HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



TOBACCO ASSOCIATION NEWS 



Massachusetts Cirowers Interested 



Active work on the Connecticut Valley 

 Tobacco Association began in Massachu- 

 setts by a meeting at Hatfield, June 6. 

 Since that date preliminary education- 

 al meetings have also been held in Hadley, 

 Whately, South Deerfield, Sunderland, 



Southwick 

 and Westfield. In some of the tobacco 

 towns the campaign for signing the con- 

 tract is already well undei- way. Reports 

 from Hatfield show that over eight hun- 



EnteredasseeondcIussmatterNov.H.iaio.atthB,'*"^^ ''"'''' ^ave been signed, in Whately 

 Post Office at Northampton, Massachusetts, imdor 0"^ hundred and seventy-five acres were 



STAFF 



Roland A. Payne, County Ast'nt 

 Mrs. Edith IJ. French, 



Home Demonstration Asent Easthampton, Feeding Hills 



Bena G. £rhard, Coxinty t'luh Atjcnt 

 Mary C. O'Leary, Clerk 



Office First National Bank Building 

 Northampton, Mass. 



the Act of March 8, 1879. 



"Notice of Kntry *' 

 "Acceptance for inailing at special rate of post- 

 age provided tor in section 1103. Act of October If, 

 1917. Authorized Octoljer 31, 1917." 



Price, 50 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Edwin B. Clapp, President 

 Charles E. Clark, Vice-President 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Eoland 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 



signed during the first six days of the 

 campaign. Similar results have been se- 

 cured in Sunderland and Hadley. At 

 the present writing the campaign is not 

 actively started in some of the remaining 

 towns as the canvassers have not yet as- 

 signed the districts. 



Mr. J. W. Alsop of Avon, Conn., who is 

 campaign manager, feels sure that 75',r 

 of the combined acreage of stalk-cut to- 

 bacco will be secured on the association 

 conti-act before August 1st. The results 

 up to date in Massachu.setts indicate that 

 the tobacco growers in this section are so 

 much interested in this proposition as 

 their neighbors in Connecticut. 



When Connecticut Valley Association 

 is complete and organized it will be the 

 first farmers' cooperative selling as.socia- 

 tion of this sort in New England. It is 

 based upon dominant control of the pro- 

 duct as the organization cannot be com- 

 pleted unless it controls 75% of the 

 tobacco acreage. It is also a five year 

 proposition with plans and details ar- 

 ranged for adequate financing. This as- 

 sociation .should stabilize the tobacco 

 market and reduce the speculative side of 

 the business. It will be organized exact- 

 ly on the same lines as were followed in 

 the Burley Tobacco Growers' Association 

 in Kentucky, which has 50,000 members. 



ARE YOUR FRUIT TREES 



TRUE TO NAME? 



New Bulletin Shows How to Tell 

 Varieties 



Not the least of the problems with 

 which orchardists must contend is that of 

 nursery rather than deliberate misstate- 

 ment on the part of the seller of the 

 planting stock. Massachusetts Experi- 

 ment Station Bulletin No. 208, "Leaf 

 Characters of Apple Varieties" just ofi" 

 the press, reports the results of seven 

 years' work in attempting to establish a 

 basis on which trees can be identified pre- 

 vious to fruiting. So successful has this 

 work been that it has been to us the basis 

 for a plan of nursery certification put in- 

 to effect by the Massachu.setts Fruit 

 Growers' Association during the past 

 year. 



In recognizing varieties, especially in 

 the nursery, one must depend largely up- 

 on the leaves; and it is the leaf characters 

 by which one vai-iety may be distinguished 's something else, it is fairly easy to 

 from another which are discus.sed in the show that it is untrue to name. But, 

 bulletin. The author tells which leaves with the possibility of an infinite number 

 to select for study, which parts of the leaf ; of varieties pioduced from seed, it is too 

 are of greatest importance for purposes j much to hope that we will ever be able 

 of identification, and the particular to state positively just what variety an 

 characters which are the distinguishing unknown tree is. 



Every tobacco grower will have an op- 

 portunity to join the association and sign 

 the contract. 



marks of certain varieties. Technical 

 de.scription of the leaves of twenty-six 

 varieties of apples of more or less im- 

 portance in Massachusetts are included, 

 with photographs of characteristic leaves 

 of each of the varieties. 



It should be understood, however, that 

 this method if of more value ip telling 

 what trees are not than determining what 

 trees are. For example, if a tree is sup- 

 posed to be a Baldwin or a Mcintosh and 



POTATO DISEASE CONTROL 



Thorough Sprajing eliminates Risks 



Reports from seed dealers all over the 

 county indicate that there has been a 

 large increase in the amount of seed po- 

 tatoes brought into the county this year. 

 This may mean that the local acreage 

 will be larger than last year or it may 

 mean that farmers are appreciating the 

 value of northern grown seed. Be that 

 as it may. acreage is one thing, the crop 

 next fall is another. Weather conditions 

 and the amount of disease and insect in- 

 jury make a far greater difference in 

 yield than acreage variation. Weather 

 conditions cannot be controlled although 

 tillage methods help overcome some of 

 them. There are, fortunately, methods 

 of controlling blight and insect injury 

 well within the means of every farmer. 



For the man with a large acreage no 

 better form of crop insurance can be ob- 

 tained than investing in a traction power 

 sprayer which sprays four rows at once 

 with three nozzles to the row. After in- 

 vesting in such an outfit it should be u.sed 

 every ten days to two weeks from the 

 time the potatoes are six inches high till 

 the tops die. This will mean from 4 to 

 7 applications per year. 



For the grower with two acres or less, 

 there are several possibilities. The first, 

 which is more uncommon, is to cooperate 

 with the neighboring growers in the pur- 

 chase of a real spray outfit. The second 

 is to rig a barrel pump on a two wheeled 

 rig and to equip a spray boom behind to 

 spray three rows. The third and most 

 promising development is the use of a 

 hand duster. Of the latter there are 

 several on the market which have been 

 greatly improved in the past year. 



The following men in the county are 

 carrying on dusting tests this year: — 

 Amherst, Clarence Hobart, A. F. Taylor, 

 J. E. Hutchins, W. W. Stnith, W. H." At- 

 kins, D. M. Rosebrook; Easthampton, 

 Bruno Zenner, R. A. Johnson; Enfield, 

 M. H. Briggs; Granbn, F. M. Graves, C. 

 W. Ball; Hadley, H. J. Searle and Son; 

 Huntinyton, R. E. Cole; Westhampton ; 

 H. M. Clapp, C. M. Norris, J. R. Clapp, 

 A. T. Edwards, J. C. Hathaway, Ralph 

 Bridgman; Ware, John Lubelczyk. There 

 will probably be other demonstrations 

 signed up before the first of July. Evi- 

 dence as to the efficiency of dusting com- 

 pared to spraying is conflicting but we 

 feel safe in stating that a good job of 

 dusting will be far superior to the or- 

 dinary run of spraying and also to no 

 treatment. 



The objects of spraying and dusting 

 are the same and results depend upon the 

 thoroughness with which the job is done. 

 Both are preventive measures as there 

 is no cure for blight. Conti-ol depends 

 entirely on keeping the plants entirely 

 covered during the growing season. Be- 

 sides contiolling blight Bordeaux sprays 

 Continued on pajje 7, column "i 



