HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 



Allen S. Leland, County Agent 



Mary Pozzi, Home Demonstration Agent 



Harold W. Eastman, County Club Agent 



Nora Foley, Clerk 



Helen Clark, Asst. Clerk 



Office First National, Bank Building- 

 Northampton, Mass. 



Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 

 1915, at the Post Office at Northampton, 

 Massachusetts, under the Act of March 

 8, 1879. 



"Notice of Entry" 



"Acceptance for mailing at special rates 

 of postage provided for in section 1103 

 Act of October 3. 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31, 1917. 



Price, 50 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Charles W. Wade, President 

 Mrs. Clifton .Johnson, Vice-President 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Allen S. Leland, Secretary 



Trustees for County Aid 

 to Agriculture 



•Charles W, Wade, Hatfield 

 Mrs. Clifton .Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 Edwin B. Clapp, Easthampton 

 Clarence E. Hodgkins, Northampton 

 Milton S. Howes, Cummington 

 W. H. Atkins, Amherst 

 L. L. Campbell, Northampton 



QUALITY PRODUCTS 



The average buyer of farm products is 

 becoming more and more interested in the 

 factor of quality as of primary impor- 

 tance and producers should take note of 

 this by selling products which meet this 

 demand. 



The old idea has passed on of bringing 

 to market everything which was produced 

 without any thought of grading, and the 

 men who wi.sh to market profitably year 

 after year must meet this increasing de- 

 sire for quality. 



This problem is many sided and those 

 who leave out any important step along 

 the line lose out in the end. For example, 

 some have questioned the value of spray 

 on apples and potatoes this year but in- 

 stead they should ask themselves where 

 they would be if spraying had been left 

 out of the program. 



Today, farming cannot be successful 

 when practiced by the hit or miss method. 

 Those who employ themselves profitably 

 as farmers are able to meet this demand 

 by having paid attention to the details of 

 production which are essential to the 

 marketing of quality products. 



Cummington T. B. Meeting 



Continued from page 1. column 1 

 An average salvage price of $35.00 has 

 has been paid to the farmers by the state 

 for reacting cattle during the past year 

 and this amount is higher than that paid 

 by any other New England state. 



Essentials for Success 



Mr. Sumner R. Parket of Amherst gave 

 an interesting talk, following Director 

 Cummings, in which he gave some of the 

 essentials of success for the dairymen. 

 Those who see the handwriting on the 

 wall regarding the T. B. test and the pro- 

 bability of an increased demand for T. B. 

 tested cows by milk producers in Southern 

 New England are going to be the ones 

 who will reap the profit. There should 

 be an area of T. B. tested cattle in west- 

 ern Hampshire County to meet this de- 

 mand. It is quite reasonable to expect 

 this as the dairymen can economically 

 raise stock to the milking age. To do this 

 efliciently, records should be kept of all 

 milking cows and the high producers 

 should be bred to sires from high pro- 

 ducing ancestry. 



Briefly, Mr. Parker's rules for progress 

 in the dairy industi-y are: 



(1) Get a T. B, tested herd. 



(2) Keep records. 



(3) Breed continually for higher pro- 

 duction. 



Cow Testing Association Work 



is Boosted by Prof. Fawcett 



Professor C. -J. Fawcett, one of the 

 speakers at the Cummington Dairy Meet- 

 ing, proved conclusively that Cow Test 

 records show accurately the production 

 and production costs. 



The average B. F. production when the 

 work first started in the United States 

 was only 140 lbs, while today in Hamp- 

 shire County, there are over 10 tested 

 herds which produce 300 lbs. of B. F. or 

 more. 



In Berkshire County, the average milk 

 production of the cows under test has in- 

 creased 2000 lbs. per cow. 



The testing is done by competent men 

 and the average cost is about $50 a year 

 for the herd. Production costs as well as 

 milk production and B. F. test are re- 

 corded by the testers and these figures 

 are available to the herd ovimers. 



Production figures are valuable in 

 many ways, but primarily they .should be 

 used as a basis for the elimination of the 

 low producting cows. Otherwise, the 

 average record for the herd remains con- 

 stant. High production equals low unit 

 cost. 



Get in touch with the county agent im- 

 mediately, if you wi.'ih to join the asso- 

 ciation. 



Instead of regretting yesterday, get 

 busy and prepare for tomorrow. 



WOODLOT VALUATION 



Mr. W. R. Mattoon of the U. S. Forest 

 Service, writing in the "Forest Worker," 

 spills the following. "When the farmer 

 thinks of his field crops he sees his wheat 

 threshed, sacked and delivered at the rail- 

 road, his potatoes dug, cleaned and put in 

 storage, his milk in cans on the way to the 

 city. His produce is sold, together with 

 his own labor and that of his horses or 

 gas engine. In the same way some far- 

 mers think about their timber crops in 

 the form of pulpwood, cross ties, logs or 

 firewood, but in spite of the fact that 

 many farmers do or could do their own 

 logging, foresters usually talk to them 

 about stumpage values. Why not en- 

 courage the farmer to think more along 

 the line of the market value of his pro- 

 ducts. During slack time in the winter 

 season the farmer can advantageously 

 put his labor and that of his team into 

 harvesting his own timber and thereby 

 materially increase his income. Further- 

 more, the farmer is in a better position to 

 do a much better silvicultural job than 

 the average operator would do. 



The following is offered as an estimate 

 of the average annual returns to the far- 

 mer in growing and marketing New Eng- 

 land white pine figured on a growth of 

 750 feet per acre per year and a value of 

 logs at the mill, of $16 per thousand, 750 

 feet of pine logs at $16 per M, 12.00. 



The farmer thus gets an average money 

 return of $12.00 per acre per year item- 

 ized thus: 



Value of timber on stump @ .?8 $6.00 

 Use of land .50 



Labor cutting and hauling 750 ft. 5.50 



Equalizes other Crops 



The farmer who figures on his returns 

 for timber in this manner puts timber on 

 a par with other field crops. A large 

 part of his profit from field crops comes 

 from his labor." Conversely if he leaves 

 the labor end to the stumpage operator, 

 then the operator must in fairness absorb 

 the labor profit. 



The census of 1924 shows that 8,000 re- 

 porting farmers in Massachusetts ex- 

 pended $1,700,000 for forest products, i. e. 

 lumber, fence posts and fuel wood. As 

 there are 30,000 farms in this state, it is 

 probable that actual expenditures were 

 much larger. It would be of interest to 

 know in how many cases those 8,000 farm- 

 ers could have secured this material on 

 their own farms and thus retained in 

 own pockets a considerable part of the 

 $1,000,000 which was paid out. 



H. O. Cook 

 Extension Forester. 

 Note: Mr. Mattoon used southern pine as 

 his financial example and the writer has 

 taken the liberty of translating his figures 

 into those applicable for New England 

 white pine. 



