HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



DO YOU BELIEVE IN SIGNS? ASSISTANT COUNTY CLUB 



STAFF 



Rnland A. Paynp, County Asent 

 Mrs. Kilitli t>. French, 



Home Demonstration Aeent 

 Bena G. Erhard, County ("litb Aecnt 

 Mary C. O'Leary, Clerk 



Office First National Bank Building 

 Northampton, Mass. 



Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 191.5. at the 

 Post Office at Northampton, Massachusetts, under 

 the Act of March 8. 1879. 



'* Notice of Entry" 

 ''Acceptance for mailing at special rate of post- 

 age provided for in section 1108, Act of October 'S 

 1917. Authorized October 31, 1917." 

 Prire, 50 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Edwin B. Clapp, President 

 Charles E. Clark, Vice-President 

 Wan-en 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 



MOLASSES DRAWS THEM BUT 

 DYNAMITE IS SOME STARTER 



This past winter Prof. C. J. Fawcet, 

 Extension Dairy Specialist and the Coun- 

 ty Agent held several series of meetings 

 on the economical feeding of dairy cattle. 

 These meetings were called for at commu- 

 nity meetings and as no two men in any 

 town feed the same there seemed to be a 

 need for this work. We have not checked 

 up results of these meetings but the let- 

 ter quoted is an unsolicited testimonial 

 of the benefit one man received from these 

 meetings. The part of the letter in 

 capitals shows where the dynamite was 

 applied. 



"I thought I would write and tell you 

 of my experience and benefit I received 

 from our meeings." The first few 

 meetings that were held on feeding dairy 

 cows, I did not pay much attention to 

 them as I did not think that the new 

 way would pay for the little increase of 

 milk one would get. The last meeting on 

 this subject, YOU CALLED ME DOWN 

 for not trying some of the things that 

 were talked of at the meetings. So I 

 tried the new ration and have kept it up 

 receiving 20 per cent more milk and my 

 cows look 25'a better and it has not cost 

 one cent more." 



Those on Demonstrations are for You 



In the past we have been of a rather 

 retiring nature and have not given dem- 

 onstrations which are being carried on 

 proper publicity. There are many demon- 

 strations being carried on this year which 

 should benefit all the people in the com- 

 munity. So that you may know where 

 these demonstrations are we have had 

 signs printed for each demonstration. 

 They are all similar to the following and 

 state ju.st which demonstration is being 

 carried on at the farm where the sign is 

 displayed. 



I 



THIS MAY HELP YOU! 

 CERTIFIED 



vs. 



OTHER POTATO SEED 



Demonstration on This Farm 



HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 

 EXTENSION SERVICE 



Wherever possible these signs will be 

 placed where crops are growing. In 

 many cases this will be impossible so 

 demonstrators will be a.sked to display 

 them on their barns or in a conspicuous 

 place. If you see a sign stating that a 

 demonstration is being carried on which 

 is of interest to you, stop and ask about it. 

 It may help solve one of your particular 

 problems. 



PASTURE IMPROVEMENT 



Have You Seen the Demonstration In 

 Your Town ? 



While visiting a certain town in Scot- 

 land a tourist was being shown the points 

 of interest. On climbing a hill he noticed 

 a cow eating between the rocks which 

 were everywhere more than abundant. 

 "Sandy", said he to his guide, "how does 

 that cow live in this poor pasture?" 

 "Hoot Mon," replied Sandy, "Do na look 

 at the pasture, look at the view!" 



Too many of our Hamp.shire County 

 pastures are becoming more famous for 

 their view than for the feed they furnish 

 live stock. Perhaps this is as it should 

 be in view of the fact that there is a New 

 England wide movement to make this sec- 

 tion a summer resort area. However, 

 there will always be an opportunity for 

 live stock and there are some men who 

 will look to the improvement of their 

 pa.stures to cheapen the cost of producing 

 dairy products. Fortunately, too, there 

 are, in practically every town in the 

 county, men who have demonstration plots 

 showing what acid phosphate will do. 



The outstanding demonstration is on 

 the farm of C. M. Thayer in Cummington. 



AGENT APPOINTED 



Has Been Club Member 



Miss Faina Thouin has been appointed 

 asistant county club agent for the sum- 

 mer. She is a resident of Easthampton 

 where she used to be a club member. In 

 1917 she was town garden champion. She 

 has now completed a two year course at 

 M. A. C. 



Last summer she helped lead the East- 

 hampton canning club. This winter she 

 has lead a very successful sewing club 

 in Amherst. 



She will come to the county June 20th. 

 She will do work particularly with the 

 garden and canning club members. 



Three years ago a quarter acre plot was 

 laid off' and Acid Phosphate at the rate 

 of 400 lbs. per acre applied to quarter of 

 it. One-half of the plot had Acid Phos- 

 phate and Lime and the other quarter 

 had Lime alone at the rate of 1000 lbs. 

 per acre. To-day this fertilized plot 

 carries more feed than an acre of the sur- 

 rounding pasture. The Acid phosphate 

 plot and the one where acid phosphate 

 and lime was applied are the best while 

 lime alone has not shown much benefit. 



It is interesting to note the diff'erences 

 in the herbage on the fertilized and 

 unfertilized plots. On the latter the 

 growth is mostly wild grasses which 

 are not very platable to live stock. 

 On this part of the pasture there is some 

 white clover but the plants are weak and 

 one has to look closely to see them. On 

 the acid phosphate plots the white clover 

 is dominant and furnishes such good feed 

 that the cattle keep it cropped down as 

 closely as though a lawn mower had been 

 run over it. 



The same results have been noted on all 

 other demonstrations of the county so the 

 use of lime has been discontinued and 

 acid phosphate alone is being used. Last 

 year demonstrations were started with 

 Fred Cole, Plainfield; Fred Thayer, 

 Chesterfield ; Ralph Cole, Huntington ; 

 and E. H. Alderman, Middlefield. All of 

 these pastures should show results this 

 year. In fact, Fred Thayer's pasture in 

 Chesterfield showed striking results last 

 year. 



This year we have started demonstra- 

 tions with Arthur Kingsley, Southamp- 

 ton ; J. A. Burr, Huntington ; D. M. Rose- 

 brook, South Amherst; C. D. Lyman, 

 Granby; J. G. Cook and E. P. West, Had- 

 ley; M. D. Griflfin, Ware; and Myron 

 Clapp in Westhampton. On the first 

 three, white clover seed was sown on half 

 the plot so as to see if there would be a 

 benefit from seeding at the same time that 

 the Acid Phosphate was applied. 



All of these demonstrations are for 

 your benefit. Follow them this summer as 

 we are sure that they will interest you. 



