HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFK 



Kolaiid A. Payiu', County Aseiit 

 Mary C'lieiiey <"ai'i»«'iiter. Home Dciii. Aeciit 

 Bena <i. Krharil, County <'Im1> Aj^elit 

 l»tary C. O'Leary. Clerk 



Office First National Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 



Entered as second (!lass niiitterNov. 9, I'Jlo. at the 

 Post Office at Xorthanipton. Massachusetts, under 

 the Act of March 8. IHTa. 



"Notice of Kntry " 



"Acceptance for mailing at special rate of post- 

 age provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3, 

 1917. Authorized October 31, 1917." 



Price, 50 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Edwin B. Clapp, President 

 Charles E. Clark, Vice-Pre.sident 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Roland A. Payne, Secretary 



Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture 



Edwin B. Clapp, Easthampton 

 Charles E. Clark, Leeds 

 Clarence E. Hodgkins, Northampton 

 William N. Howard, Ware 

 Milton S. Howes, Cummington 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 John A. Sullivan, Northampton 

 Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 



FIVE QUART COWS 



How Many Do You Own ? 



The 1920 Census states that the cows 

 of Hampshire County produced on an 

 average 4451 gallons of milk in 1919. 

 This means an average daily production 

 of less than five quarts. If these figures 

 are correct and they were the ones you 

 gave the census taker, real good cows 

 must be almost as scarce as hens' teeth 

 and it would be absolutely true that there 

 was no money in dairying. Even first 

 calf heifers .should do far better than 

 these figures to be profitable. 



If these figures are not correct they do 

 show however that the farmers of this 

 county do not know what their cows are 

 doing. There is just one suie way of 

 knowing. Weigh the milk. It only 

 takes a moment yet it is time well spent. 

 We will furnish recoi'd sheets and would 

 be glad to help you in the study of the.se 

 records. If you haven't the time to 

 weigh your milk why not join a cow test- 

 ing association and hii-e it done. Other 

 progressive farmers have found this 

 profitable. 



It is an interesting fact that many of 

 our best dairymen weigh each cow's milk 



POTATO DEMONSTRATION 



They are to Help you 



"Seeing is believing" .so the old adage 

 goes even though the story is told of the 

 man who saw a giraffe for the first time 

 and stated "there ain't no such animal". 

 So let it be with potatoes. In practically 

 every field where northern gi'own seed 

 has been planted beside home grown .seed, 

 the advantage has been decidedly with 

 the former. Yet how many farmers are 

 using seed from the same potatoes year 

 after year? 



At the Middlefield Fair, Geo. McElwain 

 brought in the product of six hills of cer- 

 tified seed and of si.x hills of home-grown 

 seed. The certified seed yielded fully 

 one-third more marketable potatoes. 

 With potatoes .selling around two dollars 

 a bushel, this means real money, even 

 though certified seed cost a lot in the 

 spring. 



There are demon.strations of this kind 

 in practically every town in the county 

 wheie the potato crop is of commercial 

 importance. The jiroblem of the county 

 agent is to bring the results of these 

 demonstrations before as many people in 

 the county as possible. At present we 

 are trying to arrange digging bees so 

 that every farmer in the locality will 

 have a chance to see the potatoes actually 

 dug and weighed. If you receive a notice 

 of such a party, come — it will not hurt 

 you and the results may mean dollars in 

 your pocket. 



Ain't It the Truth? 



Beware the deadly sitting habit. 

 Or, if you sit, be like the rabbit, 

 Who keepeth ever on the jump 

 By springs concealed beneath his rump. 

 A little ginger 'neath the tail 

 Will oft for lack of brains avail; 

 Avoid the dull and slothful seat. 

 And move about with willing feet. 

 Man was not made to sit a-trance. 

 And press and press and press his pants. 

 But rather with an open mind, 

 To circulate among his kind. 

 And so, my son, avoid the snare 

 Which lurks within the cushioned chair; 

 To run like Hell, it has been found, 

 Both feet must be on the ground. 



— (Selected by The Hancock Co., 

 Me., Farm Bureau News from "Field 

 Afar".) 



not once in a while but every day. With 

 recoi'ds of this kind it is not hard to test 

 out changes of ration and to tell whether 

 you are feeding the best ration possible. 

 If the records are summarized you can 

 tell which cows are really paying their 

 way and get rid of the poor ones. Be- 

 sides these material gains there is a feel- 

 ing of satisfaction in knowing just how 

 much each cow gives in a year. In fact 

 the dairyman who keeps records takes 

 more pride in his cows and gives far 

 better care than the man who simply has 

 twenty quart cows. 



TIMOTHY COVER CROP 



A Substitute for Manure 



The benefits of timothy as a cover crop 

 on tobacco farms has been shown by ex- 

 periments and this practice has been car- 

 ried on to some extent by our tobacco far- 

 mers There are however far too few 

 using the method of maintaining soil 

 fertility. 



The following statement by County 

 Agent Ben Southwick of Hartford 

 County summarizes the benefits to be de- 

 rived from a timothy cover crop. 



"Our figures for timothy show that 

 on the average the top and root growth 

 will furnish Sh tons of organic matter per 

 acre. This is as much humus material 

 as 15 tons of manure furnish. In addi- 

 tion a large amount of nitrogen is taken 

 up from the soil and therefore prevented 

 from leaching out during the winter. 

 Approximately 160 pounds of nitrogen 

 and 150 pounds of potash were contained 

 per acre in the timothy cover crops 

 analyzed. This does not mean that these 

 fertilizer materials were added to the soil, 

 but the growing of timothy prevented 

 their being leached away, thereby helping 

 to save this fertility for next year's use. 

 Our results show that timothy as a cover 

 crop may be correctly considered as a 

 substitute for manure and of value to 

 every tobacco grower." 



REMOVE FILLER TREES NOW 



To Increase Orchard Crops Later 



Now is a fine time to remove those 

 filler trees that are beginning to crowd 

 the orchard. Next spring they may give 

 promi.^e of a crop and the temptation 

 to wait for one more crop may become 

 too strong. I wonder how many thou- 

 sands of filler trees e.scaped the axe last 

 spring on account of that "one more 

 crop" which was expected but failed to 

 mature. 



The les.sened production occasioned by 

 the removal of fillers is much less than is 

 commonly supposed. The permanent 

 trees are far more valuable than the fil- 

 lers, for they will soon produce crops 

 larger than all the filler crops put to- 

 gether. It is a matter of observation 

 that three or four years after fillers are 

 taken out the permanent trees usually 

 produce larger crops than the orchard 

 ever produced before, and the crops in- 

 crease rapidly with the growth of the 

 trees. 



When fillers begin to crowd the perma- 

 nent trees, every year they stay in the 

 orchard means a further loss to the fruit 

 grower, no matter what the fillers pro- 

 duce. Before the tops begin to crowd the 

 roots must be badly interlaced for they 

 extend outward from the trunk several 

 times as far as the branches. This 

 crowding must retard the development of 

 the permanent trees and delay the time 



Continued on page 5. c-olumn 1 



