FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTS' 



to be given to advertising. A good start 

 was made on apple week this year but 

 plans should be made for better displays 

 next falll One great problem will be to 

 devise more economical methods of pro- 

 duction Mr. Payne said. Pruning, spray- 

 ing, fertilization, thinning and packing 

 methods will have to be studied more 

 carefully than ever before. 



Lunch was served at Boyden's Restau- 

 rant with over forty fruit growers pre- 

 sent. After adopting a constitution and 

 by-laws, the following officers were 

 elected: Charles H. Gould of Haydenville, 

 President; E. B. Clapp of Easthampton, 

 Vice-president; Wm. Fi.ske of Westhamp- 

 ton. Secretary-treasurer; E. R. Critchett 

 of Amherst and E. F. Shumway of Bel- 

 chertown, executive committee; Ellis 

 Clark of Williamsburg, auditor. 



It was decided that three meetings be 

 held dui-ing the year. The spring meet- 

 ing is to be held before the time of the 

 delayed dormant spray, then a meeting is 

 to be held in August and the annual meet- 

 ing comes in .January. 



President Gould stated that although 

 the organization was not old enough to 

 have many teeth it had been able to se- 

 cure more complete reports of the Spring- 

 field apple market. Some co-operative 

 purchase of supplies has been carried on. 

 He said that with a representative mem- 

 bership the Hampshire County Fruit 

 Growers' Association could do much in 

 helping to solve problems confronting the 

 fruit grower.s of the county. He stated 

 that all fruit growers in the county were 

 eligible for membership and requested 

 more men to send their membership dues 

 to him at Haydenville. 



DECEMBER POULTRY RECORDS 



Two'thirds of Flocks Above 

 Standard Production 



Thirty-six poultry reports were re- 

 ceived for December. Only ten of these 

 flocks were below the 160 egg standard 

 which calls for 10 eggs per bird in 

 December. It is interesting to note that 

 only four flocks decreased in production. 

 The decrease in one flock was two-tenths 

 eggs per bird while the maximum de- 

 crease was .3.26 eggs per bird. The fol- 

 lowing are the leading flocks in egg pro- 

 duction for the month. 



Eggs 

 Biril.s per Bird 



Mrs. R. P. Thayer, So. Hadley 30 21.8 



Hillside School, Greenwich, 372 20.2 



Mrs. A. G. Eldridge, Amh'st, 153 18.18 



Geo. E. Scott, Belchertown, 497 18.13 



H. F. Duncan, Belchertown, 322 17.3 



H. C. Booth, Belchertown, 1,375 17.08 



J. T. Geer, Belchertown, 539 17.06 



P. L. Wheelock, Amherst, 175 16.3 



R. S. Schoonmaker, Amherst, 228 15.98 



J. W. Fuller, Palmer, 129 15.90 



Progressive poultrymen ai'e seeing the 



value of electric lights for the laying 

 flock. This is snown by the fact that one 

 co-operator who does not have lights 

 wrote in that it was no use for him to 

 send in reports as he could not compete 

 with lighted flocks. The reports have 

 been of value to this man if they have 

 shown him this fact. If he does not put 

 in lights next fall he is not using his best 

 judgment. Where it is impossible to 

 have electric lights, as good results are 

 being obtained by using gasoline lanterns. 

 Now that the fact that lights make it 

 possible for birds to eat more scratch feed 

 is known, there are few lighted flocks that 

 go through a severe moult. 



The reports of some flocks show that 

 pullets should be culled more rigidly be- 

 fore they are put in the laying houses. 

 The time to cull is when one sees a poor 

 bird. Flocks where this is done keep up 

 their egg production through the year. 

 The number of birds taken out during the 

 year depends largely upon the skill used 

 in making the first selection. There is 

 no profit in keeping birds which do not 

 lay. 



The following is the state summary: 

 Month of December 1925. 



No. farms reporting 

 No. females per farm 



Nov. 1st. 

 No. females per farm 



Dec. 31.st. 

 I Percentage of hens 

 Percentage of pullets 

 Reduction by death 



Since Nov. 1st 

 *Total reduction since 

 j Nov. 1st. 

 Eggs laid per hen 



Dec. 

