HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARMERS' MONTHLY 



Vol. IX. 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., DECEMBER, 1924 



No. 12 



DEMONSTRATORS REPORT 

 AT ANNUAL MEETING 



Steele Tells How He Does It 



Fi-ank Steele of Cunimington repoited 

 on economic poultry production. This is a 

 ."nummary of what he .said : — 



"I get my chicken.s out in one hatch 

 as they are easier to handle and do better 

 than when the flock is of different ages. 

 The first week they are fed sparingly, 

 then they have growing mash before them 

 in hoppers. They are watched and are 

 forced to eat a reasonable amount of 

 sci-atch feed. Cockerels are separated 

 from the pullets as soon as they can be 

 recognized. The cockerels aie then fed 

 heavily so as to get them onto the market 

 as .soon as possible. As soon as the pul- 

 lets are weaned from the heat, they are 

 transferred to open air houses and kept 

 there till they are five months old. Then 

 they are put into the laying houses. 



"At five months of age, every pullet is 

 weighed and only those that weigh at 

 least 5h pounds are kept for breeders. 

 The lighter birds are either sold or used 

 only as layers. The heavier pullets are 

 then culled for size, type and color. Pul- 

 lets are used entirely for breeders, but 

 they have to pass these rigid tests, hence 

 no weak birds can get into the breeding 

 pens. In 1923, the chicks were hatched 

 in April and they averaged 5. .5 eggs 

 each in October. This yeai- the chicks 

 were hatched on the same date and 

 averaged 9.3 eggs per bird in October. 

 In 1923, the flock was culled from 232 

 birds to 224 at hatching time, .showing 

 that but few poor birds got by the first 

 inspection. From November 1, 1923 to 

 November 1, 1924, the birds averaged to 

 lay 193.4.5 eggs each. 



"I have found that much labor can be 

 saved in caring for the chickens. It takes 

 no longer to care for 1000 chicks under 

 coal stoves than it used to take to care 

 for 150 in the outdoor oil brooders. I use 

 mash hoppers on the range. These have 

 to be filled once or twice a week. I feed 

 scratch feed night and morning, scatter- 

 ing it on the range rather than feeding 

 in hoppers. Water is easily supplied by 

 filling a barrel once a day and allowing 

 it to drip into a section of eaves trough. 



"Lights are used on the whole flock for 

 Continued on pag"e 2, column 1 



ANNUAL MEETING COUNTY AGENTS 



sixteen of the twenty=three lowns of 

 the County Represented I 



One hundred forty people, representing 



sixteen towns of the county, attended the 



Annual Meeting of the Hampshire County 



Extension Service held in Odd Fellows 



Hall, Northampton, Thursday, November 



20. President E. B. Clapp opened the 



meeting with a talk on the agricultural 



conditions as affecting this county. The 



Treasurer's report showed that $15,524.06 



had been taken in and $15,015.88 ex- 



) pended for Extension Work in this county 



j during the year, leaving a balance of 



j $508.18 on hand November 20th. 



The morning was devoted to reports of 

 project leaders and demonstrators. All 

 of these reports showed that real progress 

 has been made in all lines of work this 

 past year. The speakers were enthu- 

 siastic about the results they had obtained 

 and many nice compliments were paid 

 the Extension Service for its part in 

 making the various lines of work a suc- 

 cess. At noon, the Northampton Grange 

 .served one of its fine dinners to which all 

 did justice. During the dinner hour. 

 County Commissioner C. E. Hodgkins 

 spoke on County Problems. He told of 

 the county road work being carried on 

 and about future plans. He stated that 

 this county has only $10,000 out on bonds 

 which is an excellent record when one 

 considers the ease of securing money on 

 tax free bonds at the present time. 



In the afternoon, the women in the 

 Millinery Project put on a style .show 

 which showed that many attractive hats 

 had been made. Reports of the group 

 leaders .showed that a hat to be attractive 

 need not necessarily be expensive. All of 

 the women were enthusiastic about the 

 millineiy work carried on this year. 



Curiosities of Nutrition 



Professor Lewis B. AUyn of Westfield 

 was the speaker of the afternoon and took 

 "Curiosities of Nutrition" for his subject. 

 He said that the first record we have of 

 the nutrition problem is in the first chap- 

 ter of Daniel. This shows that even in 

 those days that there was need for .simple 

 food served in a simple way. In fact, 

 disregard for diet is the foundation of the 

 large and prosperous patent medicine 

 Continued on page 'S, column 3 



ANNUAL REPORT 



At the beginning of the year, the 

 following progiam was made out: — 



I. A(iron<nn> I*r*»,jeft 



(a) Soil Fertility Program to be 

 pushed with special emphasis on use 

 of lime and acid phosphate. 



(b) Potato production — to con- 

 tinue work on getting growers to use 

 certified seed. Work with a few of 

 the best growers in the western part 

 of the county to see if certified seed 

 potatoes can be grown here. 



(c) Establish real live alfalfa 

 demonstrations that will sell the idea. 



II. Anininl Husbandry 



(a) Get dairymen interested in 

 knowing what their cows are doing 

 and then to feed them according to 

 production. 



(b) Assist in securing worthy 

 herd sires. 



III. ■■niiltry 



Conduct a poultry disease control 

 campaign to secure adoption of Dis- 

 ease Control Program. 



I\. I*oinolo^'> 



Continue orchard management 

 work with special emphasis on use 

 of Nitrate as fertilizer. 



From the above it will be noted 

 that we decided to put our efforts on 

 only four projects and in each of 

 these, to select a very few important 

 points for emphasis. The following 

 is a report of the activities and re- 

 sults: — 



AfiKONOMY 



Three lines of work have been 

 carried on in the agronomy project 

 this year: (1) Soil Fertility; (2) 

 Potato Production; (3) Alfalfa Cul- 

 ture. 



(1) Soil FertilUji 

 The .soil fertility program was present- 

 ed two years ago by Professor .J. B. Ab- 

 bott of the Mass. Agricultural College, as 

 offering a way whereby land which has 

 become poor through abuse may be 

 brought back with a minimum amount of 

 expense. It is made up of five parts: — 

 (a) Manure conservation; (b) Balanc- 

 Continued on paftc 8, column 1 



