HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THK 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Rolnnil A. Payne, fount >' AgenI 

 Mildreal \V. Itoioe, 



Home Oeiiion.s(riiti<»ii A^eiit 

 llenii fi. Krhiird, <'oilnty <'llil> A;^i'n( 

 >Iar> C. 0'I-e«r>-, Clerk 

 >Iai*y Sullivan, Anst. f'lerk 



Office First National Bank Building- 

 Northampton, Mas.s. 



Knlui'ed as second class maltei' Nov. 9. 

 1915, at the Post Office at Northampton, 

 Massachusetts, under the Act of March 

 8, 1870. 



'*Notiee of Kntry" 



"Acceptance for mailing at special rate 

 of posta.ge provided for in section 1103, 

 Act of October 3, 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31, 1917. 



I'rlee, ,"0 cents :i >ear 



Officers of the Trustees 



Edwin B. Clapp, President 

 Charles E. Clark, Vice-President 

 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 

 Geo. E. Tinimins, Ware 

 Milton S. Howes, Cummington 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 John A. Sullivan, Northampton 

 Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 



POULTRY MEN 



SHOULD GROW MANGELS 



A Splendiii Succulent Food for Poultry ^.^ ] 



Professor J. C. Graham, head of the 

 poultry department at M. A. C. offers 

 the following timely advice to poultry- 

 men. 



"Authorities on diatetics emphasize the 

 u.se of vegetables as an important part 

 of the daily ration for both man and 

 lower animals. They are valued for their 

 food constituents, vitamines, tonic effect 

 and general aid to digestion. No argu- 

 ments need be advanced, therefore, as 

 to the importance of succulence in the 

 daily ration for poultry. 



Surveys and observations show the 

 winter ration suffers greatly for lack of 

 succulence. In fact, it has been e.sti- 

 mated by some that most poultr.vmen do 

 not feed more than one-tenth the amount 

 they should. This is because they do 

 not produce enough, or are unable to 

 buy such feeds. Two of the best known 

 winter succelent feeds are cabbages and 

 mangels. Because of the difference of 

 keeping quality, our custom at the college 

 is to feed cabbages in the fall as long as 

 they last or until about December 1st; 

 then feed mangels for the rest of the 

 winter and spring or until green stuff 

 can be grown. Since December 1st we 

 have fed about ten tons of mangels. In 

 fact, no other succulents have been given. 



From the second day on, baby chicks 

 get all the mangels they will eat. Adult 



birds will eat about an ounce per day. 

 Our birds, as a whole, have never laid 

 better ; eggs have never hatched so well ; 

 chicks have never grown so rapidly and 

 I believe our mortality has never been 

 so low. We do not claim these results 

 are all attributed to mangels, but they 

 have played an impoitant part. 



Succulents in the form of cabbages, 

 sprouted oats, lettuce, etc. will give as 

 good results and some of them perhaps 

 better. However, we emphasize MAN- 

 GELS because of the ease with which 

 they can be g'ro^v^l, fed and stored; the 

 large yield per acre, low cost and good 

 keeping qualities. 



Many of the older poultrymen know 

 the value of roots of this nature and 

 feed them generously. Others do not. 

 The writer has received a large number 

 of letters the past winter inquiring where 

 mangels or beets could be purchased. 



I suggest that a drive be made this 

 spring to get poultrymen to raise MORE 

 MANGELS or other succulents if they 

 have the facilities. If not, get someone 

 in each locality to raise enough for the 

 poultiymen within a reasonable radius. 

 One farmer recently called the writer 

 on the 'phone and stated there had been 

 such a demand in his neighborhood for 

 mangels the past fall and winter that 

 he intended to raise enough to supply 

 the whole community, even if it required 

 two or three acres. Is it not possible 

 to have this done in hundreds of other 

 places in the State? LET US TRY IT!" 



FREE AIR 



Let us compare the Garage Man and 

 the County Agent for a moment. The 

 former has a sign in his establishment 

 which reads "Free Air;" the latter might 

 well have one offering "Free Advice." 

 Both are at your service. 



You aie driving your car. Suppo.se 

 the Garage Man stops you; states that 

 your tires need air; that if you do not 

 blow them up you will have stone bruises 

 and rim cuts with the result that your 

 tires will cost about twice as much as 

 they should for the sea.son. Being in a 

 hurry, you reply that since it is Your car, 

 Your tires and since You are paying the 

 bills you will run the tires flat if you 

 wish! Such is human nature. 



The County Agent calls at your farm 

 without being a.sked. In the course of 

 conversation you will perhaps say that 

 there is no money in fanning. He asks 

 you to try manure conservation, acid 

 phosphate on manured land, dusting to- 

 bacco seed beds, certified seed potatoes, 

 growing your chickens on new land, or i 

 pruning, spraying and fertilizing your 

 orchard. Being human, you reply that 

 this is your farm ; you have been able ' 

 to pay the fertilizer bill; tobacco and i 



potatoes are risky crops anyway; hens 

 don't know anything; cider apples sold 

 well last year; etc., etc.! and as you 

 have always kept the wolf from the 

 door you will continue to do so at 

 the same old stand in the same old way. 

 The County Agent says "Well! Let me 

 hear from you if I can be of service to 

 you." He drives away knowing better 

 than to call again except upon request! 

 In consetiuence, unless the Garage Man 

 knows you well, he never urges you to 

 use his "Free Air." He knows that you 

 can read and that you know the service 

 is there when you wish it. So it is with 

 the County Agent. If you call him, he 

 knows that you want service quickly and 

 the chances are that you will try out his 

 suggestions. Being human he will make 

 mistakes but these must be few and far 

 apart. He has been of service to others 

 in your town and can be to you if you 

 will let him. His address is .59 Main 

 Street, Northampton. If he is not in, 

 leave the message with the clerk. Bar- 

 ring illness, there is .someone in the office 

 from 8.30 to 5.00 P. M. every day, but 

 Saturday, when the office closes at noon. 



A BIGGER AND 



BETTERIPAPER 



We Would Like Your Comments 



For the past three years the Farmers' 

 Monthly has been sent to you as an eight- 

 page paper. We have felt that with the 

 increased amount of work being carried 

 on that we needed more space to tell 

 our readeis .just what was going on in 

 the county and also to put timely articles 

 on the best ways of doing things. Start- 

 ing with this month, the paper will have 

 twelve pages. 



This gives us an opportunity to run 

 a Farm Bureau page to show members 

 how their five dollar membership fee is 

 being spent and the results that are being- 

 obtained. This is an entirely new de- 

 partment and we feel that all faiiners 

 should be interested in the work the Farm 

 Bureau is carrying on. 



The Agricultural, Club and Home Mak- 

 ing Departments have also been enlarged 

 and we are endeavoring to make these 

 of greater value to you. The agents 

 would welcome items of news interest. 

 May we hear from you? 



