12 



HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



A Profitable Fruit and Dairy Farm 



Continued from page 1. column 3 

 age. This is just what Sereno Clark is 

 doing on his farm in Williamsburg. 



Dairying Pays Here 



Milk has always been one of the main 

 sources of income. There are a few less 

 cows on the farm than there were seven- 

 teen years ago. All of these cows are , 

 just a little bit better than the average, j 

 In a section where whole milk is sold, I 

 most farmers do not believe that it pays 

 to raise heifer calves. They are raised 

 here. There are 16 milking cows on the 

 farm and 19 heifers. As pure bred bulls 

 have been used for several years, the 

 heifers give promise of doing better than ^ 

 their dams. All except two are grade { 

 Holsteins. The function of the livestock 

 on this farm is to market the hay and 

 silage produced rather than to furnish 

 a market for western farmers' grain. 

 Perhaps this is why the production is not 

 higher. At any rate the cows market 

 the home grown feed at a profit. 



Sheep and Hogs Help Income 

 If sheep and hogs were profitable on 

 the majority of farms, more would be 

 raised. On this farm, both show a profit 

 which illustrates our point that this man 

 does things better than the average. 

 There are 47 ewes on the place. March 

 first there were 39 lambs from one to 

 four weeks old. To date, every one of 

 the lambs has lived. From present ap- 

 pearance, they will continue to thrive till 

 Easter when the lot will be marketed. 

 Last year fine returns were secured from 

 these early lambs. Mr. Clark figures 

 that the sheep help keep down brush in 

 pastures. In fact, they have cleaned up 

 several acres and have shown a profit 

 while doing it. "A good shepherd knows 

 his sheep." Mr. Clark is a good shep- 

 herd. 



The hogs on this farm are not grain 

 fed. High priced grain and 9 cent pork 

 are not a money making combination. 

 Mr. Clark has a contract to take garbage 

 from one local source. By judicious feed- 

 ing, his hogs have done well. In the 

 summer the shoats are kept in moveable 

 pens in a nearby orchard. The pens are 

 moved every few days. This helps the 

 pigs as well as the apple trees. Every 

 pig is innoculated against hog cholera. 

 No losses have been sustained from this 

 disease. 



Apples Cash Crop 



Seventeen years ago the apple ciop was 

 14 barrels. Last year 500 barrels of 

 fine fruit were marketed. It was not 

 luck, either, because Mr. Clark knows the 

 value of the three big factors in apple 

 production: Spraying, Pruning and Fer- 

 tilization. In past years when the crop 

 was not as good as it should have been, 

 Mr. Clark took pains to find out the 

 reason. The result has been that in- 



stead of using just arsenate of lead after 

 the petals fall, his trees get from three 

 to five sprays of lime sulphur, arsenate 

 of lead and nicotine sulfate as needed. 

 Yes, you can eat his apples in the dark 

 without worrying. 



But spraying is not the whole story. 

 Good colored apples grow on properly 

 pruned trees. He gets the color. Trees 

 need fertilizer to grow good crops. His 

 trees either have manure in the fall or 

 nitrate of soda in the spring. .This re- 

 sults in more and better fruit. In fruit 

 production, this farm is considerably 

 above the average and it pays. 



Soil Fertility System 



This farm is a working illustration of 

 the soil fertility program so ably cham- 

 pioned by Prof. -J. B. Abbott. Manure 

 conservation is practiced in fine shape. 

 There is a basement under the cows into 

 which the manure is dropped. Enough 

 saw dust is used to absorb the liquid 

 manure. The basement is cemented so 

 there is no less loss there. In the fall 

 as much of the hay land is manured as 

 possible. All of the hay land which is 

 not manured get a top-dressing of Nitrate 

 of Soda and Acid Phosphate in the 

 spring. Result — 80 tons of hay and 

 rowen from 30 acres. By following this 

 system, one stoney field has produced 

 profitable hay crops for seventeen years 

 without re-seeding. 



Clover is grown every year on the 

 farm. Lime and acid phosphate are used 

 before seeding down with the result that 

 clover failures are almost unknown. A 

 small field of alfalfa has been producing 

 good crops for several years. More al- 

 falfa is to be seeded this year. 



Over five years ago a pasture improve- 

 ment plot was put out to see what acid 

 phosphate, alone and with lime, would do. 

 Lime alone has given little results, while 

 acid phosphate has brought in an abund- 

 ance of white clover. Many of the best 

 parts of the pastures have been top- 

 dressed with acid phosphate as a result 

 of this test. 



A Satisfying Home Life 



The Clarks furnish a splendid example 

 of a satisfying home life. The two 

 daughters, Carrol and Helen are students 

 in the local high school and are club mem- 

 bers. Russel, the elder son is in the 

 grammar school, while Merwin, a husky 

 lad of two, keeps the whole family busy. 

 Within the house many things have been 

 done to make the home more attractive 

 and to lighten labor. The front rooms 

 have been rearranged and refinished. In 

 the kitchen a large modern sink and set 

 tubs have been installed with hot and cold 

 running water in each. Electric lights 

 are one of the improvements soon to be 

 added. Inside the home things run just 

 as smoothly as they do on the farm. 

 It is for farm homes of this kind that 

 the Extension Service is striving. 



[Your New-Spring-Hat 



It takes fine workmanship to 

 make the hats we sell. We 

 make it a point to sell only re- 

 liable makes. 



You'll like the snap and go 

 especially if you're young and 

 who is old nowadays? 



MERRITT CLARK 8c CO. 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS. 



OLD DEERFIELD 



FERTILIZERS 



"ReiiNonnhIc in Dollnr»« nnd Sense" 



MANUFACTURED BY 



A. W. HIGGINS, Inc. 



SOUTH DEERFIELD, MASS. 



Tcleplioiie 1-10 



A Business Bank for 



Business Farmers 



This is a message for business 

 farmers — for those progressive 

 ci'op and cattle raisers who know 

 that to get profits from farming- 

 there must be knowledge not only 

 of crops, but of markets, of prices, 

 of soil treatment, of other factors. 



This bank's primary object is to 

 help farmers of this section to pros- 

 per. Our complete banking facili- 

 ties and our dependable sources of 

 information valuable to farmers are 

 at your disposal. 



We'll be glad to serve you. 



NORTHAMPTON 

 NATIONAL BANK 



THE BANK FOR EVERYBODY 



