THE FARMERS' MONTHLY, MARCH, 1928 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 



Allen S. Leland, County Agent 



Mai-y Pozzi, Home Demonstration Agent 



Harold W. Eastman, County Club Agent 



Nora Foley, Clerk 



Helen Clark, Asst. Clerk 



Office at 184 Main St., 

 Northampton, Mass. 



Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 

 1915, at the Post Office at Northampton, 

 Massachu.setts, 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, Amher.st 

 L. L. Campbell, Northampton 



PRODUCTION COSTS 



Production costs are usually the only 

 factors in industry over which the in- 

 dustrialist has any control. 



If competition is to be met — if increas- 

 ing raw material costs are to be over- 

 come, they must be challenged by mass 

 production. 



The other great item of cost — labor — 

 can be justified only when labor is equip- 

 ped with the tools of high production, 

 for the present high labor scale is based 

 on the earning capacity of the workman 

 with power at his disposal. 



Selling prices, too, are determined not 

 by the business that needs the highest re- 

 turn for its products or services, but by 

 the one that needs the least. That is the 

 first and ba.sic law of competition. 



There is sound reason to believe that 

 raw material and labor costs will never 

 be lowered — or competition any less keen. 

 But there is outstanding evidence of the 

 fact that production costs will be lowered 

 as they have been throughout the history 

 of industry. 



Thus new profits are to be found only 

 in better methods — power methods of 



production. 



The preceding was taken from the 

 Saturday Evening Post but it is so ap- 

 plicable to agriculture as well as to in- 

 dustry that it is reprinted here. 



DAIRYMEN ARE RICHEST 

 WHERE ALFALFA IS THICKEST 



In his tours around the county, the 

 county agent has observed that those 

 farmers who are growing alfalfa seem to 

 look pretty prosperous. 



Judging from the discussions whjch 

 took place at two recent dairy meetings 

 in Cummington and in Ware, the interest 

 in alfalfa is increasing. J. P. Helyar, 

 Extension Agronomist at the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College, upheld one end 

 of the discussion on this subject at both 

 meetings. 



It was shown at one of these meetings 

 that though the initial investment might 

 run as high as $90.00 an acre with alfalfa, 

 the high yields paid back this entire in- 

 vestment before the end of the second 

 year. 



The longevity of the stand is due in a 

 very large measure to the treatment 

 which the plant receives each spring in 

 the form of top dressing. Two parts of 

 superphosphate (formerly called acid 

 phosphate) and one part of muriated pot- 

 ash applied as high as 600 pounds per 

 acre of the mixture has given three good 

 cuttings a year in Hampshire County. 



Non-legume hay land that is in good 

 condition should be top dressed in the 

 spring. A complete fertilizer like the 

 8-6-6 applied at 300 pounds per acre will 

 give good returns through increased 

 yields. 



ACID PHOSPHATE 



NOW SUPERPHOSPHATE 



The change has already received the 

 general approval of the fertilizer in- 

 dustry, editors, agronomists, experiment 

 station directors and the Department of 

 Agriculture at Washington. 



GOOD USE FOR 



"ASK ME ANOTHER" 



Many of the "Ask Me Another" cjues- 

 tions published recently in the "Monthly" 

 were put to a very good use a short time 

 ago, when Mrs. Clifton Johnson of Had- 

 ley used them as part of the program of 

 the Hope Grange of that town. 



We cannot see why that is not a very 

 good place to use them, as most or all of 

 them are questions relating to Agricul- 

 ture and Home Economics that each and 

 all of us should know — but that most of 

 us don't. 



SUNLIGHT COLORS FRUIT 



For many years the term "acid phos- 

 phate" has been applied to a fertilizing 

 material which is neither acid in reaction 

 nor does it impart an acid reaction to the 

 soil on which it is used. It is desirable 

 therefore, to get away from this misno- 

 mer which is responsible for the general 

 impression among farmers that the con- 

 tinued use of this material will bring 

 about an acid condition in their soils. 

 This impression has resulted in consider- 

 able sales resistance which it is felt will 

 be overcome by getting back to the origin- 

 al name. This name is descriptive of the 

 contents of the fertilizer, whereas the 

 only excuse for the word "acid" is that 

 sulphuric acid is used on phosphate rock 

 to make the phosphorous available for 

 plants, but the acid does not remain as 

 such in the finished fertilizer. 



Fruit growers throughout the county 

 are getting on to the fact that trees must 

 be opened up if they are to get good 

 colored fruit. This applies particularly 

 to old trees which have thick tops and 

 sides. 



Two pruning demonstrations have been 

 held in the county recently to show fruit 

 growers how the pruning should be done 

 on such trees. Bill Thies, Extension 

 Pomologist at M. A. C. was in charge of 

 each demonstration. One was held at 

 Ashley Randall's in Granby with about 

 twelve fruit frowers present. The second 

 demonstration took place in Ed O'Neil's 

 orchard in Williamsburg. 



Most of the cuts made were on limbs 

 less than two inches in diametei-. This 

 was for the purpose of uniformly opening 

 up the tree on all sides. All dead, dying 

 and diseased wood was also removed. 

 When the job was done, the trees seemed 

 to have remaining limbs so distributed 

 that the sunlight could get into all parts 

 equally well. Spraying is made much 

 easier and more eifective as a result of 

 the pruning. 



Work was done on some trees in each of 

 these orchards last year by the same men. 

 These trees now look much more vigor- 

 ous and thrifty than other trees in the 

 orchard, not so pruned. 



Both Mr. Randall and Mr. O'Neil feel 

 that spraying was much more eifective 

 on the pruned trees and that the apples 

 ran more uniformly large and of better 

 color. 



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