HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



CLUB WORK 



ANNUAL POULTRY 



TOUR HELD 



'EASTERN STATES PLANS OUT CANDIDATES FOR CAMP VAIL 



Successful in spite of Kain 



On April 28th, the annual poultry club 

 tour was held. Much rain did not seem 

 to dampen the spirits of the five crowded 

 cars of Hampshire club members. The 

 trip started fiom Northampton at nine 

 o'clock. At Westfield the group was 

 joined by a goodly number of Hampden 

 County Club Members. The first farm 

 to be visited was that of Mr. W. A. Mun- 

 son of Huntington. As Mr. Munson is 

 the local poultry club leader of the town, 

 there were some of the club members who 

 felt decidedly at home. Mr. Munson has 

 some of the best White Rocks to be found 

 in the state. First he showed the in- 

 cubator cellar. This is part of the house 

 cellar, walled oif. There he has four 390 

 egg Prairie State machines. These were 

 certainly gotten into a small space. Mr. 

 Munson brought out the fact that he was 

 able to better the ventilation by turning 

 the hinge window bottom side up. Ne.xt 

 the group went to see young stock, all 

 ages. Mr. Munson is ridgedly practicing 

 disease control, by rotating the ranges. 



The next farm visited was that of Mr. 

 Max Axelrod of Westfield, who keeps 

 about 3,500 White Leghorns. Here one 

 of the most interesting things was his 

 new $1,160.00, 6,400 egg Wishbone in- 

 cubator. A new laying house, being used 

 for the first time was well looked over. 

 On the young stock range one of the 

 things that took the eye of the club mem- 

 bers was the houses made from cross 

 sections of an old wooden silo. 



The last farm was that of Mr. O. E. 

 Parks of Westfield. He has about 487 

 birds. The greater number of these are 

 Light Brahmas. He has a few Leghorns 

 and Wyandottes. Besides seeing the 

 poultry, the boys were all interested in 

 the splendid root cellar on the place. 



There were club members and leaders 

 from the following towns on the trip; 

 Amherst, Hadley, Hatfield, Smith School, 

 Southampton, and Huntington. Since it 

 is a matter of history that there is usu- 

 ally car trouble on the poultry trip, no 

 one was surprised when a bearing was 

 burned out in the club agent's car. In 

 spite of such mishaps, and the constant 

 rain, all felt this to be one of the best 

 poultry trips ever made. We were cer- 

 tainly glad to have the Hampden County 

 people on the trip. 



Great Poultry and Calf Club Plans 



This year there is to be a bigger and 

 better exhibit at Eastern States of Mas- 

 sachusetts dairy and poultry club work. 

 In addition to the exhibits there is an 

 extensive program planned. 



This year there will be about 60 calves 

 shown. These will be of the four main 

 dairy breeds, and each breed will have 

 four classes. These will be calves 6 to 

 12 months, 12 to 18 months, 18 to 24, 

 and everything over 2 years. All ages 

 will be reckoned to August 1, 1923. 



The prizes in each class are $50., $35., 

 $25., $15., and six of $10.00. 



The number of calves allowed to go in 

 each breed will be in proportion to the 

 number of that breed being kept by club 

 members throughout the state. The 

 calves to go will be picked by a member 

 of the animal husbandry department of 

 the Agricultural College in the latter 

 part of the summer. All club members 

 having calves good enough to go, will 

 also have the right to go to the Exposi- 

 tion as a member of the calf club camp, 

 with all expenses paid for the week. This 

 certainly looks worth working for. 



In the poultry show there will be a hen, 

 pullet, cock, cockerel, and pen class in 

 each of the following breeds; Barred 

 Plymouth Rock, White Plymouth Rock, 

 Wyandottes, R. I. Reds, White Leghorns, 

 Mediterraneans other than Leghorn, and 

 all other breeds in competition. The 

 prizes in each class except the pen range 

 from $3.00 to 75<-, six prizes in a class. 

 The pen prizes range from $5.00 to 75<-. 

 There will also be a utility show in all 

 breeds. Any bird may be entered to be 

 judged in each show. 



September 18th will be Poultry Club 

 Day. At this time every club member 

 who is showing birds will be allowed to 

 spend the day at the exposition, expenses 

 paid. Only members of the poultry club 

 for the past winter will be eligible to 

 show birds. 



All club members in these two projects 

 would certainly like to be able to take 

 part in the plans as outlined. They can 

 only do so by starting now, to "make the 

 best better". 



Professor W. C. Monohan of the Senior 

 Department of the Extension Service met 

 the club members of Hatfield and Smith 

 School at the latter place, on April 27th. 

 He gave a very interesting talk and dem- 

 onstration on how to perform an autopsy 

 on a hen. 



Room Club Notes 



The girls in the Worthington club are 

 all working on linens. They have all 

 made very good looking writing cases. 

 They are also helping to put on a pageant 

 to be held in May by making the paper 

 flowers. 



Miss Boice, the home demonstration 

 agent, has met three times with the Wil- 

 liamsburg group during the last month 

 to give instruction in furniture renova- 

 tion. 



Difficult to Pick 



After a very systematic survey of the 

 county by towns, to give all an equal 

 I chance to represent the county at Camp 

 Vail, the club camp at Eastern States 

 Exposition, the two candidates from this 

 county have been decided upon. They 

 are Betty Porter of Worthington and 

 Luther Beals of Goshen. As was an- 

 nounced in a former number of this 

 paper, this year there are to be six boys 

 and six girls picked from the club mem- 

 bers of the state to go to Springfield to 

 represent the state, who shall be con- 

 sidered the highest type of Massachu- 

 setts club member. Each county is al- 

 lowed two candidates, one boy and one 

 girl. State Club Leader Farley will de- 

 cide between these two. Following is a 

 brief history of the work of the candi- 

 dates from this county. 



Luther Beals of Goshen has for years 

 been a pig club member. He started 

 with a scrub pig and found it did not 

 pay. The next year he bought a pure- 

 bred, and really did business. The fol- 

 lowing year he bought a pair of pure- 

 breds and started a breeding proposition. 

 That year he was county pig club cham- 

 pion. He has for some years been known 

 as the owner of some of the best stock 

 in that section of the county. He has 

 set his younger brother up in the pig 

 business. The brother, Robert, followed 

 in Luther's foot steps and was last year 

 county champion. This year Luther is 

 acting as the local leader of the agricul- 

 tural club work of the town, though he 

 is still of the age to be a club member 

 himself. 



Betty Porter has been in club work 

 ever since it started in the county. She 

 has been in the bread, sewing and can- 

 ning clubs and always has done very 

 good work. Her work excelled both in 

 cjuality and in quantity. She always 

 held oflice in the clubs in her town, thus 

 insuring good organized groups. Last 

 year she became a member of the first 

 Room club in the county. She did over 

 her own room, getting the finest of re- 

 sults. She is now in this project a sec- 

 ond year. 



We feel both these club members are 

 a credit to the county. Our only regret 

 is that only one of them will be allowed 

 to go to the Exposition in the fall. We 

 can also say that there were many other 

 boys and girls, in the county, all of them 

 club members of some years standing, 

 whose names were on the list before these 

 two were finally picked. 



The postponed dairy club trip has been 

 scheduled for May 19th, rain or shine. 



