THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



to the front. The prizes are well 

 worth working for. Application 



blanks can be obtained at the Farm 

 Bureau office. 



HAMPSHIRE COUNTY APPLES 



Almost every farm in the county, 

 except possibly in the onion and to- 

 bacco districts, has a home orchard 

 to provide the family with fruit for 

 the winter. A large per cent of the 

 farmers in the hill towns have 50 to 

 100 barrels each fall to sell and a 

 few farmers in each town have 100 

 to 2000 barrels to market. The 

 Baldwin is the main apple growii, 

 with a few Greenings, Spys. Kings, 

 and Russets in many of the orchards. 

 The apples in the western part of the 

 county in the towns of Worthing- 

 ton. Chesterfield. Cummington, Plain- 

 field and Williamsburg are largely 

 sold to buyers representing houses 

 from cities as Boston, New York, 

 Philadelphia, Chicago, etc. The buy- 

 ers supervise the packing and pay 

 so much for the fruit delivered at 

 the station. In the eastern part of 

 the county in the towns of Prescott, 

 Enfield, Ware and Belchertown some 

 fruit is sold to buyers, but the gener- 

 al practice is to ship the surplus 

 to the wholesale market to be sold 

 on commission. 



The apples from the hills are as a 

 rule smaller and firmer, making bet- 

 ter keepers than the apples grown 

 nearer tlie valley. The fruit in the 

 valley generally grows much larger, 

 making a little coarser apple, but 

 under the right conditions will color 

 well and sell for as high, it not a 

 higher price than a large per cent of 

 the hill fruit. Its only advantage is 

 size and if the hill farmers would 

 prune and fertilize more they could 

 overcome this difference. 



The farmers as a rule do not take 

 enough pains with their fruit trees. 

 With cows it is necessary that they 

 should be fed two or three times a 

 day, the barn kept clean, and the 

 Inft filled with fo9der. The apple 

 tree is a different proposition. If 

 work is crowding, they are the easi- 

 est to neglect and are quite often 

 forgotten. And even if no care is giv- 

 en them nearly evei-y fall they give 

 us some kind of a crop and return 

 some revenue to help pay the taxes. 

 But does this practice get the best 

 results? 



The trouble in marketing the fruit 

 is that it is just average fruit or m 

 some cases below the average that :§ 

 produced. The market gets too much 

 of this grade. It is generally crowd- 

 ed with average fruit, especially in 

 the fall when the farmer wants to 

 sell his crop. We must pay more 

 attention to the growing of better, 

 larger, cleaner, and better-colored ap- 



ples. Treat the trees as a crop on 

 the farm, just as much as the corn 

 or potatoes, not as a by-product of 

 a hay field, or pasture. The apple 

 tree of a standard variety will pay 

 as good if not better returns for the 

 time and money invested as any crop 

 on the form. 



The better care of the fruit trees 

 should be made a community affair. 

 It is often hard for a single farmer 

 with 50 to ''o barrels of good applas 

 to sell them to advantage if he is 

 a long distance from the shipping 

 point. But with 500 to 1000 bar- 

 rels of good apples in one section 

 the problem of marketing is much 

 easier. 



Hampshire County without ques- 

 tion is one of fthe best fruit coun- 

 tries in the state. Apples of the 

 finest quality are being produced by 

 many of our growers and several 

 large plantations are scattered 

 tliroughout the county. Some of the 

 largest are the Bay Road Fruit Farm, 

 So. Amherst: J. W. Clark, North 

 Hadley; J. T. Geer, Belchertown; 

 Wright A. Root. Easthampton; E. 

 Cyrus Miller, Haydenville; and Harry 

 Wright, Williamsburg. 



The results of the New England 

 Fruit Show, where Hampshire County 

 carried practically everything before 

 it, as far as Massachusetts is con- 

 cerned, shows what can be done and 

 the County is justly proud of its 

 growers who won so many prizes. The 

 cup offered by the State Board of 

 Agriculture for tlie state winner of 

 the most first prizes went to J. T. 

 Geer of Belchertown who had 

 first prizes. A. B. Howard & Son 

 of the same town had 8. 



For the best exhibit of fruit from 

 a Massachusetts farm, A. B. How- 

 ard & Son won first, receiving a 

 prize of $50 and Mrs. W. A. Root 

 of Easthampton got third. For the 

 best Spys, J. T. Geer won first and 

 for the best box of Wealthy, the Bay 

 Road Fruit Farm won first. A. B. 

 Howard & Son got 1st on the largest 

 and best collection of apples and J. 

 T. Geer won first on best six vari- 

 eties of winter apples. About 20 

 first prizes and a total of nearly 50 

 prizes were won in the County. The 

 largest winners were J. T. Geer, A. B. 

 Howard & Son, Belchertown; W. A. 

 Root, Easthampton and Bay Road 

 Fruit Farm, South Amherst. W. H. 

 .Atkins of South Amherst and Harry 

 Wright of Williamsburg also won 

 prizes. 



In the orchard contest run by the 

 State Board of Agriculture we again 

 have Hampshire County growers com- 

 ing to the front. W. A. Root of East- 

 liaiiipton won first for the best old 

 apple orchard renovated. For the 



best apple orchard in bearing, W. H. 

 .Vtkins, South Amhei-st won third. 

 For the best yield of marketable ap- 

 ples from a single tree not older than 

 fifteen years, Mr. Atkins got second 

 and also for the best orchard of one 

 acre of standard apple trees, (trees 

 not less than three nor more than 

 five years old) he was honorably 

 mentioned. Both prizes for best yield 

 of marketable .xpples from a single 

 tree older than fifteen years, were 

 won in the County; W. H. Atkins 

 winning first and W. A. Root, sec- 

 ond. Mr. Root also won first on che 

 best crop from a single tree. It is of 

 interest to note that this tree that 

 won first bore 20 5-8 bu. of Anjou 

 pears. 



The results of this contest as well 

 as the New England Fruit Show 

 prove that this county is especially 

 well adapted to fruit growing. 



It is hoped that this coming 

 winter more time will be spent in 

 pruning trees. Find out how the 

 most successful fruit growers in your 

 section prunes his trees and copy his 

 methods. Get the State College or 

 the Farm Bureau to give some demon- 

 stration. One good way is for 6 or 

 S farmers to join and prune a half 

 day in each man's orchard under the 

 direction of one who thoroughly un- 

 derstands it. In this way each man 

 gets two or three days good train- 

 ing in pruning trees. Then in the 

 spring, pay more attention to spray- 

 ing and fertilizing the trees. The 

 average cost of producing a box of 

 apples on trees 10 to 18 years old 

 in the Pacific Northwest is 95 1-2 

 cents. It is this extra c:'re given 

 the frees that brings them the high- 

 est market price. We must follow 

 their example if we wish to have 

 less trouble In marketing and more 

 profit for our work. 



(CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1) 



DAIRY WEEK 



mont Experiment Station will give us 

 some information on the Fertilizer 

 Outlook for Next Season. Prof Mc- 

 Lean will give a talk on "Feeding 

 JDairy Stock." 



Below is tlie program for the en- 

 tire week; 



Dec. 6 Monday 



2.00 Belchertown — Town Hall 



J. A. McLean — Breeding & 

 Feeding. 



A. F. MacDougall — Diversi- 

 fied Farming. 



8.00 Ware — Town Hall 



J. A. McLean — Feeding. 



