FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Rolnnd A. I'nyne, County Agent 

 Mildred ^V. Uoice, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 Harold W. Eastman, County Club Agent 

 Catherine Ijucej-, Clerk 

 Helen Clark, Assl. Clerk 



Office First National Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 

 Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 

 1915, at the Post Omce at Northampton, 

 Massachusetts, under the Act of March 

 8, 1879. 



"Notiee 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, CiO cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Charles W. Wade, President 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, 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, Noi'thampton 



Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 



W. H. Atkins, Amherst 



L. L. Campbell, Northampton 



EXTENT OF BOVINE T. B, 



SHOWN ON REVISED MAP 



Showing graphically the extent of bo- 

 vine tuberculosis in various parts of the 

 United States, a poster ju.st issued by the 

 United States Department of Agriculture, 

 enables the public to see where the di- 

 sease exists and to what extent. This 

 varies from less than one-half per cent in 

 many counties to more than 15 per cent in 

 others. The general average of tuber- 

 culosis cattle for the entire United States, 

 according to latest surveys, is 2.8 per cent 

 as compared with .3.3 per cent in 1924 and 

 4 per cent in 1922. 



The poster, entitled "War Map of Tuber- 

 culosis in Livestock," contains informa- 

 tion revised to May 1. 1926, and super- 

 sedes an earlier one issued two years 

 previously. It is printed in two colors, 

 measures 19 by 24 inches, and may be ob- 

 tained on application to the United States 

 Department of Agriculture. 



Some cows keep themselves, others live 

 on their owners. Cow Testing Asso- 

 ciation will show you which kind you 

 have. 



CONCRETE DEMONSTRATIONS HELD 



About seventy-five men attended the 

 concrete mixing demonstrations held in 

 the county the la.st week of April. Meet- 

 ings were held at J. Davis Turner's, 

 Westhampton; Bisbee Brothers, Williams- 

 burg and at Jason Hurlburt's, Belcher- 

 town. Mr. F. W. Small and Mr. Harring- 

 ton of the Poi'tland Cement Association 

 conducted the demonstrations. 



It was brought out that too much of the 

 concrete work done on farms of the 

 county is neither permanent nor is it 

 watertight. Both of these things can be 

 secured by paying attention to a few de- 

 tails. 



It was brought out that one of the 

 reasons for poor concrete was the pres- 

 ence either of loam or of organic matter. 

 This test is easily made: Obtain a 12- 

 ounce graduated bottle and fill to the 41- 

 ounce mark with the sand to be tested 

 Add to this a 3% .solution of caustic soda 

 (one ounce of caustic soda disolved in a 

 quart of water will make a SVf solution), 

 until the combined volume of sand and 

 solution amounts to 7 ounces. Shake 

 thoroughly for a few minutes, and let 

 .stand for twenty-four hours. At the end 

 of this time observe the color of the 

 liquid above the sand. If the liquid is 

 colorless or ueai'ly so — a pale yellowi.sh 

 color — the sand is sufficiently free from 

 organic impurities for use in highgrade 

 concrete. A brownish-yellow liquid, or 

 one darker than a pale .straw, indicates 

 a sand which should not be used in impor- 

 tant concrete work, such as roads, pave- 

 ments, and reinforced concrete building 

 construction. If the color of the liquid is 

 brownish throughout, the sand may be 

 used in unimportant work only, such as 

 footings of foundations that are not to 

 carry heavy loads. A dark brown liquid 

 shows a sand which should not be used 

 for concrete work unless it can be washed 

 to remove the foreign materials. A very 

 simple test to ascertain if the sand is free 

 from silt or earth is made by placing two 

 inches of sand in a bottle, fill with water, 

 shake thoroughly for a few minutes, then 

 allow to settle. If, after settling, there is 

 I inch or more of sediment above the 

 sand, washing is advisable. 



Cleanliness 



In selecting materials the first require- 

 ment is clean aggregates. A quick test 

 for this is to shake sand and water in a 

 bottle and let settle. About two inches 

 of sand covered with at least four inches 

 of water make sufficient quanities for the 

 test. For the average farm structure the 

 loam should be limited to 10 percent, 

 which would give a layer of loam in the 

 bottle of about 3-16 inches on the two 

 inches of sand. 



The second requirement is choosing a 

 coarse sand. Fine sands never give high 

 strengths. Choose sands with hard grains 

 and as free as possible from shale. 



Proportioning 



The proportion of sand to screened 

 gravel or crushed stone is for most work 

 just half. The strength of concrete is 

 dependent to the sand. It is evident that 

 a mixture where the sand is half of the 

 total aggregate would give a stronger 

 concrete than where the aggregate con- 

 sists of practically all sand. It is essen- 

 tial for high strengths to have correctly 

 proportioned materials and in order to 

 get this, bank gravel should be screened 

 and re-mixed. 



Concrete proportions are usually de- 

 signated as 1:2:4, 1:2J:.5 or 1:3.6, etc., 

 this means one part of cement to two 

 parts of sand, to four parts of screened 

 gravel. Sand is usually defined as that 

 material which will pass through a 

 quarter-inch screen, while gravel will be 

 that part retained on the screen. A sack 

 of cement is considered a cubic foot. 



Many persons have the impressions that 

 when definite proportions of sand and 

 pebbles are specified that the same results 

 can be obtained by substituting an equal 

 bulk of bank run material, that is, sand 

 and gravel as combined in the ordinary 

 pit. This is incorrect and leads to weak 

 and porous concrete. The majority of wet 

 basements and leaky tanks are traceable 

 to this cause. There is almost invariably 

 an excess of sand in natural deposits of 

 gravel and such material should never be 

 used until screened and the fine and coarse 

 materials separated and then in turn cor- 

 rectly proportioned. 



Use Miniinuni of Water 



In re-mixing the correctly proportioned 

 materials only enough water should be 

 added to produce a mixture of jellylike 

 consistency. 



Concrete mixed so wet as to be sloopy 

 has its strength seriousy impared. The 

 proportion of water should be kept as low 

 as possible but keeping the material plas- 

 tic or workable at all times. 



Watertight Concrete 



There are two things to be considered 

 when watertight concrete is desired. 

 First of all the materials must be screen- 

 ed and then re-mixed to the proper pro- 

 portions refered to above, viz., 1:2:3 or 

 1:2:4. The first mix is used where the 

 walls or floor are thin and for that reason 

 contains less coarse aggregate than the 

 latter. The 1:2:4 mix is used where the 

 floors are at least three inches and the 

 walls at least six inches in thickness. 

 Concrete becomes watertight when the 

 mix is dense, i. e., when there is just 

 enough mortar to fill the air spaces in the 

 stone or gravel. In small structures it is 

 not good practice to imbed cobbles or 

 hardheads in the walls if they are to be 

 made watertight. 



