FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Rolnnd A. Pnyne, County Agent 

 Mildred W. Boice, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 Norman F. Whippen, County Ciub Agent 

 Mary Dimond* Cleric 

 Mary Suliivan, 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. 



"Notice 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. 



Price, .%0 cent.s a year 



Officers of tlie 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 



WITH APOLOGIES TO NOBODY 



It's not by legislation 

 Nor fields of Timothy hay. 

 It's Alfalfa in the haymow 

 That'll make the dairy pay. 



There's not another crop 

 That'll do the trick as well 

 As a field of good Alfalfa 

 Of that you've heard me tell. 



It takes Lime, Lime and Lime again 

 To make this crop do well. 

 Acid soils and soggy land 

 Are "deadly" sure as — ! 



And Old Man Acid Phosphate 

 As put out by the maker, 

 Should be applied — never denied. 

 Six hundred pounds per acre. 



Now there is one important thing 



Oft disregarded still, 



Grimm seed, not common, should be sowed 



So the plants won't winterkill. 



H. W. Soule, Coimty Agent. 



White River Jet., Vt. 



CHANGES 



John D. Willard has resigned as dire- 

 tor of the Extension Service of the 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College to 

 take up University Extension work in 

 Michigan. Under Director Willard, Ex- 

 tension Work in Agriculture and Home 

 Economics in this state has demonstra- 

 ted its value to an ever increasing num- 

 ber of people. His sympathetic under- 

 standing and his keen analysis of rural 

 problems has made him one of the leaders 

 in extension work. He takes with him 

 the best wishes of a host of friends. 



Willard A. Munson, formerly director 

 of the State Bureau of Markets, has been 

 chosen director of the Extension Service. 

 He has done an out.standing piece of work 

 in this field. Those who know Mr. Mun- 

 son believe he will be a worthy successor 

 to Director Willard. 



Norman F. Whijipen has resigned as 

 County Club Agent of this county to be- 

 come superintendent of the Hillside 

 School in Greenwich. Under Mr. Whip- 

 pen's guidance interest in club work has 

 increased in the county. Member.ship 

 has increased and the quality of the work 

 has been raised. We are indeed fortu- 

 nate in keeping Mr. Whippen in the 

 county. 



COW TEST SUMMARY 



The May reports of the cow testers 

 show that 673 cows were tested during 

 the month. Sixteen of these cows pro- 

 duced fifty-seven or more pounds of but- 

 terfat during the month. The following 

 table gives the records of the high cows: 



lbs. lbs. 



Breed 

 R. H 



of butter fat per cow for the month ; four 

 made between 3-5 and 40 pounds; sixteen, 

 between 30 and 3.5 pounds ; nineteen, be- 

 tween 2-5 and 30 pounds ; six, between 20 

 and 2.5 pounds. The following is a list 

 of the leading herds in butterfat produc- 

 tion per cow: 



Lbs. Fat 



Owner Address No. Cows per Cow 



E. P. West, Hadley 30 43.8 



J. G. Cook, Hadley U 42.6 

 G. A. & G. N. Galusha, 



Granby 14 41.6 



Pelissier Bros., Hadley 6 41.6 



Fred Fro.st, Ea.sthampton 12 38..5 



Clarence Hobart, Amherst 9 3-5.2 



E. T. Clark, Granby 17 35.2 



R. Pomeroy, Amherst 8 3.5.0 



Milk Test fat 



83.9** 

 83.6* 

 82.0** 

 75.3** 

 70.7 

 68.6 

 63.9 

 61.5 

 61.5** 

 61.1 

 58.5 

 57.9 

 57.6 

 57.3 

 57.0 

 57.0 

 '^*Milked 4 times 



Owner 

 E. P. West 



E. T. Clark R. H. 



E. P. West R. H. 



E. P. West R. H. 



E. Harlow R. J. 



G. Galusha R. H. 



E. T. Clark R. H. 



J. G. Cook R. H. 



E. P. West R. H. 



E. P. West G. H. 



R. Adams R. H. 



E. P. We.st R. H. 



J. G. Cook R. H. 



G. H. Timmins R. G. 



H. H. Bissell R. H. 



G. Galu.sha G. G. 



*Milked 3 times daily, 

 daily. 



In May, six herds averaged over 1,000 

 pounds of milk per cow; seven, between 

 900 and 1,000 pounds; eleven, between 

 800 and 900 pounds; nine, between 700 

 and 800 pounds ; fifteen, between 600 and 

 700 pounds and one below 600 pounds of 

 milk per cow for the month. The follow- 

 ing are the high herds in average milk 

 production per cow during May: 



Lbs. Milk 

 Owner Address No. Cows per Cow 



J. G. Cook, Hadley 11 1308 



E. P. West, Hadley 30 1271 



Pelissier Bros., Hadley 6 1204 

 G. A. & G. N. Galusha, 



Granby 14 1123 



Fred Frost, Easthampton 12 1080 



E. T. Clark, Granby 17 1010 



Four herds averaged over 40 pounds 



RAPE FOR POULTRY 



The rearing- range for chickens should 

 be considered as pasture rather than 

 yard. In addition to out-of-door sunshine 

 and exercise, it ought also to provide 

 green feed, shade, and a chance for the 

 birds to spread out away from the 

 roosting quarters and each other. 



Many growing ranges supply ideal con- 

 ditions in May and June. As summer 

 advances much of the grass goes to seed 

 and the growing birds tend to crowd the 

 range. What little grass is available be- 

 comes too tough and woody to be really 

 classed as satisfactory green feed. Then 

 is the time when supplementary green 

 feed is of great value. 



Of the various crops available for this 

 purpose, rape is undoubtedly the best 

 adapted to New England. The seed of 

 Dwarf Essex rape is cheap, it makes 

 rapid growth and will usually yield two 

 cuttings a season. There are cultural 

 practices which need attentio'' to insure 

 satisfactoi-y growth. Rape does not grow 

 well in acid or sour soils. Most poultry 

 farms are quite sour. Therefore, it is 

 necessary to apply lime or wood ashes at 

 the rate of approximately two tons to the 

 acre. Poultry or barnyard manure may 

 also be used quite liberally and to insure 

 maximum growth it is wise to further 

 fertilize with 400 or 500 pounds of acid 

 phosphate to the acre of land. Yields of 

 rape or other green feed are dependent 

 upon the season as well as the soil and 

 cultural practices. Many poultrymen, 

 however, plan to sow one pound of rape 

 seed for each thousand baby chickens. 

 Usually this .small quantity of seed plant- 

 ed in drills 12 or 14 inches apart on ap- 

 proximately one-sixth acre of land yields 

 in two cuttings all the green feed the 

 birds will consume from mid-July to long 

 after the pullets are housed. Rape seed 

 may be planted early in May and the 

 plants will survive into quite cold 

 weather. 



A few poultrymen having plenty of 

 land available broadcast rape seed on a 

 part of the growing range remote from 



