THE FARMERS' MONTHLY, DECEMBER, 1928 



County Agent's Report 



Continued from i):iKe 2. column 3 

 effect December 1, 1928. 



Six towns in the county have over 509^ 

 of the cattle tested. They are the towns 

 of Cunimington, Goshen, Chesterfield, 

 Huntin^on, Worthington and Westhamp- 

 ton. 



The use of skim milk powders for calf 

 feeding has become quite a prevalent 

 practice where dairymen have no milk to 

 feed the calves. By means of Farmers' 

 Monthly articles and community meetings 

 the dairymen were given information in 

 regard to the use of skim milk powders. 



The county agent cooperated with 

 the Hampshire — Franklin — Holstein — 

 Freisian Club in putting on their meet- 

 ings and field days. 



Farm Management 



The poultrymen throughout the county 

 cooperated with the farm management 

 specialist in the state wide poultry ac- 

 count project. By means of information 

 obtained through this project the poultry- 

 men entered are able to operate their 

 business more efficiently. F. D. Steele 

 of Cummington had a production of 21.3.4 

 eggs per bird for his entire flock during 

 the year. 



Fruit 



Pruning and top grafting demonstra- 

 tions were held during the spring in an 

 effort to eliminate the little green apple 

 and to reduce the number of varieties to 

 the New England Seven. The Graven- 

 stein, Wealthy, Delicious, Baldwin, R. I. 

 Greening, Mcintosh and Northern Spy 

 are included in the New England Seven. 



The letter spray service was continued 

 in 1928 at the request of the growers. 



The spray schedules of several of the 

 growers ever correlated with the amount 

 of disease present and recommendations 

 for needed changes were made. 



During National Apple Week attractive 

 window displays were put in several of 

 the merchants' windows in Northampton 

 and Amherst. 



Poultry 



During 1928 wire sun porches on which 

 Continued on next page 



TOBACCO FERTILIZERS 



Dr. P. J. Anderson 



The tobacco farmer has a choice be- 

 tween mixing his own fertilizer or buy- 

 ing it already mixed. For the average 

 grower, home-mixing is less expensive 

 and with even ordinary care the results 

 will be at least just as good as if he ap- 

 plied ready mixed goods. 



For the benefit of those who wish to 

 mix at home, I should like to state the 

 following basic principles on which a 

 tobacco mixture should be built: 



1 — Figure pounds of plant food per 

 acre. Pounds of mixed fertilizer per 



acre mean nothing to the plant. 



2 — An acre of tobacco should receive 

 200 pounds of nitrogen and 200 pounds 

 of potash. For new land about 120 

 pounds of phosphoric acid should be used. 

 For old tobacco land phosphoric acid is 

 not so important. 



3 — About two-thirds of the nitrogen 

 should be from organic carriers. (Cotton- : ™"'" °^ ^^ PO""''^" "^ magnesia per acre, 

 seed meal, castor pomace, linseed meal, ' 8 — There is no one best formula. There 

 fish, etc.) The other third may be taken are many good ones. 



ment from several sources rather than 

 one. 



5 — Avoid all compounds containing 

 more than I'/r of chlorine. 



6 — The sulphur content should be kept 

 as low as practicable. 



7 — The mixture must contain a mini- 



from such mineral sources as nitrate of 

 potash, nitrate of soda, nitrate of lime, 

 or calurea. 



4 — It is better to derive each food ele- 



Materials 



Cottonseed Meal 



Linseed Meal 



Castor Pomace 



Nitrate of Soda 



Nitrate of Lime 



Ammopho.?, (20-20) 



Ammonium Phosphate 



Fish 



Sulphate of Potash 



Nitrate of Potash (German) 



Carbonate of Potash 



Urea 



Calurea 



Precipitated Bone 



Steamed Bone 



Bone Meal 



Double Manure Salts 



Cottonhull Ash 



Some of the materials which may be 

 used in tobacco mixtures, with their ap- 

 proximate average analyses, are listed 

 below: 



With these analyses before him and keeping in mind the principles on which 

 the mixture should be baled, the grower may sit down and figure out dozens of 

 good formulae. 



If he buys ready mixed goods, he should insist that they conform to the prin- 

 ciples laid down above. 



As an example of how the formula may be built: 



Phosphoric 

 Nitrogen Acid Potash Magnesia 



102 45 30 10.5 



27 10 5 4.0 



34 

 37 



Materials 



C. S. Meal 



Castor Pomace 



Calurea 



300 lbs. Nitrate of Potash 



200 lbs. Precipitated Bone 



125 lbs. Double Manure Salts. . 



1500 lbs 

 500 lbs 

 100 lbs 



76 



132 

 33 



14.0 



200 131 200 28.5 



This formula, which is no better than dozens of others, furnishes an adequate 

 supply of all nutrients. 



r:= 



DUCO 



THE QUICK DRYING PAINT 



Easy to apply. Dries Hard. Fifteen beautiful colors. 

 In a very short time you can tastefully refinish so many items 

 about your home at a very little expense. 



That Good Hardware Store 



Tel. 11 



Open 



Foster-Farrar Co. if^^^^y 



162 Main Street 



Northampton, Mass. 



