FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



M. S. Howes 



E. P. West 



F. D. Steele 

 C. G. Loud 



R. H. 

 R. H. 

 R. H. 

 R. H. 



2148 73.0X 



2145 72.9XX 



2415 72.5x 



2285 68.1X 



X milked 3 times daily, xx milked four 

 times daily. 



Ten of the forty-seven hei'ds in the cow 

 testing association averaged over 1,000 

 lbs. of milk per cow during March. The 

 following were the leading herds in aver- 

 age milk production per cow : 



Owner Lbs. Milk 



(per cow) 

 F. D. Steele, Cummington, 1587 



M. S. Howes, Cummington, 1289 



D. R. Pomeroy, Amherst, 1282 

 H. H. Bissell, Goshen, 1180 

 Pelissier Bros., Hadley, 1178 



E. P. West, Hadley, 1121 

 H. Bridgman, Westhampton, 1073 

 Bisbee Bros., Chesterfield, 1058 

 Fred Frost, Easthampton, 1052 

 A. D. Montague, Westhampton, 1019 



Six herds averaged over forty pounds 

 of butter fat per cow during March. The 

 following were the leading herds in aver- 

 age butter fat production per cow: 



Owner Lbs. Fat 



(per cow) 



F. D. Steele, Cummington, 51.6 

 M. S. Howes, Cummington, 48.2 



D. R. Pomeroy, Amherst, 45.1 

 H. H. Bissell, Go.shen, 44.2 

 Pelissier Bros., Hadley, 41.2 

 A. M. Shaw, Cummington, 40.7 

 Bisbee Bros., Chesterfield, 39.7 



E. P. West, Hadley, 38.3 



LEST WE FORGET 



EFFECT OF NITROGEN ON 



BEARING FRUIT TREES 



When nitrogen applications intensify 

 the green color of apple leaves, an in- 

 creased set of fruit may usually be ex- 

 pected. With a full bloom of heavy set- 

 ting varieties as Baldwin and Wealthy, 

 this may mean simply more thinning but 

 usually it means a more profitable crop, 

 especially with Mcintosh and Rhode Is- 

 land Greening, which are apt to set rath- 

 er lightly. 



Nitrogen may also increase yields 

 through increasing the size of the trees 

 and sometimes by increasing the size of 

 the apples. Whei-e the nitrogen supply 

 of the soil is very low, a nitrogen fertiliz- 

 er often increases bloom but in reasonably 

 fertile orchards this result does not seem 

 to be the rule. These are the chief ways 

 in which nitrogen fertilizers increase 

 yields. It does not seem possible in prac- 

 tice to throw mature apple trees out of 

 bearing with heavy spring applications of 

 nitrogen, especially in sod orchards. The 

 limit of profitable amounts of nitrogen is 

 more likely to be a failure to develop high 

 color of the fruit. 



—J. K. S. 



Home (iro^vn Seed 



Certified Seed 



The above picture shows the chance potato growers are taking when they use 

 their own potatoes for seed. The same results can be secured by comparing certi- 

 fied with "selected" seed. Tests conducted in this county for several years avera-re 

 42 bushels more per acre for certified seed than for home grown or selected stock. 

 If you can't get certified seed potatoes don't plant any this year. 



FARMERS INTEND TO PLANT 



15 PER CENT MORE POTATOES 



From current reports by about 50,000 

 farmers to the Crop Reporting Board it 

 appears that their intentions March 1 

 were to plant about 3,620,000 acres of po- 

 tatoes this year, or nearly 15% more than 

 they harvested in 1926, the New England 

 Crop Reporting Service states in a re- 

 lease today. This intended acreage would 

 be 179^ larger than the harvested acreage 

 in 1925 and almost 9% above that har- 

 vested in the bumper crop year of 1924 

 when yields were large and prices very 

 low. It would be the largest acreage 

 since 1923, but substantially less than 

 was planted in 1922, 1921, 1920, 1918 

 and 1917. Also, it would be 2.37? more 

 than the average acreage harvested in the 

 5 years 1922-'26, but 8.7'7f less than the 

 average harvested in the 5 years 1917-'21. 



Yield per acre, due to better seed, bet- 

 ter methods all along the line, and fav- 

 orable weather, was practically 14% 

 higher in the five years 1922-'26 than in 

 the previous like period. The education- 

 al work of the past 15 years and the use 

 of more and better farm equipment and 

 machinery have resulted in a steady and 

 substantial gain in production per acre 

 and per man. This same upward trend in 

 large measure is ti'ue for most of our 

 leading farm crops and products. On 

 the other hand our total need for such 

 products tends to vary closely with pop- 

 ulation. 



When the war emergency ended in 

 1918 we had a large excess acreage of 

 many crops, we had the educational cam- 

 paigns under way and we have had a 

 .strong disposition among farmers to ex- 

 pand their acreage of cash crops. This 



combination of influences pressing for in- 

 crease in farm production results, or 

 tends to result, in a rate of increase that 

 easily exceeds the growth in demand for 

 such products. This is especially true of 

 farm products, such as potatoes, that are 

 without an efficient, aggressive marketing 

 organization. If present plans go thru 

 and we have an average season, a crop of 

 over 400 million bushels seems likely to 

 result with prices at levels and the mar- 

 ket of a character that farmers will viv- 

 idly recall if they think back three and 

 four years. 



Maine growers appear to have studied 

 the subject soundly, as evidenced by only 

 a 6% intended increase in acreage over 

 last year, constrasted with expected in- 

 creases of 10% in New Hampshire and 

 Massachusetts; 7% in Vermont; 13% in 

 Rhode Island and 20% in Connecticut. 

 Significant, also, are the intended in- 

 creases as follows: New York 12% ; Penn- 

 sylvania 14% ; Michigan 16% Wisconsin 

 10% ; Minnesota 16% ; North Dakota 

 20%. The main groups of states show 

 the following intended increases over last 

 year's harve.sted acreage: 8 major late 

 surplus states 13% ; 12 minor late surplus 

 .states 19% ; all late surplus combined 

 15%; 9 late deficient 12'^.; 14 early 

 southern 19%. 



These intentions, it is well to remem- 

 ber, are not a definite forecast of actual 

 planting that will occur. Various influ- 

 ences may help to change present plans, 

 yet past experience shows that for large 

 areas these preliminary intentions re- 

 ports give a significant indication of what 

 may be expected, even tho several indi- 

 vidual states may alter their intentions 

 substantially. 



N. E. Crop Reporting Service. 