 Eggs laid per pullet 

 1 Dec. 

 **Total production per 



bird — Dec. 



since Nov. 1st. 

 Price rec'd. per doz. 



for eggs — Dec. 



*Includes sales, thefts, and fowls eaten 

 in addition to deaths. 



**Average for the entire flock — com- 

 bines hen and pullet production. 



I $.651 I $.618 



"There is no formula under the sun 

 that can guarantee the well-being of the 

 inefficient producer." — Secretary Jardine. 



COW TEST REPORT 



Twenty=one Herds average over thirty 

 pounds of fat per cow in January 



Fifty-two herds were under test in the 

 local cow testing as.sociation during Janu- 

 ary. The records show that twenty-one 

 herds averaged over thirty pounds of but- 

 ter fat per cow for the month. Of the 

 721 cows tested, fifty-nine produced over 

 forty-five pounds of butter fat for the 



month. The following are the records of 

 the high cows for .January: 



U.S. 



Owner 



E. P. West 

 E. P. West 

 E. P. West 

 M. S. Howes 

 Geo. Timmins 

 C. G. Loud 

 Bisbee Bros. 

 Fred Frost 

 Ellis Harlow 

 Geo. Timmins 



Bn-ed Milk Test 



lbs. 

 tat 



R HI 2473 

 R H 12306 

 R HI 1828 



R H 

 R G 

 R H 

 G H 

 R H 

 R J 

 R G 



1544 

 1352 

 2052 

 1683 

 1590 

 1196 

 1324 



4.11101.4 



3.1 

 3.7 

 4.3 

 4.9 

 3.2 

 3.8 

 4.0 

 5.3 

 4.4 



71.4 

 68.0 

 66.4 

 66.2 

 65.7 

 64.0 

 63.6 

 63.2 

 58.2 



The following gives the highest herds 

 in average milk production per cow: 

 Owner No. Cows 



J. G. Cook, Hadley 8 



Eisbeo Bros., Chesterfield 12 

 Pelissier Bros., Hadley 6 

 H. H. Bissell, Goshen 13 

 M. S. Howes, Cum'ton 10 



The five leading herds in average but- 

 ter fat per cow are as follows: 

 <)wner No. Cows 



Lb.s. Milk 

 per Cow 

 1156 

 1134 

 1119 

 1066 

 1020 



LI)S. Fat 



per Cow 



39£ 



39.2 



39.0 

 38.5 



M. S. Howes, Cumniington 10 

 J. G. Cook, Hadley 8 



Pelissier Bros., Hadley 6 

 Ellis Harlow, Amher.st 24 

 Bisbee Bros., Chesterfield 12 38.3 



The January records aLso show that ten 

 herds produced outter fat at a feed cost 

 of less than forty-five cents per pound. 

 With only one exception these herds 

 average over thirty pounds of butter fat 

 per cow for the month. Twelve herds 

 had a feed cost per pound of butter fat 

 between forty-five and fifty cents. The 

 other herds had feed costs per pound of 

 fat as follows: 8 herds 50«!-55«(; 6 herds, 

 55^-60«;; 10 herds, 60«f-65«!; 2 herds, 

 65^-70^; and three herds where the feed 

 costs were over seventy cents per pound 

 of butter fat. 



Every one of the ten herds having a 

 low feed cost per pound of butter fat re- 

 turned over five dollars for every dollar 

 expended for grain. This shows that 

 butter fat can be produced at a low cost 

 without excessive grain bills where the 

 farms are producing lai'ge amounts of 

 good quality hay and silage. Where there 

 are more cows than are needed to mar- 

 ket the hay and silage produced on the 

 farm grain bills are sure to be heavy. 



FARM BUREAU ACTIVE ON LEGISLATION 



The different towns of the county were 

 well represented at the legislative meet- 

 ing held by the Hampshire County Farm 

 Bureau in Memorial Hall, Northampton, 

 Friday, January 22. Representative 

 Roland D. Sawyer of Ware explained the 

 bills coming before this legislature which 

 affect farmers. He said that the present 

 tendency in the government is to form 

 bureaus and then let them I'ule the people. 

 This leads away from democratic 

 government. It is only made possible 

 through the indifference of the people 

 about legislative measures. 



Continued on page 5, column 2 



