THE FARMERS' MONTHLY, DECEMBER, 1928 



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 



Blanche Spurr, Ass't. Agent 



Nora Foley, Clerk 



Office at 184 Main St., 

 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 



Oflficers 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 



because it is profoundly influenc'ng rural 

 men and women and teaching them to 

 study, to analyze, to resolve and to do." 



INFLUENCE OF 



EXTENSION WORK 



Dr. C. B. Smith, Chief, Office of Co- 

 operative Extension Work Washington, 

 D. C. summarizes the influence of cooper- 

 ative extension work on rural life as 

 follows : 



"A farming people who know more 

 clearly than ever before the why of the 

 job and the way for doing it more effi- 

 ciently." 



"A broadened people who are taking 

 part in larger degree than ever before in 

 the rural affairs of the community, coun- 

 ty, State and Nation." 



"A thinking and more altruisically-in- 

 clined people, who are living a larger 

 social and neighborly life." 



"A more satisfied people because their 

 minds are interested and they feel them- 

 selves more largely a part of the world 

 of affairs." 



"Farm people with greater pride in 

 their calling." 



"Extension work is encouraging all 

 these things," says Doctor Smith "and 

 each year showing how they may be ob- 

 tained in still larger measure. Extension 

 work is profoundly influencing rural life 



TEN WEEKS WINTER 



SCHOOL CATALOGS 



READY FOR PUBLIC 



Bulletins are now being sent out an- 

 nouncing the Winter Short Courses in 

 Agriculture and Home Economics at M. 

 A. C, running from January 2 to March 

 15, 1929. 



Complete special courses are offered 

 for fruitmen, poultrymen, and greens- 

 keepers with a minimum registration of 

 10 students required in each of the special 

 courses. The course for greenskeepers, 

 which has to be limited to fifteen students, 

 has proved very popular as indicated by 

 receipt of 13 applications already, three 

 months in advance of the opening date. 



A wide choice of elective courses is also 

 offered for persons not interested in the 

 special courses, all aiming to help the 

 farmer or home maker to a better under- 

 standing of the farm and home problems. 



Among the subjects presented for the 

 men are Soils, Field Crops, Live Stock 

 Breeding and Feeding, Farm Manage- 

 ment, Farm Motors, Marketing of Farm 

 Products, Vegetable Gardening, Canning 

 and Preserving of Fruits and Vegetables, 

 and Plant Diseases. 



Four Courses For Women 



For the women there are four attrac- 

 tive courses in Foods and Nutrition, Tex- 

 tiles and Clothing, Health Education, and 

 Home Management. 



Advance applicants are required from 

 students not later than December 20, 

 1928, indicating courses selected, because 

 it is not possible to offer courses with less 

 than six .students registered. In the special 

 fruit and poultry programs at least ten 

 students are required. Fees — tuition 

 $10.00— registration $5.00. 



A .short ten day course in "Milk Testing 

 and Milk Plant Operation" will be given 

 from January 14 to January 25 and an- 

 other ten day course in "Ice Cream Mak- 

 ing" is scheduled from January 28 to 

 February 8. 



Fees for the dairy course are: Tuition 

 $2.00, registration $2.00. No other labo- 

 ratory fees are charged. 



Any student is eligible to Winter School 

 courses who is at least 18 years old and 

 who has completed eighth grade work in 

 school. 



Grace LaBombard has relieved Eliza- 

 beth Kirby as leader of one of the six 

 sewing clubs in Huntington. Grace is 

 one of the five junior leaders who in turn 

 are led by Miss Cassie Sullivan, Domestic 

 Arts Instructor. 



County Agent's Report 



Continued froin page 1, column 1 

 their second year in 1928. 



Several of the men have seeded about 

 12 pounds of Kentucky blue grass, 2 

 pounds of white Dutch clover and 3 

 pounds of timothy with the sweet clover. 

 This is done when the men wish to work 

 back into a permanent pasture sod which 

 will carry more cows per acre than the 

 original. 



There are three pasture fertilization 

 plots in Hampshire County which were 

 put on by Roland Payne in 1926. On 

 these plots are varying amounts of lime 

 and fertilizer and in 1928 two of these 

 were fenced ofl'. It was noted that the 

 pasture grasses grew at least twice as 

 tall on the fertilized as on the unferti- 

 lized. Besides that the blue grass and 

 white Dutch clover had crowded out the 

 sorrel and moss on the fertilized plots. 

 One ton of lime per acre plus a complete 

 fertilizer gave the most marked response. 

 Similar results have been noted at diff^er- 

 ent experiment station plots. Such ferti- 

 lization on many of our pastures will lead 

 to more economical milk production. 



In 1926 an intensive campaign which 

 stressed the value of lime for onions was 

 run in the county with the result that 

 liming for onions has become a general 

 practice in the valley. The county agent 

 had a large number of calls from onion 

 growers who wished their soil tested for 

 acidity in order that they might know 

 how much lime to apply for onions. 



Ten farmers entered the 300 Bushel 

 Potato Club in the spring of 1928 and 

 four of that number produced over 300 

 bushels of potatoes per acre. For the 

 complete story of the individual with the 

 highest yield you should refer to the 

 November issue of the Farmei-s' Monthly. 



The value of adequate and timely 

 spraying was brought out more forcefully 

 than ever in 1928. 



Animal Husbandry 



The cow test association was continued 

 through 1928 with an average member- 

 ship of twenty-seven. Monthly summaries 

 are sent out each month to all members 

 and an eff'ort is made to include some 

 timely subject matter information each 

 month. The average herd production for 

 1928 was 8,3.50 pounds of milk and 318 

 pounds of fat. F. D. Steele of Cumming- 

 ton had the highest producing herd with 

 17.062 pounds of milk and 570 pounds of 

 fat. 



In December 1927 a Tested Herd 

 Owner's Association was formed in 

 Hamp.shire County. There are now 150 

 members of this organization and their 

 biggest piece of work, in cooperation with 

 similar organizations in other counties, 

 was to actively work for passage of the 

 increased indemnity law which went into 

 Continued on page 8. column 1 



