HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PIBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 



Agriculture 



STAFF 



Roland A. I'liyne, County Agent 

 Milflrefl W. Roice, 



Ilfkiiie neiiion>>tr:itioii Aji^enl 

 Norniun F. >\ liiiipoii, ('i»unly <*liih Agent 

 Mnry Diniond, Clerk 

 Mnry Siilliviin, AN»t. Clerk 



Office First National 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. 



"Notiee of Entry" 

 "Acceptance for mailing at special rate 

 of postage provided for in section 1103, 

 Act of October 3. 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31. 1917. 



I'plee, .*»0 fents ii yeiir 



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 

 Milton S. Howes, Cummington 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 John A. Sullivan, Northampton 

 Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 

 W. H. Atkins, Amherst 



FOR VALUE RECEIVED 



Eveiy year the Extension Service asks 

 your town to appropriate money for the 

 Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture. 

 Last year 22 of the 23 towns of the county 

 made this appropriation. This would 

 seem to show that there are a sufficient 

 number of adults and boys and girls who 

 are reached by the three agents to war- 

 rant an appropriation. There are, how- 

 ever, a large number of people in many 

 of the towns who have never heard of the 

 County Agent, the Home Demonstration 

 Agent or the County Club Agent. This 

 presents an opportunity for those who 

 do know of the work of these Extension 

 Sei-vice Agents to acquaint these people 

 with Extension work. This is your 

 chance to give the Extension Agents 

 value received for their services. 



Why is your town asked for a certain 

 amount? In making up our yearly 

 budget, a statement of expected expenses 

 is made. From this sum is subtracted 

 the sum of the receipts expected from the 

 United States Department of Agricul- 

 ture, the Massachusetts Agricultural Col- 

 lege, the County Commissioners and from 



COUNTY NOTES 



During December the County Agent ob- 

 tained figures from 29 Granby farmers 

 regarding their business for 1923. These 

 figures will be compiled and used as a 

 basis for farm management work with 

 dairy farmers during the coming year. 

 It was interesting to find that many of 

 these not keeping accounts stated that it 

 was a mistake. We found others who kept 

 elaborate systems which they could not 

 use. One man gave us the entire facts 

 concerning his business in P,5 minutes. 

 It was interesting to note that he used 

 one of the farm account books put out at 

 Extension Schools last winter. Then, too, 

 he kept it right up to date. If there is an 

 Extension School in Farm Management 

 in your town this winter, be sure to at- 

 tend. It can mean dollars in your pocket. 



We have heard varying reports con- 

 cerning the use of strychnine to poison 

 mice in orchards. One man stated that 

 he put some of the poisoned rolled oats 

 in a closet where he knew there were 

 mice. The mice grew fat on it. Another 

 man made several traps as advised for 

 his orchard. He baited one of these and 

 put it in a closet. A mouse thought the 

 bait looked good and was found dead in 

 the container. Apparently mice have 

 their peculiarities too. 



Have your apples kept as they should? 

 If not, it is probably the fault of your 

 cellar. There are in this county four 

 demonstration apple cellars planned by 

 Prof. W. R. Cole of M .A. C. which should 

 interest you. They are well distributed 

 over the county so you should see at least 

 one. If interested see one or more of the 

 following: Wright A. Root, Easthamp- 

 ton; Alfred N. Hulst, South Amherst; 

 Edward C. Searle, Southampton; E. F. 

 Shumway, Belchertown. After seeing 

 these if you wish personal advice on your 

 particular problem, write the County 

 Agent. 



Now is the season for Seed Catalogues. 

 Good seed is valuable. Poor seed is dear 

 at any price. If in doubt about varieties 

 or strains of certain varieties, the work 

 carried on by the Market Garden Field 

 Station, Lexington, Mass. will help you. 

 While it is desirable to confine the bulk 

 of one's order to standard varieties, one 

 should experiment a little with the newer 

 sorts. These might well be given a place 

 in the home vegetable garden. If they 

 prove superior to the standard varieties, 

 the infonnation should be useful. 



private subscriptions. The balance is the 

 amount asked from towns of the county. 

 This sum is then divided among the 23 

 towns and cities in proportion to the as- 

 sessed valuation of each. Thus each town 

 only pays its propoitional part cf the 

 expense. 



POULTRY ACCOUNT 



SUMMARY 



Fifteen poultrymen of this County sent 

 in a summary of their November business 

 which is given in the follow-ing table: 



County State 

 No. of Farms reporting 15 85 



No. of hens and pullets 5,011 25,141 

 No. birds per farm 334 299 



Eggs per bird 5.2 5.2 



Egg receipts per bird 33< 33< 



Grain costs per bird 19( 21f- 



No. Farms selling poultiy 14 61 



Poultry sold per farm 45.63 59.63 



This table brings out several pertinent 

 facts: (1) Too few poultrymen are using 

 this service. To start, send 25 cents to 

 the County Agent, 59 Main Street, North- 

 ampton, for a poultry account book. 

 From this, make up report blanks the 

 first of each month for the preceding 

 month's business. 



(2) To lay 160 eggs per year, pullets 

 i should lay 8 eggs each in November. 

 I The average of 15 farms in this county 



and of 85 in the state is 5.2 eggs per bird. 

 Question: Where are the 300 eggs hens? 



(3) The egg receipts per bird for the 

 county equal tho.se for the state, hence 

 it would seem that we have a good market 



I for eggs. 



(4) Our grain costs are less than the 

 \ state average which shows that our grain 



dealers are not robbing the poultrymen 

 in .spite of the too prevalent idea that 

 they are. 



One thing which is not shown on the 



j above I'ecords is that six poultrymen 

 averaged over 5.5 eggs per bird. These 

 men are better poultrymen than the aver- 

 age. They undoubtedly put into practice 



I the four things necessary for winter egg 

 production: (1) Healthy Stock. We 



\ know that every one of the six leaders 



' believes in and practices disease control 

 measures which are so frequently re- 

 ferred to in this paper. (2) Early 



i Hatched Pullets. The two leaders for 

 this month got their chicks early — that is 

 before April 15. (3) Comfortably 

 Housed. This does not mean expensive 

 housing, but plenty of floor space and 

 ample ventilation. (4) Well Fed and 

 Cared for. 



These are the County leaders for Nov- 

 ember : 



Eggs 

 Per Bird 



1. Frank D. Steele, Cumming- 



ton 11.4 



2. Smith's Agricultural School, 



Northampton 10.6 



3. Geo. E. Scott, Belchertown. . 10.5 



4. Fred L. Lego, Greenwich. . . . 8.3 



5. Phillips Parsons, Southampton 6.6 

 H. C. Booth, Belchertown ... 6.6 



