HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 

 Rolnnd A. I'ayne, County Agent 

 Mildred \V. Iloice, 



Home Demonstration Agent 

 Nornijin F. Wliippen, County Cluh Agent 

 Mary Diinond, Cleric 

 Mary Sullivan, Asst. 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 Kntry" 

 "Acceptance for mailing at special rate 

 of postage provided for in section 1103, 

 Act of October 3. 1917. Authorized Oc- 

 tober 31, 1917. 



Price", .^0 cents a year 



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. Howe.s, Cummington 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 John A. Sullivan, Northampton 

 Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 

 W. H. Atkins, Amherst 



COUNH NOTES 



Alfalfa Bug Catching 



In the past many of our dairy far- 

 mers have thrown out their chests be- 

 cause they have a few scattering alfalfa 

 plants on their farms. Those who really 

 size the dairy situation up know that 

 these scattering plants will not greatly 

 reduce the feed bill. These men are not 

 content with scattering plants but want 

 real fields. They not only want them 

 but they are getting them. For example: 

 Earl Parsons of Northampton put in four 

 acres; W. W. Haswell of East- 

 hampton put in five and one-half; H. A. 

 Par.sons of North Amherst two; and W. 

 E. Kellogg of Williamsburg two. And 

 these are only a few yet they are enough 

 to make an increase of 19 per cent in the 

 county alfalfa acreage! 



All of these men started with small 

 acreage or rather plots. They have seen 

 what alfalfa will do and have demonstra- 

 ted that they can grow it. Now they are 

 .starting out with the same idea as the 

 fellow who ordered a tenderloin steak at 

 a restaurant. The steak appeared in due 

 time and was transfered to the man's 



mouth in one operation. Turning to the 

 waiter, he said, "The sample is good. 

 Bring on some!" 



Thi.s summer one man who attended an 

 alfalfa tour decided that he had a two 

 acre piece that would grow alfalfa. He 

 asked the County Agent to test the soil 

 and help him get it .started. A neighbor 

 who did not go on the trip found out that 

 this man was starting a field and decided 

 he was just as smart so now there are 

 two alfalfa fields started in that section. 

 We hope that the alfalfa idea will con- 

 tinue to spread. It will help solve one 

 of the economic problems which face all 

 the dairymen of the county. 



You Are ln\'ited 



Every farmer in Hampshire County 

 who owns Holstein Cattle should become 

 acquainted with the Hampshire Frank- 

 lin Holstein Friesian Club. The Club 

 meets four times a year. The next meet- 

 ing of the Club will be an auto tour thru 

 Easthampton, Southampton and West- 

 field, Saturday, Oct. 18th. Why don't 

 you bring your family to this meeting 

 and get acquainted with the club. Of 

 course the ladies are invited. All you 

 have to do is pack a basket lunch and 

 be at Broadlie Farm, Easthampton at 

 10..30 A. M. The farm is the second place 

 on the left after passing the underpass 

 on the State Road between Northampton 

 and Easthampton. 



The following is the program : 

 10..30 A. M. Meet at Broadlie Farm, 

 W. W. Haswell, Manager, East- 

 hampton, Mass. 

 II. .30 A. M. Inspection of Farm and 

 Herd, Town Farm, F. L. Frost, 

 Manager, Easthampton, Mass. 

 12..30 A. M. Basket Lunch. : 



Visit Dairy and Fruit Farm of 

 W. A. Parsons, Southampton. 

 Visit Dairy and Fruit Farm of 0. 

 C. and E. C. Searle, Southampton. 

 The farms of Lombello Brothers 

 and T. J. Dewey in Westfield will 



be visited if time permits. 



j 



Sprouting Oats 



Many poultrymen who do not have 

 green feed can easily and cheaply supply 

 this need by taking the oats out of their 

 scratch feed. Take these and germinate 

 them for three days. For small flocks all 

 that is needed in the way of equipment 

 is four butter tubs. For one hundred 

 hens, soak five pounds of oats in luke- 

 warm water for three hours. Draw ofi' i 

 the water and pour the oats into another 

 tub which has holes bored in the bottom. 

 Thoroughly sprinkle and stir up the oats 

 once or twice a day for three days. Then 

 feed. For larger quantities, Semi- 

 solid butter milk barrels sawed in two 

 make good sprouters. In warm weather 

 the oats can be sprouted in a cool cellar. 

 In winter a warm room is needed. 



The i..e.<«Mon €»f ItLsing l»riee.s 



Continued from page 1. column 2 



Let it be clearly understood that there 

 never is a state of general overproduction. 

 It is absurd to say that the world can 

 p; oduce more of anything than it wants. 

 If the .eader has any doubts upon this 

 point, let him consider how much he, him- 

 self, lacks of having everything he wants. 

 Unemployment and unremunerative 

 I prices always result from unbalanced in- 

 dustry. Something is wrong with the ex- 

 '•hanges; too much of some things are 

 offered and not enough of others, or sonio 

 of the ;, roups in the industrial circle aie 

 trvng lo "hog it" by insisting upon terms 

 of exchange which throw the situation 

 cut Oi b;ilance. Prices supply the silent, 

 :iever-failing influence which restores the 

 balance. 



inda'.*^ry will recover its balance mo--.t 

 readily without regulation or artificrsl 

 ind'-ci'ments. In view of the heavy stocks 

 of hog products in storage in recent 

 months the inability of packers to move 

 them even at low prices, and finally the 

 rush of immature pigs to market when 

 the farmers realized that pig production 

 had outrun corn production, what folly 

 it would have been to have subsidized hog 

 production by the McNary-Haugen meas- 

 ure! Now the situation is correcting it- 

 self, and the price of hogs has advanced 

 naturally, practically to the goal set in 

 the McNary-Haugen bill. 



It is evident now that no great surplus 

 of any of the farm staples has existed, 

 and that only a moderate readjustment 

 of production was required. The alarm- 

 ing statements to the effect that agricul- 

 ture was a ruined industry which was 

 about to be generally abondoned, leaving 

 the nation without an adequate food sup- 

 ply, were preposterous, as everybody 

 might have known. The story of the 

 development of harvesting machinery 

 to which another chapter is added by 

 the combined harvester and thresher 

 explains why there has been a con- 

 stant movement from the farms to 

 the cities without any resulting scarcity 

 of farm products. The truth is that peo- 

 ple do not move from the farms to the 

 other industries as readily as they should. 

 The natural increases of population on 

 the farms, aided by the improvements in 

 machinery, has had a tendency to keep 

 the production of the farm staples ahead 

 of the growth of the country's population 

 and the foreign demand. The war pro- 

 vided a temporary demand which gave 

 an additional stimulus to production, and 

 the return of peace has required a cor- 

 responding readjustment. The rise of 

 prices now witnessed show^s how small 

 that readjustment needed to be, and in- 

 cidentally how inherently strong is the 

 actual position of agriculture, with the 

 population of this country increasing at 

 the rate of 1,500,000 per year. 



The National City Bank of Neto York 



