THE HAMPSHIRE CUUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Published By The 



Hampshire County Farm Bureau 



A. F. MacDougall, County Agent 



Office, First National Bank Bldg. 



Northampton, Mass. 



Entered as second class matter 

 Nov. 9, 1915 at the post office at 

 Northampton, Massachusetts, under 

 the Act of March 8, 1879. 



OFFICERS OF THE FARM BUREAU 



Charles R. Damon, President, 



Williamsburg. 



W. D. Mandell, Treasurer, 



Northampton. 



John J. Knenedy, Secretary, 



Northampton. 



Advisory Board 



C. E. Hodgkins, Chairman, 



Northampton. 

 M. A. Morse, Belchertown. 

 Martin Norris, Southampt n. 

 Perley E. Davis, Granby. 

 E. B. Clapp, Easthampton. 

 Warren M. King, Northampton. 

 Chas. R. Damon, Williamsburg. 



EDITORIAL 



One year has elapsed since the 

 Farm Bureau was organized in this 

 County. It has grown from a rather 

 uncertain foundation to a well estab- 

 lished organization. The year has 

 ended with the Bureau in good fi- 

 nancial condition and a fine co- 

 operative spirit among the several 

 towns. The directors in nearly every 

 case have been successful in bring- 

 ing the desire of their community 

 in touch with the officers of 

 the Bureau. The membership has been 

 good but chance for improvement is 

 large. With a large membership more 

 interest Is created and a stronger and 

 more capable organization Is the re- 

 sult. The membership should reach a 

 thousand this year. The officers of the 

 Bureau will do their share, but they 

 need the assistance of every farmer 

 and business man in the County to do 

 justice to the development of Agri- 

 culture In this County of ours. 



Everyone wants to see the boys and 

 girls who have an interest In Agri- 

 culture or farm life, given an opportu- 

 nity to carry out their desires In this 

 direction. This coming season the 

 Mass. Agricultural College will do 

 more than ever toward the forma- 

 tion of clubs and the directing and 

 supervising of aerlcultural work. In 

 a short time Prof. O. A. Morton and 

 Mr. E. N. Boland will visit many, of 



liie av.x.00iti ciuu luwus lu i.ue co^iiiLy, 

 e.^yiatUiiiia luiS worn., xnoubaiius Oi 

 uoys anu giiis competed last year for 

 pr-ies m mis Si^ie. In oruer lo na/c 

 L-.e i.>oy or ga'i uo ^.iij or htr b^s^ 

 uo.k, tiiv.y must have tue imeresi anj 

 i;uoperaiioa of tneir parents. It' your 

 uoy or gal comes hoiue from scUooi 

 tuis spring desiring to enter one oi 

 these clubs, look into the matter 

 lUurougnly and encourage them to do 

 tu^ir Lest, 'iou will be amiJy re- 

 paid for your efforts by the valuable 

 results obtained. 



If you are purchasing cotton-seed 

 meal for fertilizing purposes or us- 

 ing any ashes as a source of potash, 

 i.. will be advisable for you to have 

 an analysis made by your Experi- 

 ment Station before you make full 

 settlement. A large per cent, of 

 the analysis made to date of cotton- 

 seed meal or ashes have shown a 

 test below the minimum guarantee. 

 1 1 cases of this kind if full settle- 

 ment has not been made you are more 

 c-rtain of having no trouble in ob- 

 taining a rebate. Make sure and ob- 

 tain Bulletin No. 4 by the Mass. Ex- 

 periment Station on the "Inspection 

 of Commercial Fertilizers." It will 

 be of great assistance to you in 

 picking out the kind and brand of 

 fertilizer you wish to use this sea- 

 son. 



Several groups of farmers have been 

 formed for the purpose of ordering 

 car-loads of lime. It is advisable to 

 order early so as to receive the bene- 

 fit of good roads and also get it 

 hauled before the spring work com- 

 mences. 



PRUNING THE APPLE ORCHARD 



Now is the time to get our apple 

 tre^s in shape and put them in a 

 condition to produce better quality 

 fruit. The market this past season 

 has proven beyond question that it 

 is only the best quality fruit that is 

 in demand at a profitable price. An- 

 other reason why we vhould pay more 

 attention to the production of better 

 quality fruit is that next fall the 

 new state law regarding the grading 

 and packing of apples goes Into ef- 

 fect. We cannot afford to grade poor 

 quality fruit under this law and this 

 means the poor apples will go on 

 the market labelled "ungraded" and 

 receive a correspondingly poor price. 

 If we attempt to sort the low quality 

 fruit into the different grades, the 

 cost of sorting will be too preat. 



This past season, figures were kept 

 by the Vllliamsburg Fruit Growers' 

 Association on the cost of pradlng. 

 sorting and packing apples under the 

 State law and they varied from 13 



lu ,ju \,^^La i-er ^airei; apples ot good 

 cia-.iiL> .jciii£ burteu and packea for 

 'Mc .esa than some of the poorer 

 ! lots. 



iue first Step toward better fruit 

 is pruning. This can be done any 

 time between now and spring. If 

 yo.L nTc in dOubt as to the best meth- 

 od to fo»low, get in touch with your 

 town director and have a pruning 

 demoustration given in your district. 

 Kiiher see .he work done or actually 

 do it yourself under the direction of 

 one who understands it. 



A few general principles to fol- 

 low in pruning are: 



1 Have sharp saws and pruning 

 shears. 



2 Leave no stubs. 



3 Cut out all dead and diseased 

 branches. 



4 Keep the tree low and spreading 

 by cutting back the leaders to side 

 branches. 



5 Do not strip the large branches, 

 leaving thick clusters at the end. 

 Distribute the bearing surface evenly. 



6 Prune on the outside of the tree. 

 It is here we get the most fruit. 



Sunlight and air are necessary for 

 good fruit but don't open your trees 

 too much the first season. Plan to 

 prune your trees every year. 



FARMERS' WEEK 

 Farmers' \veek at the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College will be 

 held this year March 13-17. It Is 

 two years now since we had one of 

 these weeks and no farmer in Hamp- 

 shire County can afford to miss this 

 one. Other counties are organizing 

 excursions to attend these meetings 

 at the College. As it is held in our 

 own County it does not seem nec3s- 

 sary to form excursions from differ- 

 ent sections but the whole County 

 should attend as one. A list will be 

 kept of the farmers attending from 

 each county so that it can be known 

 which one takes the most interest 

 In progressive agriculture. Hamp- 

 shire County is the best agricultural 

 couiity of its size in the state. For 

 this reason as well as several others 

 we should head the list with number? 

 attending. The farmers in the hill 

 towns should form groups to attend 

 the days they are specially interest- 

 e.l. Later these f;roups coiild report 

 at a town gathering of the thlnsrs 

 that Impressed them the most. In 

 this way every one could receive the 

 benefits of the whole week at Am- 

 herst even If they could only attend 

 one or two days. 



The College Is attempting to offer 

 the best program they have ever had. 

 Those who have attended In the past 

 know what this weans. The program 

 will soon be out and can be ob- 



