HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



HAMPSHIR 



COUNXY CLUB WORK 



PRIZE WINNING 



HANDICRAFT STORY 



Champion Scores 99.8 ' ; 



When Mr. Farley judged the work 

 done by the prize winner, he scored it 

 99.8%. That is sufficient to say about 

 the grade of the work done. Following 

 is the story: 



When I started in the Handicraft club, 

 I didn't know what to make but after 

 looking over a book on Handicraft I 

 found an illustration and work dimen- 

 tions for a cabinet so I thought I would 

 attempt it for my household article and 

 a checker board for my toy. I started 

 right away to keep a record of the hours 

 of chores I did at home. Then I went 

 down street and bought boards at the box 

 shop for my cabinet and about two weeks 

 after I bought the boards for my checkei' 

 board. 



The side boards of the cabinet wei-e 

 about three feet high and the shelves 

 were I62 inches long and 11 3/16 inches 

 wide. Then I started to sandpaper the 

 boards to get them smooth and it took a 

 few hours to do that. I made grooves in 

 the boards just the thickness of the 

 shelves to make them stronger than the 

 shelves and the sideboards began to warp 

 so I put them in the sun with the convex 

 side to the sun and the concave side to 

 the ground so the dampness of the earth 

 on the concave side and the heat of the 

 sun on the convex side would make them 

 .straight but it didn't do it so I took the 

 boards into the house and put them over 

 a kettle of boiling hot water and the 

 steam in time straightened them. Next 

 I put the shelves in the side boards where 

 the grooves were in and put in three 

 round headed screws to hold them steady. 

 Next I cut out the pieces for the door. 

 First I cut out two pieces which were 18^ 

 inches long and 3 inches wide and two 

 other ones which were 16* inches long 

 and 3 inches wide. The door was 18J 

 inches wide, which was joined by mor- 

 tising together. I cut out a panel which 

 fitted into the .square. The tenons were 

 glued and the panels were held in place 

 by a groove. When the glue was dry 

 the door was ready to put on the hinges. 

 The door covered two of the shelves and 

 left the third one open. The back of the 

 cabinet was of sheathing matched boards. 

 The back I nailed on with finishing nails. 

 After it was all together, I stained it oak 

 color. 



Next I started my checker board. 

 First I sandpapered the board which was 

 31 2 inches long and 19 inches wide. On 

 the four sides were nailed stripes 5/8 

 inches thick and wide enough to stand 

 5/8 of an inch above the board. These 

 stripes were mitered at the corners. 



FAIRS AGAIN! 



Everybody There 



Fair season is on us again. At every 

 fair in the county we want a good boys 

 and girls exhibit. Here are the dates: 



Middlefield— Aug. 31-Sept. 1. 



Worcester— Sept. 2-6. 



Cummington — Sept. 8-9. 



Ware— Sept. 9-10. 



Greenfield— Sept. 13-15. 



Eastern States— Sept. 18-24. 



Northampton — Oct. 4=6 



Remember, Boys and Girls, the direc- 



I tors of our County Fair are banking on 



j us. They are making one day, Oct. 4th, 



the big feature of the day. It is only 



right that we do our part. Let us have 



this aim — 



1. Every club member an e.xhibitor. 



2. Every club membei- in some athe- 

 letic event. 



! 3. Every club member on a club float. 



Here are a few things to remember in 

 getting ready for exhibits. 

 I 1. Exhibit your best product. 



2. Freaks ai-e always disqualified. 



3. Have all articles in one entiy match 



as nearly as possible. 



4. Get things clean and in good con- 

 dition. 







Five inches from either end of the board 

 were nailed narrow stripes making a tray 

 for the checkers. Then I bought a can of 

 j red paint and a can of black paint. I 

 painted the back red and it struck in .so 

 that I painted it again. When I painted 

 the top of it I found when I was about 

 through that the paint was too thick so 

 I put in some turpentine and thinned it 

 and painted the re.st of it, that made the 

 board a light red and a dark red and the 

 I dark was rough so that I gave it a good 

 rubbing down with pumise stone to make 

 it smooth. I learned that it was not the 

 best to thin paint in the middle of a job. 

 When finished I marked out the squares 

 which were IJ inches by 1 5/8 inches, on 

 the length and 12 on the width. Every 

 other one was painted black like any 

 checker board. 



Next I got a broom handle and sliced 



it up for checkers which were 5/8 of an 



i inch thick and I had to cut out 48 of 



[ them. Half of these were painted black 



' and the other half red then I was 



finished. The boards for the cabinet cost 



me $1.60 and for my checker board $1.50 



' and the paint for the checkers cost me 



$.45 and for the cabinet $.30, making the 



total cost of my material this year $3.85. 



In our school the hall sink pipe was 



filled up with sand and last winter it 



bui'st so that it leaked badly and needed 



20 CLUB MEMBERS MADE 

 I $492.00 IN POULTRY 



I Amherst Boy Champion 



Taking the figures for the first twenty 

 to report in the 1920-1921 Poultry Club, 

 the following results are shown: 



247 birds laid 46,284 eggs, valued at 

 $827.68. This made an average of 66 

 eggs per bird. In addition $140.65 worth 

 of fowl was sold. Total expense for the 

 year were $1016.25 and receipts $1508.16, 

 making a profit of $491.91. 



Of the 960 eggs set 571 were raised, 

 valued at $288.10. 



The highest profit per bird made by 

 Lewell Walker of Amherst, the county 

 champion, was $4.82 per bird and it is 

 interesting to note that this was 

 not in any way due to prize money for by 

 chance the only show he was at gave rib- 

 bons. 



Michael Soopka of Ware 7 won second 

 place and Osborne West of Hadley re- 

 ceives honorable mention for placing 

 third. 



Following is the story of the County 

 Champion : 



MY FLOCK OF HENS 



Last fall I decided I would like to keep 

 some hens. So my father said he would 

 help me build a hen house. We found 

 enough wood and old chicken wire in the 

 cellar to make a small house and yard. 

 All we had to buy were two hinges and 

 fencing for the yard. 



A few days after the house was com- 

 pleted a man asked if we wished to buy 

 his Ancona chickens as he was moving 

 and had to sell them. We bought them 

 for twenty dollars. There were eleven 

 roosters and thirteen pullets. They were 

 hatched in .June and we bought them in 

 August. As soon as they were big 

 enough we ate all but one of the roosters. 

 The meat of the roosters weighed twenty- 

 nine pounds and was worth about six- 

 teen dollars. A little later one of my 

 pullets died so now I have twelve pullets 

 and one rooster. They are full blooded 

 Ancona stock. 



Their egg production began November 



eleventh when they were about five 



months old and they have averaged about 



one hundred and ten eggs per bird. I 



Continued on pane .'>. column 1 



fixing. The pipe was made of lead so it 

 was not hard to get "out. I got a pipe 

 down to the house and the next morning 

 put it in the sink, so my repaired article 

 was finished. 



In this year's work, I have learned to 

 use many more tools than 1 did in the 

 first year's and have liked it so would 

 like to take it again next year. 



Ernest King, Age 12, 



Ware, Mass., Dist. 7. 



