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. Boice, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 llnrolfl W. ['~:n.stni:in, Connty C'iul> Agent 

 Mary Dimond, Clerii 

 Mary Sullivan, Asst. Clerii 



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. 



"ITotice 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, 50 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Charles E. Clark, President 

 Charles W. Wade, Vice-President 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Eoland 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 



COUNTY NOTES 



Spraying Time Cut in Two 



At the spring meeting of the Hamp- 

 shire County Fruit Growers' Association, 

 President Charles H. Gould of Hayden- 

 ville stated that he was able to cut his 

 spraying co.sts by having a tank wagon 

 hauling spray material to the sprayer. 

 Ed. Searle of Southampton thought that 

 he would try it. He bought an old spray- 

 er tank from a neighboi' and mounted it 

 on an auto truck. At a brook, he mount- 

 ed a pump with a two inch hose. With 

 this equipment he has been able to cut the 

 time needed for spraying just about in 

 two. It paid "Ed" fairly well to attend 

 this meeting. It will pay other growers 

 to attend the meeting to be held at Mr. 

 Gould's Hillside Orchard in Haydenville 

 August 2.5. 



Why are Onion Sets Poor? 



Some of the set onions in the valley are 

 good, some are fair, while others are 

 poor. , It would be profitable to growers 

 if all of the differences could be explained. 

 At present it looks as though the size of 

 the sets made a big difference. Where 

 the sets were sized before planting, the 

 largest sized sets look the best. It may 



be true that there is a tendency for these 

 larger bulbs to "shoot double." The 

 medium sized sets look next best, while 

 the small sized sets certainly are the 

 poorest. Most growers would have bought 

 the small sets if they could have had 

 their choice. Many believe that the 

 small and medium sizes will catch up 

 later. Last year one grower checked up 

 on this and said that the smaller onions 

 gave the poorest yield. Growers who 

 have a comparison of sizes will do well 

 to watch it this year. 



It is interesting to note that most of the 

 really good fields of onions grow on soil 

 that tests only slightly acid. Practically 

 all of the poor sets are on land that tests 

 extremely acid. Experiments conducted 

 at the Rhode Island Experiment Station 

 show that a full crop of onions cannot 

 be grown on extremely acid soil no mat- 

 ter how much fertilizer is used. 



Another interesting point is that many 

 of the best fields are grown on fertilizers 

 that are high in ammonia. Apparently 

 large amounts of ammonia have not hurt 

 the crop so far this year. 



Where a combination of small sets, ex- 

 tremely acid soil and rather scanty 

 amounts of fertilizer is found, the result 

 is a poor piece of sets. The County Agent 

 would be glad to test samples of soil for 

 lime requirements. If your piece looks 

 poor, send in a small sample of the soil 

 and have it tested. 



Tobacco Dust for Poultry 



Some poultrymen will be disappointed 

 to find that their pullets have worms this 

 fall. It is a wise precaution to feed two 

 pounds of tobacco dust to 100 pounds of 

 dry ma.sh for a period of three weeks 

 when the pullets are three months old 

 and to repeat the dose for a three weeks' 

 period just before the pullets are put into 

 the laying houses. It is a good thing to 

 give the birds a dose of epsom salts after 

 they have had the tobacco — treated ma.sh 

 a week and again at the end of the 

 period. 



Mcintosh Set Light 



When the Mcintosh bloomed this spring 

 it looked as though there was going to be 

 a bumper crop of this variety. Cold 

 weather at blossoming time kept this 

 variety from setting. C. E. Stiles of 

 South Amherst reports practicaJly no 

 Mcintosh. Chas. Gould of Haydenville 

 says he has no Macs tHis year. In Gran- 

 by and Belchertown the same is true. 

 We are told that the same condition pre- 

 vails in the eastern part of the state. 



Three Cuttings Too Much for Alfalfa 



When you attend Farmers' Week at 

 the Massachusetts Agricultural College, 

 July 27, 28, 29 and 30, be sure to .see the 

 alfalfa field just east of Grinnell Arena. 

 This field was limed, fertilized and seeded 

 the same all over. One half of the field 

 has been cut twice a year, the other half 



has been cut three times. The part that 

 has only had two cuttings a year taken 

 from it is good alfalfa. The half that 

 has been cut three times a year is mostly 

 timothy. This demonstration shows that 

 alfalfa can be killed by too frequent cut- 

 tings. 



E. M. Lewis Named President 

 of M. A. C. 



Edward M. Lewis, Acting President of 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College dur- 

 ing the past two years, was named Presi- 

 dent of the College at the annual com- 

 mencement meeting of the Board of 

 Trustees, which was held Monday, June 

 14. This action is indicative of the 

 general feeling of satisfaction which has 

 grown out of the settlement of the in- 

 tricate problems which President Lewis 

 has tackled during these two years. 



The new President has made an affec- 

 tionate place for himself with M. A. C. 

 men and women since 1911 in his service 

 during a large part of that period as 

 Dean of the College. On three occasions 

 he served as Acting President in the ab- 

 sence of former President Kenyon L. But- 

 terfield and each time his administration 

 was unusually successful. His continued 

 daily sei-vice as a patient, kindly friend 

 of the student, an inspirer of students 

 and faculty, and an educator with vision 

 are bound to greatly influence the future 

 of M. A. C. 



COW TEST SUMMARY 



The .June reports of the cow te-^ters 

 .show that forty-two of the seven hundred 

 thirteen cows on test made over fifty 

 pounds of butter fat during the month. 

 Fifty-one herds were tested for produc- 

 tion. The following is a list of the cows 

 making the highest records on twice-a- 

 day milking: 



