HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 



Rolnnd A. r:iyiie, (bounty Agent 

 Mildrefl W, Itoioe» 



Home Deiiioiistr:itiun Agent 

 IVorinan F. Wliipiien. County t'llllt Agent 

 Mary Dinionil, Clerk 

 Mary Sullivan, Asst. Clerk 



Office First Mational Bank Building- 

 Northampton, Mass. 

 Entered as second class matter Nov. 9. 

 1915, at the Post Office at Northampton, 

 Massachusetts, under the Act of March 

 8. 1879. 



"Notice of Entry" 

 "Acceptance for mailing at special rate 

 g( postage provided for in section 1103, 

 Act of October 3, 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31, 1917. 



Price, ."tO oent.s a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Edwin B. Clapp, President 

 Charles E. Clark, Vice-President 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Koland A. Payne, Secretary 



Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture 



Edwin B. Clapp, Easthampton 

 Charles E. Clark, Leeds 

 Clarence E. Hodgkins, Northampton 

 Milton S, Howes, Cummington 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 John A. Sullivan, Northampton 

 Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 

 W. H. Atkins, Amherst 



START THE NEW YEAR RIGHT 



Your Subscription to the Hampshire County Farmers' Monthly is Due Now 



Vou are one of eleven hundred peojale who have been receiving the 

 Hampshire County Farmers' Monthly. We hope that you have I'ead every 

 issue with pleasure and with profit. 



We try to make this paper one which every home in the county 

 will welcome. Agriculture, The Farm Bureau, Home Making, Club 

 Work — each has its section. In this way we try to have material of in- 

 terest for every member of the family. 



Eight years ago this paper had four pages and a circulation of 200. 

 It now has from eight to fourteen pages and goes to 1,100 homes. Every 

 time we increase the size of the paper it costs money, yet in spite of in- 

 creased publishing costs, the price remains the same — .50 cents per year. 



Next month we will publish a list .showing the number of paid up 

 subscribers in each town of the county. We want YOUR TOWN to head 

 the list. You can help by sending in your subscription to-day. Make 

 checks or money orders payable to the Hamp.shire County Extension 

 Service, 59 Main Street, Northampton. 



Some ptiii whnt is due when it is due. Show nt; tliai i/oii do, too! 



IT PAYS TO ADVERTISE 



"In the past few years, farmers have I 

 lost more credit by advertising what a j 

 poor business agriculture is than they can 

 build up in ten years," said President E. 

 H. Thompson of the Federal Land Bank 

 of Springfield at the Annual Meeting of 

 the Hampshire County Extension Service. 

 "No other business could have withstood 

 such an advertizing campaign." "The 

 fact that agriculture has survived is 

 proof of the basic soundness of farming 

 as a business." 



It seems that the time is ripe to use the I 

 hammer for building rather than as an t 

 instrument for knocking. There are men 

 in practically every town in the county 

 who make farming pay. These men have i 

 found that there is no panacea for hard 

 work. They have found that farming 

 requires brains as well as brawn. What 

 these men have done others can do if they 

 are willing to expend the same amount 

 of thought and effort. 



One part of our contribution toward a 

 campaign to advertise the fact that Good 

 Farming Pays will be a series of articles 

 telling of men who are making good on 

 farms in this county. It is hoped that 



EASTERN STATES 

 TO EXTEND CREDIT 



ON FERTILIZERS 



A southern fertilizer manufacturer 

 whose business success has depended in 

 no small measure on his possessing a 

 keen sense of humor, once teiminated an 

 advertisement with this immortal state- 

 ment; "Easy terms: cash — or arrival 

 draft with bill of lading!" 



We have always felt that the Eastern 

 States Farmers' Exchange, in adhering 

 to their strictly "cash" policy hitherto, 

 were not doing so with any idea of its 

 being an "easy" method of payment for 

 the farmer, but rather because it was 

 decidedly the most economical method for 

 him. And so it has generally proved to 

 be. 



In the case of fertilizer, however, where 

 the income has been remote by sevei'al 

 from the investment, many fanners have 

 found it difficult or undesirable to pay 

 cash for their fertilizer regardless of the 

 savings entailed thereby. Many have 

 been accustomed in the past to accept 

 credit from the line fertilizer companies 

 until October or November, even though 

 the credit differential amounted, as it 

 often has, to $5. or $7. per ton. 



The Eastern States cash policy has 

 worked out splendidly for those who had 

 the cash or could conviently get it locally. 

 For the rest of us, there has hitherto 

 been no alternative but to "pass up" the 

 attractive cash saving, and continue to 

 depend on the liberal but expensive credit 

 allowance of a commercial fertilizer com- 

 pany. Such of us will welcome the re- 

 cent announcement that this year East- 

 ern States fertilizers may be ordered on a 

 credit basis, as well as for cash. 



the experience of these men may be help- 

 ful to those who wish to get ahead. 



The Ea.-^tern States credit differential 

 of $3.50 per ton is the minimum, it would 

 seem, that can be allowed in order to 

 make the credit arrangement self-sup- 

 porting and not work to the detriment 

 of the thousands of cash purchasers. 

 Anyway, it cuts considerably the credit 

 costs usually met with in commercial fer- 

 tilizers. The overhead resulting from the 

 extra bookkeeping necessitated, from risk 

 involved, and from money borrowed at 

 the manufacturer's end, must always 

 mount up to a considerable figure. It 

 is only by cutting risk and clerical and 

 borrowing costs to a minimum that the 

 Exchange is able to keep the credit cost 

 to the purchaser down to such a com- 

 paratively reasonable figure. 



At the same time, in its recently issued 

 folder "Better Fertilizing," which gives 

 the details of this year's ciedit and pool 

 arrangement, the Exchange admits that 

 the credit charge of $.3. .50 is far in excess 

 of what the farmer would pay on money 

 borrowed locally for cash payment. It 

 frankly advises local borrowing where- 

 ever possible, in preference to using even 

 this liberal credit arrangement. 



It narrows down to this; the purchaser 

 who pays cash for Eastern States fertili- 

 zers saves the most whether the cash is 

 his own or boiTowed locally. But the 

 purchaser securing credit from the Ex- 

 change is able to save considerably over 

 the usual credit arrangement. And 

 whether he buys on the cash or credit 

 basis, past experience would indicate that 

 the farmer gets his full money's worth 

 in quality, in the Eastern States fertili- 

 zers. 



Nitrate of Soda has given striking re- 

 sults in W. E. Gamble's orchard in Nor- 

 wich Hill, Huntington. Five to ten 

 pounds per tree were used early last 

 spring. The fertilized trees show a 

 stronger growth and a better set of fruit 

 buds than the unfertilized trees. Mr. 

 Gamble is planning to use more Nitrate 

 next spring. 



