FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Roland A. Payne, County Agent 

 Mildred W. Boicc, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 Norman F. tVliippen, County Club Agent 

 Mary IJiniond, Clerk 

 Mary Sullivan, Asst. 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. 



"IVotice 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. 



Priee, r>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 



L. L. Campbell, Northampton 



tobacco grower has some land which al- 

 ways has and which always will produce 

 poor quality tobacco. The sooner this 

 land is put to some use other than tobacco 

 production the better. There are other 

 growers who have good tobacco land but 

 who are growing more acreage than can 

 be handled properly with available labor. 

 The result has been careless handling 

 with an attendant large percentage of 

 damaged tobacco. These men should re- 

 duce their acreage to a point where the 

 crop can be properly handled. Most 

 tobacco growers come under these two 

 classes. For them only partial acreage 

 reduction should be the rule. A third 

 small group consists of men who have 

 neither the land nor the ability to grow 

 good tobacco. They only make a profit 

 when prices are high. This is not a year 

 for them to plant tobacco. 



Prof. V. A. Rice of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College gave a talk on "The 

 Science of Breeding" illustrated by 

 lantern slides. He stated that breeding 

 as an art had been carried on for cen- 

 turies. The science of breeding is com- 

 paratively new. While much has been 

 learned about breeding as a science, only 

 a start has been made. 



The following officers were elected for 

 1926: President, Thomas E. Elder, Mt. 

 Hermon School; Vice-presidents, Hai^x'ey 

 Copeland, Colrain and Josiah Parsons, 

 Northampton ; Secretary-treasurer, Enos 

 Montague, Amherst. 



REGARDING TOBACCO ACREAGE 



We know of a man who was once in 

 serious trouble. Most physicians gave no 

 hopes of recovery. Specialists were in- 

 tei-viewed with about the same results. 

 All agreed as to the trouble. Finally a 

 specialist was found who had seen a 

 similar case where an operation had 

 saved the patient's life. He had the 

 necessary skill to perform the operation 

 and did it. This was not a case where 

 "the operation was successful but the 

 patient failed to rally." 



The tobacco situation presents a simi- 

 lar situation. The trouble has been diag- 

 nosed as too much tobacco. A specialist 

 would undoubtedly go further and state 

 the particular grade. The thinking men 

 know that the industry is worth saving. 

 Opinion as to the extent of the operation 

 offers chance for argument. History of 

 similar situations proves that a total cut 

 in acreage means the death of the in- 

 .dustry. Other recommendations vary 

 from twenty to forty per cent. Some- 

 where between these limits the probable 

 solution will be found. 



The problem of the individual grower 

 is to decide upon the acreage he should 

 cut out this year. Practically every 



T. B. TEST DISCUSSED 



Holstein Club Holds Annual jMeeting 

 at Greenfield 



A large delegation from this county at- 

 tended the annual meeting of the Hamp- 

 shire-Franklin Holstein-Friesian Breed- 

 ers' Club held .January 8 at the Mansion 

 House. The main topic discussed was the 

 tuberculin testing of cattle. Dr. Harrie 

 M. Pierce of the Bureau of Animal In- 

 dustry reviewed the laws regarding the 

 tuberculin testing of cattle. He said that 

 "the State- only pays for cattle that react 

 to the tuberculin test. That tuberculosis 

 is prevalent in cattle is shown by the fact 

 that the following percentages of reactors 

 were found in these years: 1923, 28.9'/r ; 

 1924, 37.19f ; 192.5, 41.59'r. That progress 

 can be made in eradicating tuberculosis 

 in cattle by using the tuberculin test is 

 shown in the experience of herds that 

 have been te.sted several times. On the 

 second test d.lVf of the cattle have re- 

 acted. This dropped to 5Mi on cattle 

 tested a third time. In 1921, cattle in 

 state institutions were tested and 50AV( 

 reacted. In 1925 these same herds show- 

 ed only 2.27r reactors. 



The percentage of reacting cattle has 

 been higher in this county than in Frank- 

 lin County. One reason for this is that 

 herds have been assembled and tested 

 simply to get state indemnity. In farm 

 herds the percentage of reactors would 

 run about 15% while this pa.st year 

 43.6':''r of the cattle te.sted for the first 

 time reacted. There are nine accredited 

 herds in Hampshire County. 



Mr. Carl Peck of Shelburne stated that 

 he had one of the first accredited hei-ds 

 in the .state. He has always raised his 

 own cattle and there has never been a 

 reactor found in his herd. E. P. West 

 of Hadley stated that his experience as 

 regards reactors had been different from 

 that of Mr. Peck. He said he had started 

 out to get an accredited herd and was 

 pleased with the progress made so far. 



FRUIT GROWERS MEET 



Officers Elected and Program Planned 

 for this year 



"The apple crop will double in ten 

 years" H. A. Yount of the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College told the Hampshire 

 Fruit Growers at their annual meeting 

 held in Northampton, January 14. This 

 assertion he said, is based on facts 

 brought out by an apple survey carried 

 on last summer by the Massachusetts 

 Agricultural College. He stated that 

 this study showed that there are about 

 one million apple trees owned by com- 

 mercial growers in the state. About 

 forty per cent of these trees are not yet 

 of bearing age. Baldwins make up 

 39.4% of all the apple trees while 24% 

 are Mcintosh. The percentage of the 

 total made up by the other varieties are: 

 Wealthy, 6.7, Gravenstein 5.1, Delicious 

 4.3, Duchess 2.1, all other varieties 18.4%. 

 The percentage of trees which are not of 

 bearing age are: Mcintosh 31.9, Baldwin 

 29.5, Wealthy 8, Gravenstein 5.7, Deli- 

 cious 8.9, Duchess 2.5, all other 13.5%. 

 Baldwins gave 51.5% of all the apples 

 produced in 1924 while Mcintosh made up 

 13.4% of the total apple production. 



Thirty-two per cent of the Baldwin 

 trees and sixty-six per cent of the Mc- 

 intosh are under ten years old. This 

 means that the Baldwin crop will double 

 in fifteen years while Mcintosh will 

 double production in ten years without 

 further plantings. In this county there 

 are about 80,573 apple trees of all ages. 

 Of these 11,196 are fillers which leaves a 

 total of 69,377 permanent trees. 



County Agent Payne told the growers 

 that the marketing problem was sure to 

 increase in the next ten years. To help 

 solve this problem growers will have to 

 produce the kind of fruit the market de- 

 mands. It will have to be packed as the 

 market wants it and then supplied in the 

 quantity and at the time wanted. There 

 are fruit growers in the county that have 

 equipped themselves with home storages 

 so as to lengthen their marketing period. 

 Others depend on commercial cold stor- 

 ages with satisfactory results. With an 

 increased crop more attention will have 



