FARMERS' MONTHLY 



LIBRARY of i 

 Massachuset 



AN 2 7 1927 



f?ricultural 

 College.^ 



OF HAMPSHIRE COUINTV 



Vol. XII. 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., JANUARY, 1927 



No. 1 



REPORT OF CLUB ACTIVITIES 

 FOR 1926 



Since January, 1926 a total of eleven- 

 hundred and seventy-three (1173) boy.s 

 and girls have carried on some 4-H club 

 project according to Extension Sen'ice 

 plans. This is a gain of one hundred and 

 fifty over 1925. 



These club members were divided into 

 fifty-three clubs which were led by fifty- 

 seven local leaders. 

 Livestock : 



Fifty boys and girls, who own ninety 

 dairy animals, were enrolled in the Dairy 

 project. Twelve boys have been helped 

 in buying pure bred females while two 

 boys have been helped in securing pure 

 bred bulls. Eighteen boys tested their 

 stock for tuberculosis this year. The 

 dairy club animals are worth about 

 $7,.56o. 



Three boys were in the Baby Beef pro- 

 ject this year, raising five Hereford 

 steers which they exhibited at the East- 

 ern States where very satisfactory sales 

 ■were made. On these the boys made an 

 average profit above costs of $65 per 

 animal. 



One hundred and thirty-eight boys and 

 girls raised or cared for about 4,060 hens 

 or pullets this year. The majority were 

 pullets which the boys hatched or bought 

 from purebred stock. Seven grain com- 

 panies in the county gave prizes of grain 

 each month in the egg laying contest in 

 which eighty-eight membsrs took part. 

 Two boys had flocks that made records 

 of over two hundred and twenty (220) 

 eggs per bird for the year. 

 Crops : 



The garden project was carried on by 

 one hundred and ninety-six boys and 

 girls. Most of the gardens were for 

 home use. The above number of boys 

 and gii-ls planted and cared for about six 

 acres of vegetables. 



Thirty-two boys and girls planted po- 

 tatoes or sweet corn this year. Sixteen 

 of them planted a total of two acres of 

 potatoes which produced three hundred 

 and eighty-four (384) bushels or an 

 average of one hundred and ninety-two 

 (192) bushels per acre. 



Thirteen boys and girls planted four 

 acres of alfalfa and three and one-half 

 acres of Soybeans this year. These were 

 Continued on page 6. column 2 



THAT LITTLE GREEN APPLE 



The little green apple has a re- 

 tiring nature. It grows in the 

 shade. When placed in a barrel 

 it tries to keep out of sight. In 

 the market it has no appeal to 

 those who give apples a happy 

 home. Why is it grown? It does 

 not need to be. The County Agent 

 wants the names of ten men who 

 are sick enough of growing these 

 little green fellows so that they are 

 willing to do .something about it. 



FARM BUREAU MEMBERS 



HOLD ANNUAL MEETING 



R. D. Dickinson of Amherst Reelected 

 President 



The annual meeting of the Hampshire 

 County Farm Bureau held in Northamp- 

 ton December 11 was attended by a rep- 

 resentative group of the leading farmers 

 of the county. President R. D. Dickinson 

 reported that the Farm Bureau, in co- 

 operation with other organizations, had 

 secured the passage of the bill which re- 

 turned administrative power to the trus- 

 tees of the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College, and had secured lower insurance 

 rates for farmer's auto insurance. The 

 Farm Bureau held seventeen meetings 

 during the year. President Dickinson 

 has increased the membership to well 

 over three hundred for 1927. 



Officers elected for 1927 were: Presi- 

 dent, R. D. Dickinson, Amher.st; Secre- 

 tary, Fred H. Bean, Florence; Treasurer, 

 C. H. Gould, Haydenville; Executive 

 Committee, J. W. Parsons, Northampton, 

 E. P. West, Hadley, A. D. Montague, 

 Westhampton; Legi.slative Committee, 

 W. R. Cutter, Hatfield, W. H. Atkins, 

 Amherst, and E. B. Clapp, Easthampton. 



J. C. Cort, director of Dairy and Ani- 

 mal Husbandry of the Massachusetts 

 Department of Agricultural, spoke on 

 legislation that is to be tpken up this 

 year in Boston. A lively discussion of 

 the Bigelow bill which provides that all 

 milk for towns over 10,000 in population 

 must either be from tuberculin tested 

 cows or must be pasturized, showed that 

 twenty-two favored this measure and five 

 were opposed. State Secretary Russell 

 stated that the Massachusetts Legislative 

 activities of the Farm Bureau this year 

 were going to be the support of the gaso- 

 line tax and bills designed to prevent the 

 recurrence of the T. B. testing scandal. 



TREND OF FERTILIZER 



NITROGEN PRICES DOWN 



Low priced fertilizer nitrogen — nitro- 

 gen cheap enough to use heavily even on 

 low-valued crops; nitrogen low enough in 

 cost to use on grass, on pasture, possibly 

 even on green manure crops; nitrogen 

 which may be used in quantity on fruits, 

 on vegetables, in fact on any agricultural 

 crop requiring it — all this is prophesied 

 by many authorities. 



Mo.st significant is the fact that Chile 

 has lost her monopoly of the world mar- 

 ket. Two enormous air nitrogen plants 

 in Germany, built in response to war 

 time needs, but since the war greatly ex- 

 panded, are now producing more fixed ni- 

 trogen than is being produced in all Chile. 

 Because of competition from this new 

 source, Chilean production has fallen off 

 nearly one-third; and instead of setting 

 the world's price, Chile must now accept 

 the price made necessary by word-wide 

 competition. 



By=Product Nitrogen Increased 



Meanwhile the supply of American by- 

 product nitrogen, mainly sulfate of am- 

 monia, is greatly increased. No longer 

 ago than 1913, the United States was an 

 importer of this form of fertilizer nitro- 

 gen. Today the total production is es- 

 timated to contain 133,0000 tons of fixed 



nitrogen enough to .supply four-fifths 



of the current demand for fertilizer ni- 

 trogen were it all placed on the fertilizer 

 market. The end is not near, however, 

 for in the present season 291 new by- 

 product coke ovens are expected to go 

 into operation. 



As long as the coke ovens are oper- 

 ated, ammonia must be salvaged. As 

 long as it is produced, it must be sold. 

 There is no such thing as cost of produc- 

 tion for such a by-product. As export 

 markets are being closed to the American 

 products, more must be sold on the 

 American market. In the near future, 

 a part of this by-product ammonia will 

 be combined with phosphoric rather than 

 with sulfuric acid. When this time 

 comes, by-product nitrogen will probably 

 dominate the American fertilizer market, 

 and govern prices. In this expectation, 

 lies the greatest probability of decreased 

 prices for fertilizer amrrionia. 



Every large country is striving for ni- 

 Continued on page 2. column 2 



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