HAMPSHIRE COUNTt; 

 FARMERS' MONTHLY 



LIBRARY of +1 

 ssachuseii 

 \1AR 2 7 1928 



gricultural 

 College. 



Vol. XIII. 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., MARCH, 1928 



No. 3 



GORDON COOK IS 



COUNTY DAIRY CHAMPION 



"It never rains but it pours." This 

 saying is proven when it was found that 

 Gordon Cook of Hadley, the newly elect- 

 ed president fo the County Dairy Club 

 had won the County Championship in his 

 favorite project, Dairy. 



This was perhaps to be expected 

 anyone who is popular 

 enough and thought by 

 Others to be deserving 

 enough to be given the 

 honor of the presidency, 

 must be a good project 

 worker. And true it is, 

 as can be seen by Gor- 

 don's own story of his 

 experience as he told it 

 at the Dairy Meeting. 



It was no small task 

 to select the champion 

 in this project as there 

 were six candidates who 

 had records worthy of 

 consideration. They are 

 as follows: 



Stephen Brusco, West 

 Hatfield 

 Joel H. Dwight, West Hatfield 

 Stanley Misterka, Noz-thampton 

 Joseph Sena, Easthampton 

 Lyman Pratt, Hadley. 

 Why we selected Gordon will be left to 

 your good judgement after reading the 

 stoiy of his experience which is as fol- 

 lows : 



"I happened to join the Calf Club be- 

 cause the boys around me started in the j 

 club work so I thought I would do like- 

 wise. Miss Erhard was county club leader i 

 then. She encouraged me, so I started. | 

 I saw how well some of the boys were do- | 

 ing so I thought I would try it. 



The first animal I owned was a good 

 individual but had rather a mean disposi- 

 tion and along the last of August just 

 about the time to clip her, she had a fight 

 with a cow that was too big for her and 

 to pay for this she broke one of her horns. 

 This got infected so we had to cut off 

 what was left of it and so I didn't go to 

 any fairs that year. That was five years 

 ago this last fall. The next year I had 

 another one, but along in the spring, the 

 Continued on pag-e 6, column 2 



JOT THESE DATES DOWN 



March 31— Countv-wide 4-H Poul- 

 try Club Meeting. 

 May 4 — High School Day Judging 

 Contests at M. A. C. 

 April .5—10:00 A. M.— Spring Hol- 

 stein Meeting, Clinton Hotel, 

 Springfield. 



June 7 — Home Maker's Summary 

 Meeting at Laurel Park. 

 June 21-24 — Home Makers County 

 Camp at Greenwich Lake. 

 June 26-30— County 4-H Camp. 



FRUIT GROWERS 



DISCUSS DIVERSIFICATION 



SWEET CLOVER PASTURES 



YIELD GOOD RETURN 



The picture shows the white sweet 

 clover pasture on Ralph Cole's farm in 

 Huntington and he believes absolutely 

 that sweet clover pays good returns in the 

 milk pail. If there was room enough a 

 picture might also be included showing a 

 similar stand of sweet clover on the Pol- 

 lard farm in Northampton or the Green- 

 way farm in Ware. There are also other 

 farmers in the county who are very much 

 pleased with the crop. 



In practically every instance cows on 

 sweet clover have increased in milk pro- 

 duction and the amount of grain feeding 

 has been cut at least in half. Even if 

 one cannot afford to put in enough sweet 

 clover to carry the entire herd, numerous 

 farmers have found that a smaller acre- 

 age sei-ves as a valuable supplement to 

 other pastures. 



Continued on page !). column 2 



The fruit growers of Hampshire Coun- 

 ty met at Boyden's restaurant on Febru- 

 ary 28 at which time the subject of diver- 

 sification was discussed. 



R. A. Van Meter, professor of Pomolo- 

 gy at the Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College gave a talk on the subject and led 

 the discussion. The 

 meeting was planned by 

 the new president of the 

 association, Wright A. 

 Root of Easthampton. 

 Geo. H. Bean of North- 

 ampton amused the 

 group by telling a num- 

 ber of funny stories 

 dealing with court 

 cases. 



The group went on 

 record as favoring the 

 legislation which will 

 put the settlement of 

 deer damages in the de- 

 partment of agriculture 

 instead of in the divi- 

 sion of fisheries and 

 game, as at present. 

 ! R. A. Van Meter brought out that over- 

 production exists when the average grow- 

 er cannot make a profit on his crop. In 

 [ other words it is the fruit grower who is 

 better than the average who is sure of a 

 profit each year. 



Difersification Vs. Specialization 



It was brought out that most men 

 should specialize on one crop with smaller 

 acreages of other crops in order to obtain 

 income from more than one source. 



This was advised for the reason that 

 most individuals are able to excell in only 

 one branch of farming. Today an inti- 

 mate knowledge of details is required in 

 every branch of farming and this renders 

 it unlikely that one individual can be very 

 successful in more than one branch. 



On the other hand diversification helps 

 in case of a poor season with the main 

 crop. Small fniits, vegetables, poultry 

 and dairying were cited as possible se- 

 condary lines to apple orcharding. 



The temperament, ability and likes of the 

 individual grower are determining factors 

 as to how much he should diversify. 



