FARMERS' MONTHLY OF HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



CLUB WORK 



PHILIP IVES OF SOUTH 

 AMHERST NAMED AS 

 POULTRY CHAMPION 



Winners in other Projects Chosen 

 for the Past Year 



"It has been my ambition for several 

 years to become a Poultry Club Champ- 

 ion," was the remark made by Phillip 

 Ives of South Amherst when told that he 

 had won that honor for the past year. 



Starting seven years ago with a flock 

 of seven Leghorn hens, Phillip has stuck 

 to it since and gradually built up a flock 

 of high producing birds. Although he 

 was a Leghorn man for the first three 

 years he changed four years ago and 

 since then has kept Rhode Island Reds. 

 This past winter he kept nearly seventy 

 hens that laid about 100 eggs per hen in 

 seven months, making a profit of a little 

 over $2. .50 per bird in that time. 



In 192.5-1926 Young Ives made his best 

 record. On an average flock of 21 hens he 

 received 1.37 eggs each in seven months 

 and 235 per bird for the full year. This 

 is not only unusual but remarkable. It 

 is explained by the fact that he had good 

 birds, fed well and tlicn culled systemati- 

 cally each month throwing out the non- 

 producers. Phillip is seventeen years old, 

 a senior in Amherst High School and is 

 planning to go to Amherst College next 

 fall. 



Champions in other projects were chos- 

 en during the past month as follows: 



Canning Champion, Vera Alfieri, South 

 Amherst. 



Clothing Champion, Katherine Dono- 

 hue, Huntington. 



Baby Beef Champion, Robert Cutter, 

 West Hatfield. 



Handicraft Champion, Edward King. 

 Gz-anby. 



Garden Champion, Floyd Thratcher, 

 Plainfield. 



Dairy Champion, Walter Granger, 

 South Worthington. 



In addition to the honor that goes with 

 all championships all of the above boys 

 and girls are entitled to mcmbex-.ship in 

 the Champions Camp (Camp Gilbert) held 

 at Massachusetts Agricultural College, 

 July 22 to 29. This is a free trip, all ex- 

 penses being paid by the State Depart- 

 ment of Agriculture. 



GUERNSEY BOYS AND GIRLS 



TO ORGANIZE 



Preliminary steps are being taken to 

 organize the dairy project boys and girls 

 who own grade and pure bred Guernsey 

 calves, into a national organization. 

 About 1800 calf club and Smith-Hughes 

 boys and girls now appear on the direct- 

 ory maintained by The American Guern- 



sey Cattle Club, and others are adding 

 their names daily. The officers of the 

 breed association are planning a public- 

 ation and news letter for the exclusive 

 use of the boys and girls of Guernsey 

 affiliation. Local club leaders are being 

 asked to co-operate with the oflSce of the 

 breed, at Peterboro, New Hampshire. 



GIRLS SHOULD KEEP ON IN CLUB 



WORK SAYS MISS FORBES 



These winter months have just flown 

 for me, and although I have visited every 

 county from Berkshire to Nantucket at 

 least twice there are still many hundreds 

 of club girls whom I have never seen. 

 The clubs I have visited have made me 

 glad that I have the privilege of being in 

 4-H Club work. 



Your exhibit will take place soon or 

 perhaps you have already had it. The 

 exhibit is generally considered as the end 

 of the club, but I hope you will think 

 diff'erently. Your club agent will tell you 

 of summer clubs for those who want to 

 continue through the vacation months. 

 However, if your club votes to have a 

 rest period do not conclude your year 

 without .some plan for getting together 

 in the fall or early winter to decide what 

 you will do next .season. 



I have met girls who thought they could 

 no longer be club members after entering 

 high school. This, of course, is not true 

 for you may be a member until you are 21 

 years old and even then you need not 

 give up 4-H Club work, for there is al- 

 ways a need for leaders. 



Our champions who come to Camp Gil- 

 bert and our delegates to Camp Vail, 

 Camp Field, the National 4-H Camp at 

 Washington, D. C, and the National 4-H 

 Boys' and Girls' Congress at Chicago are 

 almost always of high school or college 

 age, and now an organization of 4-H 

 Club members has been formed here at 

 Massachusetts Agricultural College, and 

 another at Framingham Normal School, 

 too. So you see the real opportunities 

 are just opening up for you when some of 

 you think it is time to stop. 



MOSTLY ABOUT ALFALFA 



I have been privileged to attend some 

 real alfalfa field meetings this past 

 month. I call them real because there 

 were real alfalfa fields and there was real 

 intere.st in the crop. Not much debating 

 as to whether or not the crop could be 

 grown in Massachusetts but no end of in- 

 terest in the "how-to-do-it". 



Every alfalfa field is, in fact, a demon- 

 stration of one or several things in alfalfa 

 growing. You can't fool the alfalfa 

 plant and if something is missing the 

 plant will tell, whether it be lack of lime, 

 lack of inoculation or not enough plant 



food. The interest in alfalfa is growing 

 along with the cost of grain and in pro- 

 portion as farmers here and there suc- 

 ceed in getting satisfactory results. 



Quite a number of alfalfa fields .show a 

 mixture of sweet clover, .some as high as 

 30 per cent. Maybe the sweet clover seed 

 was just trying to get into the high price 

 class. Examination of sweet clover and 

 alfalfa roots grown side by side indicates 

 that the sweet clover has great bunches 

 of nodules while the alfalfa nodules are 

 fewer and smaller. Possibly its a good 

 idea to put in .some sweet clover for the 

 sake of better inoculations for the alfalfa. 

 The sweet clover will be out of the way 

 after the first cutting, but the nodule 

 forming bacteria will be left in the soil. 



The plant that is making the grain 

 sack jealous is sweet clover. Tony Mal- 

 nati of Sheffield turned 60 cows into about 

 20 acres of sweet clover pasture for a 

 week. Sure, they ate it, and when they 

 came to the barn at night they didn't 

 want any grain. And Tony had 3 cans 

 more of milk, 120 quarts a day while they 

 were on this pasture. Tony's goal is an 

 acre of sweet clover pasture for every 

 cow, and he'll probably put some grass 

 seed in too, to help fill nut the second 

 year. 



The other day I stood in an alfalfa 

 field that has been producing for 15 

 years. It was, in a way, the answer to 

 the oft asked question, "How long will 

 alfalfa stay in?" Mr. Boyden of Leo- 

 minister is the owner of this field. He has 

 cut it 3 times a year in that period and 

 every fall the field gets a good dressing of 

 stable manure. Of course it didn't look 

 like a brand new field, but it would cer- 

 tainly win over any common hay field of 

 that age. 



Mr. Boyden has an apple orchard. Part 

 of it had alfalfa for a number of years, 

 part has not. He says he can tell when 

 apple picking time comes which trees had 

 the alfalfa. The trees show it too. I 

 understand that quite a number of fruit 

 growers are seeding alfalfa in the or- 

 chard. Spec. 



WHAT HAPPENED IN EDEN 



Oh, the Mcintosh apple is a mighty fine 



fruit. 

 I wish I could praise it on my bloomin' 



lute. 

 But the lute's out of kilter, and won't 



play a tune, 

 Since I used it last year to sing praise to 



a prune. 

 So let me to words and the power of the 



press, 

 For I can't do more nor want to do less. 

 And the tale I will tell has never been 



told 

 For it came to me right out of the mold. 

 In the garden of Eden, on a bright au- 



