HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



CLUB WORK 



THE GARDEN SEASON 



GIRLS! GIRLS! CANNING! AROUND THE COUNTY 



ABOUT TO OPEN 



Who doesn't think of a garden at this 

 time of year? This weather makes you 

 want to get out on a good piece of land 

 and dig to make the land work for you 

 and grow green things to eat. Lettuce, ' 

 radishes, cabbages, tomatoes, carrots, 

 beets, pumpkins, turnips, peas, corn, etc. 

 All of these will taste good and make 

 us healthy and feel fit if we eat them. ! 

 Let's consider two important things about 

 the garden. 



The seed — a great deal depends on the 

 .seed you plant. What a waste of time 

 it is to plant and not have the seed come , 

 up. How disappointing it is to grow a 

 variety that is coarse, too large or poor 

 shape. Before you plant is the time to j 

 get good seed, those that will germinate 

 and a good variety. We suggest these 

 varieties : 



String Beans — Improved Golden Wax. ] 

 Shelled Beans — Dwarf Horticultural. 

 Beets — Crosby's Egyptian (early), De- 

 troit Dark Red (late). [ 

 Cabbages — Copenhagen Market (early). 

 Early Flat Dutch (Mid Season), Danish j 

 Baldhead (Late). 

 Carrots — Chantenay (early), Danvei's 



Half Long (Late). 

 Corn — Golden Bandam (early), Stowell's 



Evergreen (late). 

 Cucumbers — Davis Perfect, Boston Pick- 

 ling. 



Onions — Danvers Yellow Globe. 



Lettuce — Salamander, Black Seeded 

 Simpson. 



Parsnips — Hollow Crown. 



Peas — Excelsior (early), Gradus (medi- 

 um), Telephone (late). 



Raddi.sh — Scarlet Globe, French Break- 

 fast. 



Spinach — Thick Leaved Round. 



Summer Squa.sh — Grant Summer Crook- 

 neck. 



Winter Scjua.^^h — Hubbard, Delicious. 



Tomatoes — Bonny Best (early), Early- 

 anna (early), Matchless (late). 



Turnips — White egg (early), Am. Ruta- 

 baga (late). 



/ 

 The soil— 



You have to eat to grow, don't you? 

 So does a plant. The plant gets its food 

 from a fertile soil. A fertile soil con- 

 tains an abundance of humus, (decayed 

 vegetable matter, such as manure, de- 

 cayed leaves, grass, etc). This not only 

 furnishes food for the plants but holds 

 the moi.sture which is extremely impor- 

 tant. After being plowed it should be 

 harrowed and harrowed and harrowed. 



Season Starts with Dandelions 



Your health, your /ooAs, your sicccess 

 depends largely on what you eat. Why 

 let dandelions go to waste and beet tops, 

 sweet corn, peas and shelled beans? Why 

 let the wild raspberries, black and blue 

 berries fall on the ground? Can them! 

 The following spring you won't liave to 

 take a tonic, sulphur and molasses or the 

 like. Girls, we can to preserve the sur- 

 plus. You have to thin out the beets. 

 Don't thiow them away. Can the sur- 

 plus sweet corn, berries, shell beans, rhu- 

 barb, etc. You know the method your 

 mother does anyway. If you don't, it's 

 our job to .show you. Can that old cow 

 you can't get any milk out of and no 

 money for the carcass, can the hen that 

 has quit laying and the pig that has 

 grown to 200 pounds and is eating his 

 head off and will spoil if killed now in 

 the warm weather. 



Fill the cans with shelled beans, sweet 

 corn, chickens, greens, etc., when they are 

 cheap and you can eat them in the winter 

 when they cost like sin, and laugh at the 

 high cost of living. And all the time i/oii 

 are dohig it, i/ou are being a lOO'/r club 

 member. 



BOYS AND GIRLS- 



YOUR POULTRY YARDS! 



Are they clean? Did you have chicks 

 in them last year? If so, they aren't 

 clean. If you had chickens in them last 

 year you are taking a chance in putting 

 them in this year. Why? On account 

 of disease. The birds in one year con- 

 taminate the place with Intestinal 

 Worms, Coccidiosis and other diseases. 

 Your birds won't lay if they have wonns 

 or are diseased. 



1. Have your yard on clean land each 

 year. 



2. Disinfect your yard now with Bi- 

 chloride of Mercury (Solution 1 ounce 

 of Mercury to 7 gallons of water. 1 

 gallon put on 10 square feet of land. 

 After solution has dried up birds can be 

 let on.) 



The soil should be mellow and well pul- 

 verized. In this condition you can easily 

 pack the soil lightly around the seeds and 

 there will be less danger of its drying 

 out. Don't plant in too wet soil. When 

 you press a handful of soil into a lump 

 and then add pres.sure with one finger it j 

 should crumble. 



Before you sow your seed it probably 

 will be well to add a little <iood commer- 

 cial fertilizer. \ 



Plan for your garden ahead of time. 

 Don't wait until it is time to plant it. • 



With Club Folks 



Steven Brusko of Hatfield recently 

 purchased a fine six-months old heifer 

 from Harvey Copeland's farm in Colrain. 

 The dam milks 45 to 50 lbs. six months 

 after freshening; the grandam 50 to 60, 

 and the dam of the sire of the heifer has a 

 record of 25,000 lbs. of milk a year. 



Dorothy Martin of Pelham is going 

 into the poultry business. She has or- 

 dered 200 baby chicks and a coal burning 

 brooder. Her chicks are to be hatched 

 April 15th. 



William Hyde, .Ii-. had one hatch of 

 90 eggs come off the third week in March. 



Mr. Howard Tucker has offered to help 

 the boys of Ware interested in Poultry. 

 Mr. Tucker is a poultry raiser himself. 



At Southampton seven boys in No. 2 

 school have decided to raise chickens. 

 Miss Zoudlick, the teacher, an enthusiast 

 for boys' and girls' work, will assist. 



Dates have been suggested by the coun- 

 ty office for the exhibition of winter work. 

 We expect some fine exhibits and enter- 

 tainments. Most of the exhibits will 

 come the last two weeks of May. 



Mr. William Howe, assistant state club 

 leader, visited three groups of handicraft 

 club members in the communities of 

 Dwight, Belchertotvn Center and Granby 

 He was pleased with their start. 



At Bondsville the handicraft boys are 

 learning how to cane chairs and are doing- 

 some fine work at it. 



Miss Dorothy Murdock, assisant state 

 club leader, met with groups at Cushman, 

 Riisselhnlle, Nortli Hadleij, Hadley Cen- 

 ter, Granby, Bradstreet, North Hatfield, 

 Willianwbiirg and Wortkiiigton. 



Lip in the Hill School in Southampton 

 the boys in handicraft have made theni- 

 .selves a bench. The saw dust flew when 

 five of them made saws sing and no one 

 could study in the school room when the 

 boys nailed their bench together but all 

 were glad despite the racket when a 

 bench, even though rough, stood on four 

 steady legs. 



Eustltampton boys are to organize 

 a poultry club. 



Recently a group of Belchertown High 

 School Boys met at Mrs. D. D. Hazen's 

 homo to hear a talk by Mr. Nodine on 

 poultry work and what High School Boys 

 were doing in that project. 



