HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 



Roland A. Payiio, Coxiiity Agent 

 Mrs. Edith I>. Freiwli. 



Hciiiie Deuionstmtion Affent 

 Bella G. Erliard, Comity <'lub Asent 

 Mary C. O'Leary, Clerk 



Office First National Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 



Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 1915, at the 

 Post Office at Northampton, Massachusetts, under 

 the Act ot llarch 8, 1879, 



** Notice of Entry " 



"Acceptance for mailing at special rate of post- 

 age provided for in section 1103, Act of October 3 

 1917. Authorized October 31, 1917." 



I*riee, 50 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Edwin B. Clapp, Pre.sident 

 Charles E. Clark, Vice-Pi-esident 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Boland 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 



TO VISIT THE SICK 



AND TO BURY THE DEAD 



Aaron Sapiro, organizer and attorney 

 for over 50 successful cooperative associa- 

 tions, speaking before 1,800 tobacco 

 gTOwers of the Connecticut Valley, stated 

 that too many existing cooperative asso- 

 ciations were functioning merely to visit 

 the sick and to bury the dead. Necessary 

 and commendable as is this service there 

 are existing organizations which can and 

 will do this far better than cooperative 

 buying and selling organizations. 



Organizations are what their members 

 make them! Are you requesting sick 

 and burial service of those to which you 

 belong? Perhaps you don't know what 

 we mean so here are a few examples. 

 Your local buying association gets in a 

 car of Bran at $10 less per ton than the 

 local dealer. You buy and save $10. 

 They order again and sell for $10 above 

 the dealer. You don't buy and save $10 

 and then laugh at the members who 

 stuck, yet then saved you $20. Or per- 

 haps you sell apples. Things look du- 

 bious. You tell the manager to sell your 

 crop. In a few days you hear the asso- 

 ciation got $5 a barrel. Some one whom 

 you don't know comes along and offers 

 you $5 per barrel on you farm without 



WHERE ARE YOUR 



DOLLARS GOING? 



How Many Do You Expect to Come 

 Back? 



Fertilizer orders are being placed. Some 

 farmers are paying cash, while others ex- 

 pect to pay at least when crops are har- 

 vested. Certified seed potatoes are now a 

 necessity on farms where potatoes are a 

 cash crop. Spray material for the or- 

 chard, as well as the potato field, has to 

 be purchased on nearly every farm. 

 That everlasting grain bill has to be met 

 each month and the hired man has to be 

 satisfied with money, as well as three 

 square meals a day. 



Will you pay out, before the season is 

 over, $.500, $1000, $.3000 or $5000? Taking 

 a conservative estimate of possible re- 

 ceipts for the year from your milk check, 

 your cash crops as apples, potatoes, truck 

 crops, and your poultry and eggs, ought 

 your gross receipts to equal $2000, $3000, 

 $5000 or $10,000? Your profits will de- 

 pend on how much you take in. That 

 seems a rather foolish statement but some 

 farmers make plans for spending their 

 money and forget about what the returns 

 should be. 



Remember the fact that in nearly 

 every community one farmer in three is 

 losing money and the average farmer is 

 only getting hired man's wages. It is the 

 farmer whose business is above the aver- 

 age who is making an attractive profit. 



Make your plans, not from gtiesses, 

 but, from facts. Start now with the 

 FARM ACCOUNT BOOK. Put down 

 now where the dollars are going so that 

 you will know where to look for them 

 when you need them to come back. If 

 you haven't an account book, send twenty- 

 five cents to your County Agent and tell 

 him to send a Massachusetts Farm Ac- 

 count Book in a hurry. Take your in- 

 ventory and start off on a business basis. 



the barrel for your crop. You sell to 

 him. Then when the manager of the 

 association telephones for you to deliver 

 you say, "I've sold my apples!" Or per- 

 haps you belong to a milk association and 

 your sales committee sets the price at 7 

 cents per quart delivered in consuming 

 centers. Your dealer tells you what a 

 whale of a surplus there is and if you 

 don't believe it ,iust keep back five cans 

 a day or your milk for a day or two 

 a week. He says 6 cents is all he can 

 pay! And you let him have it all so he 

 may do the same with every other pro- 

 ducer. 



Thus it is that when things go wrong 

 we all join in the chorus against the co- 

 operative. It illustrates a very few of 

 the many things which cause cooperatives 

 to function merely to visit the sick and 

 to bury the dead. If this is the service 

 you desire, pay foi' it but don't squeal! 



FARM BUSINESS 



STUDIES BASIS OF 



FARM MANAGEMENT 



More Records of Typical Farms will be 

 Summarized 



Studies of the farm business of typi- 

 cal sections of the State will again form 

 ihe basis of Extension teaching in farm 

 management. The farm surveys made 

 in Littleton, Boxborough and Sheffield 

 last year have served as .subject-matter 

 for courses in farm management at the 

 college, and have been discussed at Ex- 

 tension schools and with groups of 

 farmers interested in the efficient or- 

 ganization of their farm business. 



In these three townships farm ac- 

 counts will be studied again this year, 

 and in other towns similar surveys will 

 be made by county agents and students 

 in farm management, under the direc- 

 tion of the farm management specialist. 

 In Plymouth County Professor Mac- 

 Dougall and Agent Baker plan studies 

 of the poultry business on seventy-five 

 or eighty farms. In Granville, and 

 probably in two other hill towns, one 

 in Franklin County and one in Hamp- 

 shire County, similar farm surveys will 

 be made. From the accurate and de- 

 tailed records so secured the farm man- 

 agement specialist expects to be able to 

 make definite recommendations for the 

 combinations of farm enterprises that 

 are already proving most successful in 

 typical areas of Massachusetts. 



Labor records for some of the princi- 

 pal crops of the State will be kept by 

 a number of farmers co-opei-ating with 

 the Extension Service, and these records 

 should give valuable data on the time 

 requirements and possible seasonal con- 

 flicts of important crops. 



The summaries of the farm business 

 of many co-operating farmers will be 

 used in farm management teaching, and 

 together with farm tours, which serve 

 to introduce groups of farmers to the 

 working operation of the best manage- 

 ment methods, will form much of the 

 Extension teaching in farm management. 



HIGH SCHOOL DAY AT M. A. C. 



May 6, I0>2 



Many club boys and girls will be in- 

 terested in high school day at M. A. C. 

 If you are thinking of going there to col- 

 lege, you will be well repaid by attending^ 

 this day which is given to introducing 

 boys and girls to the college. There are 

 tours of inspection about the grounds, 

 stunts, a baseball game and entertain- 

 ment in the evening. If you care for 

 more information write to the Alumni 

 Secretary, M. A. C. or to Miss Erhard, 

 Hamp.shire County Club Agent, North- 

 ampton, Mass. 



