HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARMERS' MONTHLY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Trustees for Aid to 

 Agriculture 



STAFF 



Roland A. I'iiyne, County Agent 

 Mildred VV. Itoiee, 



Home Uenionstrntion Agent 

 Noriiuin 1^^. AVIiir>peii, County Club Agent 

 M;iry Diiuond, Clerk 

 Miiry Sullivan, Asst. Clerk 



Office First National Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 

 Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 

 1915. at the Post OfBce at Northampton, 

 Massachusetts, under the Act of March 

 8. 187i). 



"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'riee, ,%0 eents 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. Howes, Cummington 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 John A. Sullivan, Northampton 

 Charles W. Wade, Hatfield 

 W. H. Atkins, Amherst 



COUNTY NOTES 



starved Pullets Do Not Pay 



During the past month, we have a.sked 

 a good many poultrymen how much 

 scratch feed they are feeding daily to 

 their birds. Few seem to know. George 

 E. Scott of Belchertown told us right off 

 the number of ounces of .scratch feed each 

 bird gets. In his case, he is feeding 2i; to 

 2 3/4 ounces per bird, the former to 

 smaller and the latter to larger pullets. 

 This means from 15J to 17 pounds per 

 100 birds per day or 10 to llj quarts. 

 He stated that this was heavier than he 

 usually fed and that he is getting better 

 results than usual. His belief is that one 

 reason birds do not lay as they .should at 

 this time of year is that they are not 

 heavy enough. 



Emory Bartlett of Enfield, whose birds 

 have made over 200 eggs each at the 

 Storrs Egg Laying Contest, tells me that 

 in former years he has not had his birds 

 fat enough when they were entered. 

 This year his birds were in condition and 

 he lays a good share of the credit for 

 this record to this fact. Incidentally he 

 has been breeding for several yeais for 



high egg production and has been getting 



results. 



In fact all of the men who have been 

 getting eggs during October and Novem- 

 ber have been feeding scratch feed at the 

 rate of not less than 1 quart to 10 hens. 

 It would pay every poultryman to count 

 each pen of pullets and know how many 

 quarts of scratch feed they are getting. 

 The college scratch mixture of 300 crack- 

 ed corn, 200 wheat and 100 oats weighs 

 about II pounds per quart. 



Holstein Club Meets 



About 75 members and friends of the 

 Hampshire-Franklin Holstein Friesian 

 Club attended the fall tour through East- 

 hampton, Southampton and Westfield, 

 Saturday, October 18. They visited W. 

 W. Haswell and Fred Frost in East- 

 hampton, W. A. Parsons and E. C. and 

 0. C. Searle in Southampton and Lom- 

 bello Brothers in Westfield. An enjoya- 

 ble and instructive time was had by all. 

 The next meeting of the Club will be held 

 at the Mansion House, Greenfield, Friday, 

 January 9th at 11.00 A. M. Oflicers will 

 be elected for the coming year. Earl .J. 

 Cooper of the Holstein Friesian Associa- 

 tion of Ameiica will addiess the meeting. 

 All Holstein breedeis in the county are 

 urged to attend. 



Mice in Orchards 



Fruit growers should be sure that their 

 trees are protected from mice. The weeds 

 and grass should be removed from aiound 

 the ti'unks of the trees. Wire guards 

 should be adjusted so that the mice can- 

 not get under them. It is far easier to 

 do this work now than it will be to bridge 

 graft the damaged trees next spring. 



Tobacco Dust for Worms 



In some towns there is a persistent 

 rumor that the feeding of tobacco dust 

 has thrown birds off their feed and 

 caused a lot of trouble. Every case of 

 this that we have heard of we have looked 

 up to find the facts. In no case have we 

 been able to lay this trouble to the feed- 

 ing of the tobacco. In practically all 

 cases we have found hyper acidity in the 

 first portion of the intestinal tract. This 

 seems to be common in many flocks that 

 have never been fed tobacco. In severe 

 cases birds go light and may or may not 

 have paralysis. The treatment is to 

 medicate the drinking water with Bicar- 

 bonate of soda, one tablespoonful to the 

 gallon, and keep this before the birds 

 for a two-day period. Allow an interval 

 of 24-48 hours and repeat twice if neces- 

 sary. 



It may be that this condition is caused 

 by the birds over eating mash and not 

 having enough green feed. A few poul- 

 trymen report that mash is not eaten as 

 readily when treated with tobacco dust. 

 Evidence in hand .shows that many flocks 

 have been fed the tobacco dust without 

 injury. If upon examination you find 



worms, the tobacco dust will be eff'ective 

 in removing them if fed at the rate of 2 

 pounds per 100 pounds of mash over a 

 three week period. After feeding one 

 week give 1/2 pound of epsom salts in 

 the drinking water for 100 birds. 



Kgg Laying Contest Notes 



About sixty poultrymen have already 

 signed up in the County Egg Laying Con- 

 test. We hope to have at least 100 re- 

 porting November production on Decem- 

 ber 1st. While only one flock can have 

 the honor of having the highest egg pro- 

 duction per bird, this does not mean that 

 the others will not get valuable informa- 

 tion from the woik. We sometimes believe 

 that the ones that are not away up get 

 the most benefit because the figui'es show 

 them that they are not as good as they 

 thought (hey were. If these people have 

 the true fighting spirit so necessary for 

 success, they will study their problem to 

 get better results. Too often winning 

 gives one a feeling of satisfaction that 

 does not lend itself to improvement. 

 Win, lose or draw, this poultry contest 



i has a lot of valuable lessons for every 

 poultryman in the county. If you have 

 not enrolled already, send your name to 

 the County Agent. We can furnish Poul- 

 try account books at a cost of 2.5 cents. 



, If you have a satisfactory system of ac- 



I counts, don't change. 



MANURE CONSERVATION 



Concrete Pit is Sure Way to Pre\ent 

 Big Waste 



A concrete manure pit is a certain 

 means of saving a part of the millions of 

 dollars that are wasted annually in this 

 country from careless handling of barn- 

 yard manure. Soil fertility built up and 

 maintained by regular application of 

 barnyard manure will allow this material 

 to lose the greater portion of its valuable 

 fertilizing elements by improper care or 

 lack of care. 



According to the Pennsylvania experi- 

 ment station, the value of manure pro- 

 duced in one year by a horse is $31.67; 

 that by a dairy cow $38.76. One-half of 

 the value of manure is in the liquid, con- 

 sequently every pi-ecaution should be 

 taken to save this part. The simplest 

 manure pit is simply a water-tight con- 

 crete box, which prevents the valuable 

 elements of the manure from leaking 

 away. This can be enlarged to suit re- 

 quirements. For the average farm, a 

 manure pit 20 feet wide and 24 feet long 

 with an average depth of 4 feet will take 

 care of the storage of manure from 20 

 animals. One end should be open so that 

 the spreader can be backed into the pit to 

 facilitate the removal of the manure. 



The fertility of the farms which has 

 been preserved thjough long years of 

 cropping, has been maintained through 

 the careful utilization of all manui'es. 



