FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



Hand Mixing 



Where hand mixing is used the ma- 

 terials should be first measured and plac- 

 ed on the mixing board and turned twice 

 while dry to incorporate the sand, cement 

 and gravel. A pool is then made in the 

 center and filled with water. By turning 

 in the edges of the pile all the water 

 .should be absorbed by the materials. The 

 mixing is then started by placing a man 

 on each side of the pile and turning over 

 about four times or until the mix shows a 

 uniform color. If necessary more water 

 should be added, being careful to avoid 

 sloppy mixes. 



Where machines are used for mixing 

 the concrete should never be dumped be- 

 fore the last of the ingredients has been 

 mixed a full minute. 



Spade to Expel Air 



Spading is necessary to expel the air 

 and settle the concrete in the forms. 

 Walls are often both porous and unsight- 

 ly from failure to heed this precaution. 

 Spading may be done with an ice spud, a 

 straightened hoe or a sharp piece of thin 

 board. This operation forces the gravel 

 or stone back and allows the mortar to 

 come to the face, making a decent looking 

 wall. Concrete should not be placed in 

 the forms all at one place and allowed to 

 flow from there as this tends to segregate 

 the fine and coarse material, as well as 

 the cement, resulting in leaky walls often- 

 times. The material should be placed in 

 six-inch or eight-inch layers and then 

 spaded. 



Finishing 



The importance of correct finishing 

 must not be overlooked. A few years ago 

 complaints were prevalent about concrete 

 being slippery. This was undoubtedly 

 true as it was the custom to smooth the 

 concrete with a steel trowel as it gave a 

 slick and neat appearance. Now, how- 

 ever, practically all pavements, most 

 sidewalks, garage and barn floors are 

 finished with a simply-made wooden trow- 

 el. 



Concrete Must Cure 



Too rapidly drying-out of the concrete 

 either by exposure to the sun or hot, dry 

 winds lowers the strength, oftentimes by 

 half, lessens the durability and weaz'ing 

 qualities, and increases the porosity. 



Concrete should never be allowed to dry 

 out. Concrete should be kept damp by 

 sprinkling or covering with moist earth, 

 straw or old bags. The water originally 

 mixed with the concrete must be retained 

 in the concrete until curing is complete. 



The home fruit and vegetable gardens 

 affords an easy and cheap means of re- 

 ducing the family budget. Information 

 on varieties and other items are obtain- 

 able on request from the extension ser- 

 vice of your agricultural college. 



COW TEST SUMMARY 



The April reports of the cow testers 

 show that ten cows made over sixty 

 pounds of butterfat pounds of butterfat 

 for the month on twice a day milking and 

 that eight cows made over sixty-two 

 pounds of fat when milked more than 

 twice a day. The following is a list of 

 the leading cows for April: 



AGROSPECS 



Owner 



Breed 



lbs. Uis. 

 Milk- fat 



F. L. Frost, East'pton E.H 

 Pelissier Bros., Hadley R.H 

 Pelissier Bros., Hadley R.H 

 M. S. Howes, Cumm'ton R.J 

 W. H. Atkins, Amherst R.J 

 Bisbee Bros., Chest'field G.H, 

 T. C. Marra, Ware G.A 



D. C. Randall, Bel'town R.H, 

 Ellis Harlow, Amherst R.J 



E. T. Clark, Granby G.H. 

 E. P. We.st, Hadley R.H. 

 H. Bridgman, We.st'ton R.H. 



G. H. Timmins, Ware R.G. 

 M. S. Howes, Cumm'ton R.H. 



E. P. West, Hadley R.H. 



F. D. Steele, Cumm'ton G.H. 

 H. Bridgman, West'ton R.H. 

 F. D. Steele, Cumm'ton R.H. 



1950 

 2100 

 1830 

 1188 

 1155 

 1492 



70.2 

 69.3 

 68.7 

 66.5 

 65.8 

 65.6 



1590163.6 

 1269163.6 

 1065:61.8 

 1800|61.2 

 2199185.8** 



2145 

 1662 

 1929 

 2034 

 2235 

 1749 

 2097 



79.4* 

 78.1* 

 73.3* 

 69.3* 

 67.0* 

 64.7* 

 62.9* 



*Milked three times daily. **Milked 

 four times daily. 



