HAMPSHIRE 

 FARMERS' MONTHLY 



COUNTY 



■ici;f + ' 



Vol. XIII. 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., DECEMBER. 1928 



No. 12 



COUNTY AGENT'S 



ANNUAL REPORT 



This report covers the period from Nov. 

 1927-Nov. 1, 1928 and in order that the 

 report may be clear to everyone it will be 

 written up according to projects the first 

 of which will be the agronomy project. 



Agronomy 



Unquestionably the very best roughage 

 for dairy cows is alfalfa hay. This is 

 not merely the opinion 

 of the county agent but 

 is also recognized as 

 true by the dairymen in 

 Hampshire County who 

 are fortunate enough to 

 grow the crop. With 

 that in mind I stressed 

 the growing of alfalfa 

 wherever practical, in 

 meetings, demonstra- 

 tions and farm visits 

 with the result that 

 twenty-seven farmers 

 in 1928 planted alfalfa 

 for the first time or 

 made additions to their 

 present acreage. This 

 total addition repre- 

 sents approximately 60 

 acres so that there are 

 now about 500 acres of alfalfa in the 

 county. One dairyman who grows about 

 sixteen acres of the crops says that he 

 can make more difference in his milk pro- 

 duction by changing the quality of his 

 roughage than by changing his grain 

 ration. 



The Agents of the Hampshire 



County Extension Service wish to 



^ extend to you their hearty wishes 



for a Merry Christmas and a 



Happy and Prosperous New Year. 



Mary Pozzi 



Blanche Spurr 



Allen S. Leland 



Harold W. Eastman 



1000 4-H CLUB MEMBERS 



ENROLLED DURING 1928 



hl.\tin<;t()x 



Left to Right: Mm. 

 Mrs. J. K. AxtPlI; Mrs. 



tiUOl I' KKll-HOLSTERllVG FlUMTllSK 

 J. O'loniiell! Mr.s. .1. A. Moore; Mrs. G. F. Loom 



K. Knox; Mrs. F. J. Knightly 



THE DAIRY FARMER 



OF THE FUTURE 



What has been done in 4-H club work 

 during the past year in Hampshire 

 County? It is hard to answer this ques- 

 tion in a few words although because of 

 lack of space it is ju.st the thing we must 

 do. 



To begin with we had about 1000 boys 



and girls enrolled with 



64% of them or 640 

 completing their work, 

 in other words sending 

 in a record of what they 

 had done. Up to this 

 year we had felt that 

 we were trying to reach 

 more boys and girls 

 than we could work 

 with efficiently and so 

 this past year our goal 

 was to work with those 

 whom we could organize 

 well or not at all. For 

 this reason our enroll- 

 ment dropped 120 below 

 last year but on the • 

 other hand, more of 

 them finished their 

 work. .Just look over 

 these figures. 



1927 1928 

 1122 1000 

 590 640 



52% 64% 



Number enrolled 

 Number completed 

 Percentage completed 



It is hard to prove to us that we were 

 wrong when we can get more to finish 

 their work with fewer to start with. 



These members were divided into 63 

 organized clubs led by 53 local leaders, 

 of which 39 were women and 14 were men. 



The dairy farmer of the future will 

 own a modern farm home. He will be 

 Alfalfa, however, is not a cure-all for supported by a high-producing herd of 

 every one of the dairyman's ills and on I well-bred dairy cattle, which will be fed 

 many farms it is more advisable to seed 'arge'y fro™ luxuriant, home-grown 

 mixed grasses with a good proportion of | "'"P^' ^"a'«e<l »" well-tilled fertile soil, 

 clover particularly if the soil has been ! I" ^'^o'"*' the dairy farmer of the future 

 limed. The intelligent use of lime will j ^''" 1^"°^ how to live better and will live 



increase hay production on practically ] "^ ^o the best that he knows. That is enioved the verv heartiest coonera 



'the prophecy of J. C. McDowell, of the .* ^"■'°^'^'^ ^'^ ,^ "'^^"', "^""P"^, 

 T> J- T\ ■ T J i TT -i J oi 4. tion of the school supenntendents and 

 Bureau of Dairy Industry, United States | ^„_^„_ „,^ ^i„ __ ^^^^ „„ _^ 



Department of Agriculture. 



"The dairy farmer of to-day is pro- 

 gressive," he says, "but in many cases he 

 is passively progressive. He knows what 

 to do but he does not always do it. The 

 farmer of the future will never allow one 



Enjoyed Hearty Cooperation 



In all but one town in the county we 



every farm in the county. 



Sweet clover is becoming more popular 

 with local dairymen as a pasture crop. 

 The requirements for the crop are practi- 

 cally the same as for alfalfa and it will 

 furnish feed for two or more cows per 

 acre during its grazing season which is 

 longer in the second year of growth. 



Twelve dairymen in the county planted i cow to eat up the profits another cow is 

 40 acres of the crop in 1928. This is in making. He will allow only high-produc- 

 addition to several seedings which entered 1 ing dairy cows on his fertile farm. 



Continued on page 2. column 3 | Continued on page 3. column 1 



teachers. When we tell you that 22 of 

 our 53 local leaders are school teachers, 

 do we need any more proof? 



Can This Record Be Beaten? 



We would like to challenge any county 

 in New England to show three local lead- 

 ers (who are all teachers) who have been 

 leading 4-H clubs since the work began 

 in 1915 and who have led them every year 

 Continued on page 6, column 1 



