FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



CLUB WORK 



4-H CLUB EGG LAYING 



CONTEST FOR NOVEMBER 



November saw thirty-eight boys re- 

 porting in the first month of the annual 

 seven months contest for club members. 

 In these thirty-eight flocks were 1,101 

 birds that laid 6,049 eggs or about 5.5 

 per bird. 



Ribbons are given each month for the 

 first three winners of each of two classes. 

 (1) flocks of less than 40 birds; and (2) 

 flocks of 40 or more birds. In addition, 

 prizes of grain are given to the first two 

 prize winners in each class. These prizes 

 are given by grain dealers within the 

 county. To date the merchants who have 

 promised to give this grain are as fol- 

 lows: 



Bisbee Brothers, Williamsburg. 



Ryther & Warren, Belchertown. 



Merrick Grain Co., Amherst. 



W. N. Potter's Sons & Co., Northamp- 

 ton. 



The six winners in the contest for Nov- 

 ember and their records are as follows: 



Avr. 

 No. of No. nf Prod. 

 Name Town hens eggs per hen 



J. G. Cook, Jr, Hadley 30 574 19.1 

 George Ritter, 



Northampton 27 441 16.3 



John Byron, Hadley 5 78 15.6 



Large Flocks 

 Walter Granger, So. 



Worthington 100 929 9.3 



George Judd, Goshen 52 394 7.5 

 Victor Fournier, 



Northampton 75 480 6.4 



DAIRY MEMBERS TELL OF 



THEIR EXPERIENCES 



Attend Plymouth County Meeting 



The good work done by our Dairy Club 

 members is spreading fast. This was 

 proved when Stanley Freeman, club 

 Agent in Plymouth County, asked us to 

 send down a few of our members to tell 

 the boys in the Eastern part of the state 

 how Dairy work is conducted here. 



Those who attended the meeting with 

 Mr. Howe, Assistant State Club Leader, 

 and told of their experiences were Alice 

 Randall of Belchertown, Secretary of the 

 County Dairy Club: C. Hilton Boynton of 

 South Hadley; John Howe of North Am- 

 herst and Osborne West of Hadley, a 

 former club member. 



Dairy work is just starting in many 

 parts of the eas;tern part of the state, and 

 according to Mr. Freeman, the stories 

 told by our club folks will have no small 

 influence in starting them in the right 

 way. 



Report of Club Activities for 1026 



Continued from page 1. column 1 



dairy club members who are trying to 

 grow good roughage to feed their dairy 

 animals. 



Handicraft : 



This project appealed to one hundred 

 and fifty-eight (158) boys this year who 

 learned to make many useful wooden 

 articles to use in the home or on the 

 farm, in addition to making many re- 

 pairs. This project gives the boys a 

 chance to see what they can do with tools 

 and do some of the things that real boys 

 enjoy. 



Home Economics : 



Canning was done by one hundred and 

 twenty-eight boys and girls who put up 

 2650 jars of fruit and vegetables; thirty- 

 eight quarts of meat; eight hundred and 

 nine jars of jelly; three hundred and fifty 

 quarts of pickles and forty-nine quarts 

 of fruit juices. Twenty girls learned to 

 can by the Cold Pack Method for the 

 first time. 



Three hundred and fifteen (315) girls 

 were enrolled in clothing and made over 

 eight hundred (800) articles, such as 

 dresses, hats, remodeling, aprons, etc. In 

 addition they mended over twenty-four 

 hundred (2400) articles, such as stock- 

 ings and all kinds of garments. 



The cooking project was interesting to 

 one hundred and fifty-three boys and 

 girls. Most o fthis work was in pack- 

 ing lunches for school, stressing the use 

 of whole grain flour, bread, and more 

 vegetables, rather than candy with 

 lunches. Improved practices in milk 

 dishes and vegetable cookery were re- 

 ported by one hundred and thirty-five 

 girls. 



Fairs and Judging Contests: 



Exhibits were put on by club members 

 at Middlefield Fair, Cummington Fair 

 an dthe Three County Fair at North- 

 ampton. In addition, the dairy and poul- 

 try members exhibited at the Eastern 

 States, where the poultry membtrs won 

 $82.65, while the dairy boys and girls 

 brought home over $700. At judging 

 contests our boys have more than held 

 their own with other counties. 



In competition with boys from all over 

 the state they have carried ofl" fifty-one 

 individual and team prizes, which in- 

 cludes first individual prizes in every con- ' 

 test they have entered this year. Their 

 winnings on both exhibits and judging 

 will total over $1900, this fall, besides 

 several silver cups, medals, rosettes, etc. i 



TEAM WINS STATE 



CHAMPIONSHIP AT BOSTON 



Members Also Win Individual Honors 



For the third time in four years Hamp- 

 shire County boys lived up to their repu- 

 tation as good judges when one of the 

 two poultry judging teams entered at the 

 Boston Poultry Show, took first honors 

 and the State Championship. At the 

 same time two of the three members on 

 it were found to be tied for highest in- 

 dividual honors. 



The members of this team, whose total 

 score was 230 points above their nearest 

 rival, were Dennett Howe of Amherst, 

 Roger West and James Coff'ey of Hadley. 

 Dennett and Roger were the two found 

 to be tied for first place individually, 

 with a score of 500 each out of a possible 

 600, but Dennett was finally awarded the 

 first prize of a silver loving cup and a 

 cash prize because of giving the better 

 reasons for making his decisions. This 

 was no small honor as there were over 

 fifty boys in the contest, probably the 

 best junior poultry judges in the state. 



A second team to represent the county 

 was as follows : John Cernak of Hatfield 

 and Joseph Fialkoski and John Bak of 

 Hadley while John Howe of Amherst 

 judged as an alternate. This team placed 

 eighth, competing with sixteen teams, 

 which is a stunt not to be ashamed of. 



AROUND THE COUNTY 



The Wirthmore Poultry Club of South 

 Hadley Falls re-organized for 1927 on 

 December ninth with nine members. 



The new officers elected were: 



Elmer E. Ittner, President. 



Nelson Bullough, Vice-Pi-esident. 



George Schmitter, Secretary. 



Howard Ittner, Treasurer. 



They planned a dandy program for this 

 winter, consisting of interesting topics 

 for discussion at meetings, a tour of the 

 club projects in the early spring, two 

 judging contests and to attend a county 

 meeting which is to be held in Amherst 

 or Northampton the middle of February. 



A sewing club of five members will be 

 led by Mrs. Lewis Hendrick. Evelyn 

 Hendrick was formerly a member of the 

 Bay Path Sewing Club of South Amherst. 



The girls in the Cold Springs school 

 are to continue their sewing again this 

 winter. Miss Bridget Fitzgerald, the 

 teacher, is to lead them, and also what 

 handicraft work that the boys will do. 



