HA.MPSHIRE: COUNTY 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Published by the Hampshire County Farm Bureau 



PRICES 50 GENTS PER YEAR; $1.00 PER YEAR INCLUDING VIEMBERSHIP IN FARM BUREAU 



Vol. 1 



Northampton, Mass., February, 1916 



No. 6 



ANNUAL MEETING 

 The annual meeting of the Hamp- 

 shire Counly Farm Bureau was held 

 »t Northampton on Friday, January 

 14 at 10.30. The election of offlcers 

 and Board of directors took place, th 

 reports of the coanty agent, treas 

 ur-r and secretary were read and 

 work for the comiiig year diicussei. 

 After lunch at the Draper Hotel, 

 audresses were given by Mayor V/. H. 

 Feiker of Northampton, Lieut-Gov. 

 Coolidge, J. A. Scheuerle of the 

 Hampden County Improvemen! 

 League, C. E. Hodgkins; Allen B. 

 Doggett, Cummington; Bert Green, 

 Ware; and W. A. Munson, Hunting- 

 ton. The spirit and good feeling of 

 the meeting was of the best and 

 from the interest shown it looks as 

 though the Farm Bureau was enter- 

 ing upon a very prosperous and suc- 

 cessful year. 



Below is a list of the officer and 

 tiie Advi=^ory Board for 1916. The of- 

 fice of president is not filled as yet, 

 also there Is one vacancy on the Ad- 

 Tisory board : 



Vice-President 

 M. S. Howes. Cummington 

 Treasurer 

 W. D. Man-^ell. Northampton 

 Secretary 

 R. K. C'anp. Northampton 

 Advisory Board 

 C. R. Damon, Williamsburg 

 Ppr)py E. Davis, Granby 

 C. ¥1. Hoflekins. Northampton 

 t^Iartii Norrif:, Southampton 

 M. A. Morse, Bplchertown 



County Agent's Report 

 Before giving a snmrr'ary of th'^ 

 past ypfr, I wo'ild lli^e to state that 

 the things accomplished by the Bu- 

 reau have not, by any means been 

 dOTie by the conrty a?ent alone but 

 with the cooperation and assistance 

 of nil those who belong to the Bu- 

 reau or who have given their time 

 and thought to Its management and 

 upbunrttng. The renort to January 

 l3t covers a period of eleven months, 

 the b'Teaii starting wo'-k Feb. 1, 1915 

 It is ImnnsslHe to elve a complete 

 outline of work accomplished as the 

 TRlue and r°tiims of demonstration 

 wor^^ rro hard to measure. But a 

 few of the definite nrolects can be 

 ipoken of and deductions drawn. 



At the start it vv-as easily seen tha. 

 unless a few special lines of woriv 

 were decided on and emphasis laid 

 upon them, it would he hard at the 

 end of the year to point to any defi- 

 nita accomplishment. For this rea- 

 son seven projects were drawn up. 

 The project on dairying was to in- 

 crease interest in high-grade stoc.i, 

 and assist in the establishment of 

 cow-test associations. Iduch time has 

 b2eu spent, getting members for the 

 Conn. Valley Cow-Test Association 

 and It now has 20 members testing 

 nearly 300 cov.-s. Two dairy cIuijS 

 were formed for the purpose of keep- 

 ing dairy records, increasing inter- 

 est in pure-blood livestock, cooper- 

 ative buying of grain, etc. The 

 Ware Dairy Club has been very suc- 

 cessful along this line, having bought 

 several car-loads of grain cooperative- 

 ly and many of the members are 

 keeping records on their cows. 



Another project was for the pur- 

 pose of increasing the use of lime in 

 the County. About 50 car-loads were 

 brought in the past year and several 

 bought by groups of farmers. 



The project on Orchard work was 

 to produce a higher grade product and 

 hnve the fruit graded and packed 

 I properly. Forty-one pruning and 

 1 sriraying demonstrations were given 

 and seven apple packing demonstra- 

 tions. One association was formed in 

 Williamsburg for marketing apples. 

 I The fruit has all been dispr.sed of 

 to jrood advantage and the associa- 

 tion has established its name on the 

 market and Is ready for another year. 



Tn Chesterfield a young apple or- 

 chard of 4 acres has been managed 

 this past season by the Farm Bureau. 

 The towns people have takpn a great 

 doal of Interest in this orchard and 

 the wr^rk will be continued this com- 

 ing season. 



The project on top dressing grass- 

 land with chemicals was succe!-sfiil 

 on the whole but another season few- 

 er demonstrations will be held and 

 more direct supen'Ision given so that 

 more definite results will be obtained. 



A farm management survey project 

 with the tobacco and onion farmers 

 was carried on in the towns of Had- 

 ley and Hatfield. These records have 

 not, as yet, been returned but much 



lulercSt was maniiesL iu the survey 

 and it is hoped that the results will 

 be of much beuefiL to the fariiiers. 



\vork with the boys and gins has 

 been done in cooperaiiou wiih the 

 Mass. Agricultural CoUege, Ci'eaiing 

 interest iu tne aiiiereut ciuus mat 

 tney organize. At tue Tnree County 

 i?'air the i^arm Buieau assistea with 

 tue Boys and Girls' exhibit, 'ihis 

 exhibit was the largest of its kind 

 in New England. 



A farm bureau paper has been pub- 

 lished once a month to keep the mem- 

 bers iu touch with the organl..aiion 

 and to give a medium in which they 

 might advertise their wants. 



A great deal of miscellaneous work 

 has been carried on upon which it is 

 impossible to give a report. A tew 

 statistics have been recorded in the 

 office as follows: 



Feb. 1-Jan. 1 



Farmers Visited 685 



Letters Written 957 



Office call?, persons 572 



Office calls, telephone 759 



Meetings held 115 



Attendance 4161 



Miles traveled. 



Rail 2794 



Auto 10829 



Circular letters under frank ..546 

 Circular letters under paid 



postage 8254 



Agricultural articles for papers 2t 

 We wish to thank all the members 

 and directors for their hearty co- 

 operation in this past peason's work 

 and we feel that with your Increas- 

 ing interest and assistance, this next 

 sea.son will be doubly succpssful. 



A. F. MACDOUGALL 



FERTILIZER SUGGESTIONS. 



The following suggestions were 

 taken from Circular 59 of the Mass. 

 Agricultural Experiment Station on 

 "The U=e of Fertiliser in ime." 

 Copies of the bulletin ran be obtained 

 at the Farm Bureau office. 



Suggestions for different crops. 



a. For grasslands where clover Is 

 not particularly desired, for this 

 year, materials furnishing nitrogen 

 chiefly or exclusively; nitrate of so- 

 da, sulfate of ammonia and cyanarald 

 being among thd best. A combina- 

 Continued on Page Three 