Ten herds averaged over 1.000 lbs. of 

 milk per cow during April. This is an 

 increase over any previous record since 

 November when the Association Year 

 started. The follovdng is a list of the 

 leading herds in average production per 

 cow: 



Lbs. Milk 

 No. Cows per cow 

 F. D. Steele, 6 1518 



Peli.ssier Bros., 6 1502 



D. R. Pomeroy, 7 1219 

 H. Bridgman, 13 1174 

 M. S. Howes, 14 1110 

 A. S. Brown & Son, 12 1092 

 Fred Frost, 9 1070 



E. P. West, 33 1058 

 Bisbee Bros., 12 1037 



C. G. Loud, 12 1011 



The ten highest herds in average butter- 

 fat production per cow all made over 

 thirty-five pounds during the month. 

 Their records are as follows : 



Lbs. Fat 

 No. Cows per cow 

 Pelissier Bros., 8 51.7 



F. D. Steele, 6 44.4 

 M. S. Howes, 14 43.1 



D. R. Pomeroy, 7 43.0 

 Fred Frost, 9 40.5 

 H. Bridgman, 13 39.6 

 Bisbee Bros., 12 38.9 

 W. H. Atkins, 13 37.9 

 Ellis Harlow, 31 37.4 



E. P. West, 33 35.6 



Earle Douglas started testing the herds 

 in the western part of the county during 

 April. Mr. Douglas has had experience 

 in advanced registry before taking up 

 this work. 



Alfalfa! Alfalfa! Alfalfa! The fellow 

 that writes about crops can't leave it 

 alone. The man that grows it successful- 

 ly can't leave it alone. Every possible 

 acre on his farm is going to be exposed 

 before long. In a few years the crop will 

 be a common every day proposition like 

 the flivver. Once acquired it will be as 

 easy to live with as any other habit and 

 just as hard to break. 



Watch a child learning to use simple 

 tools like a knife and fork. It's hard 

 work to get the right coordination for 

 results, to say nothing of style. Soon it 

 will become a habit and no efl'ort will be 

 needed. Polite table talk will take the 

 place of concentrated eff'ort that was 

 necessary at the start. 



Now isn't it more or less the same with 

 alfalfa? Getting lime and acid phos- 

 phate, or the right kind of seed and in- 

 oculation, are just as strange, in a way, 

 as the knife and fork are to the child. 

 But if alfalfa is all that folks who feed it 

 say it is, then the eff'ort to get the habit is 

 well worth while. 



Just recently I have come across sever- 

 al cases where dairymen are going to 

 grow alfalfa, and they will, because they 

 have been buying it to feed their cows. 

 They have seen the results and results 

 count. It costs about 40 dollars a ton to 

 buy it. It ought not to cost half that to 

 grow it. If I were selling alfalfa acres 

 I would start out by giving away sample 

 bales to the stuff', to be fed on trial. One 

 bale would sell an aci'e. 



The Sanford Brothers of Ludlow in 

 Hampden County are using about half a 

 car of lime each year. They say they 

 wouldn't think of seeding down a piece of 

 land without lime. With such a program 

 of liming, will they go bankrupt? I 

 doubt it. Lime is a capital investment not 

 a reckless expense. There is lots of talk 

 about reclaiming arid lands in the west, 

 and government capital is going into it. 

 It's going to be some job to reclaim the 

 acid lands of New England,but I don't 

 .suppose there'll be any government funds 

 for such a proposition. 



What's all this talk about alfalfa being 

 so expensive? If a man does all he 

 ought to for corn and grass and clover 

 about the only additional expense for 

 alfalfa will be for 2 tons more or less of 

 lime. For the man who is thinking of 

 plunging into the sea of green gold, 

 meaning alfalfa, in 1928, now is a good 

 time to start. When fitting the land for 

 corn work in half the lime needed for al- 

 falfa and 400 pounds to the acre of acid 

 phosphate. Then, when the corn is off, and 

 after the stubble is plowed, put on the 

 other half of the lime and before seeding 

 alfalfa put on 400 more of acid phos- 

 phate. This will mean lime and acid 

 phosphate worked in to plow depth. 



