester- 

 field, Williamsburg, Southampton, South 

 Hadley, Hadley, Hatfield, Amherst, 

 Northampton, Easthampton and Belcher- 

 town. 



President's Report 



Dennett Howe, the president of the 

 club, in his annual report stated that 

 $644.00 in prize money had been taken by 

 the members during the past year. At 

 the Eastern States .$500.00 was won 

 where they exhibited 27 head of dairy 

 animals. At Northampton $125.00 and 

 at Cummington $19.00 was won. "In 

 judging contests the club has been very 

 successful," the president went on, "three 

 members of the club; Lewis West of Had- 

 ley, Dennett Howe of Amherst and Her- 

 man Andrews of Southampton, won the 

 state championship in judging at the 

 Brockton Fair while one of our members 

 (meaning himself) won fii-st place en- 

 titling him to a $100.00 Scholarship prize. 

 At the Worcester Fair O.sborne West and 

 I took third and fifth places while at the 

 Eastern States Exposition Osboi-ne took 

 first, winning a gold watch. At North- 

 ampton in the Tri-County Fair judging 

 contest the club team composed of 0.s- 

 borne and Roger West and Dennett Howe 

 won the Hope Grange cup, making the 

 7th cup this year. 



"The club membership increased dur- 

 ing 1925 from twenty-seven to forty-six 

 members. They own over eighty head of 

 dairy animals, seventy-two of which are 

 purebreds. Holsteins predominate, there 

 being fifty-two head. Guernseys follow 

 with eleven. There are nine .Jerseys and 

 eight grades." 



Directors Elected 



During the business meeting a board of 

 nine directors was sugge.sted and later 

 accepted by the club to advise and further 

 the organization. Men were picked from 



all sections of the country and most of 

 those chosen are parents of club members. 

 The directors elected are as follows: Mr. 

 Lucius Nutting of Granby, Mr. W. F. 

 Howe of Amherst, Mr. Dwight Randall of 

 Belchertown, Mr. Osborne West of Had- 

 ley, Mr. E. -J. Burke of Hatfield, Mr. John 

 Boynton of South Hadley, Mr. Fred 

 Graves of Southampton, Mr. Homer Gur- 

 ney of Cummington, and Homer Granger 

 of Chesterfield. 



Continued on page 6. column 2 



FOOD MAKES A DIFFERENCE 



flood Lunch Boxes Urged 



Cummington, Plainfield, Worthington, 

 Chesterfield and Goshen young people are 

 to be in a health contest which will ter- 

 minate at the Cummington Fair next fall. 

 Miss Boice says "Food makes a dif- 

 ference." Health is a big factor in suc- 

 cess. Intelligence, efficiency, achieve- 

 ment, success and happiness will follow. 

 Where in any of these towns is there a 

 youngster who doesn't want perfect 

 health? Or show us a mother or father 

 who wants their young folks to be weak- 

 lings. We are thinking of the food boys 

 and girls eat because good food and good 

 health are closely linked together. A 

 large percentage of the young people in 

 the hill towns take their lunches to school 

 with them. Their noon meal, the most 

 important meal of the day, is a lunch box. 

 Therefore we are proposing to the teach- 

 ers in these towns a lunch box club which 

 will be organized with officers and a pro- 

 gram in which some time will be spent in 

 considering the variety of foods that are 

 best for them. Each will score their food 

 habits and their lunch boxes, . 



In order to further encourage the 

 young people to consider their food habits 

 a health contest will be run in each town 

 and at the Cummington Fair next fall. 

 In June Mrs. Mildred Gurney, school 

 nurse, with the help of the school physi- 

 cian will pick out two town winners in 

 each of the five towns above mentioned. 

 The winner will be picked as follows: 



1. The healthiest boy or girl. 



2. The boy or girl making the great- 

 test improvement in health. 



At the Cummington Fair next fall the 

 ten will meet for examination to compete 

 for the winners in the whole five towns. 

 How would you like to be picked as the 

 healthiest out of four hundred others? 

 Continu<-d on page 7, column 1 



HATFIELD FARM HONORED 



flold Medal Awarded Oscar Belden Sons 

 for Excellence in Farming 



0.scar and George Belden of Brad- 

 street were given a gold medal recently 

 by the State Department of Agriculture 

 for excellence in farming. Those who 

 know the Beldens realize that the honor 

 was well deserved. The Belden brothers 

 took over the home farm when they were 

 young men. They have increased the size 

 and the productive capacity of the farm 

 till they have one of the largest and best 

 farms in the county. "Quality" seems to 

 have been the motto on this farm. It 

 shows in their crops, in their livestock, 

 in their homes and in their families. 



The two brothers work together the 

 best of any combination we have ever 

 seen. Oscar takes charge of the business 

 end of the farm, while George supervises 

 the production work. The importance of 

 both parts of the farm business can be 

 realized when we know that they grow 

 and market about fifty acres of onions, 

 fifty acres of tobacco, eight acres of 

 potatoes, about two hundred fifty barrels 

 of apples, besides Southdown rams, lambs, 

 ewes and Hereford bulls and steers. A 

 single man would probably have to 

 neglect some of the details of a business 

 of this .size. There are no loose ends on 

 this farm. The division of labor between 

 the two brothers is in itself a work of art. 

 Excellent Results with Sheep 



If you want to know about the live- 

 stock, see George Belden. Recently he 

 said, "That bunch of registered South- 

 down ram lambs are going to do some 

 farm flocks a lot of good." They certain- 

 ly were a likely looking lot, fine rugged 

 fellows that have the type and vitality 

 that sheep breeders are looking for. 

 While George might not be able to sell 

 palmleaf fans to the Eskimos, they would 

 have to avoid talking sheep with him un- 

 less they had a place to put them. The 

 results obtained with sheep on this farm 

 are enough to make anyone enthusiastic. 

 The flock of registered Southdowns, about 

 one hundred in number, has been a con- 

 sistant winner at fairs in this state. At 

 the International Livestock Exposition 

 held recently in Chicago, the flock won the 

 following honors: Champion Ram, fourth 

 yearling ram, third ram lamb, third on 

 pen of ram lambs, first and reserve cham- 

 pion yearling ewe, third ewe lamb, 

 second on pen of ewe lambs, second on 



Continued on page 8, column 1 



