THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Published By The 



Hampslure County Farm Bureau 



A. P. 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 FAEM BUREAU 



Leslie R. Smith, President, Hadley. 



W. D. ilandell. Treasurer, Northaiiip- 

 ton 



K. K. Clapp, Secretary, Northamp- 

 ton. 



Advisory Board 



I.pslie R. Smith, Hadley 



Chas. R. Damon, Williamsburg 



Perley E. Davis, Granby 



C. E. Hodgkins, Northampton 



V^arren M. King, Northampton 



M. A A'orse, Belchertown 



Martin N orris, Southampton 



EDITORIAL 



Farmers are going to be classed 

 ■by credit men as poor risks or good 

 risks, according to their yield per 

 acre and their ability to market 

 their crops. 



"Too many farmers in America 

 today are merely giving themselves 

 hired men's jobs. What the farm- 

 ers need is not only large produc- 

 tion but profitable production." — 

 Carl S. Vrooman, Assistant Secre- 

 tary of Agriculture. 



Several of the towns in the Coun- 

 ty have shown a great deal of in- 

 terest during the past few weeks in 

 the work conducted in the County 

 ■fay Miss Marie Sayles and Miss Laura 

 Comstock of the Mass. Agricultural 

 College. Miss Sayles gave many 

 canning demonstrations, explaining 

 the cold pack method of preserving 

 fruits and vegetables and Miss Com- 

 stock lectured on the value of dif- 

 ferent foods in the home and on ef- 

 ficiency in Household Management. 

 We wish that more of this work 

 could Toe done and have greater at- 

 tention paid to the home side on the 

 farm. The women in several coun- 

 ties have already organized and put 

 a woman worker in the field. Hamp- 

 shire County women may well be 

 thinking this over. 



Continued from Page 1. 

 At the New York Agricultural Ex- 

 periment Station at Geneva similar! 

 results have been obtained for a 

 ten-year-period. The farmers busi- 

 ness experiments mentioned in the 

 following summary are experiments 

 that were carried on by farmers to 

 determine the actual profit in spray- 

 ing potatoes in New York State, 

 under farm conditions. The sum- 

 mary below is taken from Bui. No. 

 349, published by the N. Y. Agricul- 

 tural Experiment Station. 



In the so-called ten-year experi- 

 ments the ten-year average increase 

 in yield is as follows: 



At Geneva, three sprayings, 69 bu. 

 per kcre. 



At Geneva, five to seven sprayings, 

 97.5 bu. per acre. 



At Riverhead, three sprayings, 25 

 bu. per acre. 



At Riverhead, five to seven spray- 

 ings, 45.7 bu. per acre. 



In the farmers' business experi- 

 ments (6 to 15 each year) the nine- 

 year averages are as follows: 



Increase in yield, 36.1 bu. per acre. 

 Total expense of spraying, $4.74 

 per acre. 



Net profit from spraying, $14.43 

 per acre. 



In 205 volunteer experiments, 

 covering seven years, the average in- 

 crease in yield was 54.3 bu. per acrfe. 

 These experiments demonstrate 

 beyond doubt, that the spraying of 

 potatoes is highly profitable in New 

 York. 



Spraying with bordeaux mixture 

 should be commenced when the 

 plants are six to eight inches high 

 and repeated at intervals of 10 to 

 14 days throughout the season, mak- 

 ing five to seven applications in all. 

 Some poison should be added to the 

 bordeaux whenever bugs or flea-beet- 

 les are plentiful. The spraying 

 should be very thorough — the more 

 thorough the better. 



This year the high cost of copper 

 sulphate (blue vitrol) has made it 

 so that it is practically as cheap to 

 buy the prepared sprays as Pyrox or 

 Bordo-Lead if one is "buying large 

 amounts, as it is to make the bor- 

 deaux mixture. However, if one 

 makes their own bordeaux, use the 

 proportions of 4 lbs. copper sulphate, 

 4 lbs. lime to 50 gallons water for 

 the first two sprays. To this add 3 

 to 4 lbs. arsenate of lead for the 

 potato bugs. After the first two 

 sprays, use 5 lbs. of copper sulphate 

 and 5 lbs. lime in making the mix- 

 ture. 



Cover the vines thoroughly with 

 the spray and remember that bor- 

 deaux is a preventive, not a cure, 



and must be applied throughout the 

 entire season to get the best results. 



An error was made in the last is- 

 sue in the grass mixtures given for 

 seeding down in oats. The article 

 should read: 

 Mixture 



No. 1 — 15 lbs. Timothy 



5 lbs. Red Top 



No. 2 — IS lbs. Timothy 



5 lbs. Red Clover 

 4 lbs. Alsyke Clover 



NEW ENGLAND BECOMING ETC. 



New England, America's Play- 

 ground, a true saying, and more ful- 

 ly appreciated today than ever be- 

 fore, both by dwellers and by thou- 

 sands of travelers from all points. 

 Witliout doubt, NeA^ England will 

 be filled with tourists this season as 

 never before. Foreign travel will be 

 small. There is no large exposition 

 this year in our country. This is the 

 year to advertise New England, 

 each state, county, and town should 

 be alive to this fact. Every dwel- 

 ler is bound to say a good word for 

 his own community. Our own Hamp- 

 shire County is one great beauty 

 spot. Americans there are, who have 

 traveled through Europe, but know 

 not the beauties of their own land. 

 New England is famous the world 

 over. We have comforts, education, 

 natural attractions of historic splen- 

 dor. Take a look at our little world 

 and be a does in it. You cannot 

 help others until you help yourself. 

 Our city and country roads, if to 

 serve the traveling public, are worth 

 saving for ourselves. There are dif- 

 ferent ways to do this. First pro- 

 vide for good drainage. A narrow, 

 overcrowned road is unsafe and of 

 short life if made from material tak- 

 en from the ditches. I am led to be- 

 lieve that we ought to use drags 

 more. In some parts of the west and 

 south, log drags are used with par- 

 ticularly good results. The farmers 

 organize and use them, the entire 

 length of their town. They drag in 

 spring and as frequently as possible 

 to keep roads smooth and free from 

 ruts. This is done when roads are 

 raoist. If followed up, at a small 

 cost, it has been a great comfort and 

 of much benefit. 



A small model of the log drag can 

 bo seen at the County Commission- 

 ers' room at the Court House. We 

 think that the Commissioners would 

 be willing to furnish a drag to any 

 town that would promise to use it. 

 Along many of our country roads, 

 brush is allowed to grow to the edge 

 of the highway which keeps out the 



