THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Published By The 



Hampshire Cotinty Farm BiireaTi 



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 BUREATI 



LesUe R. Smith, President, Hadley. 



W. D. Mandell, Treasurer, Northaiiip 



ton 

 K. K. ClapT), Secretary, Nortliamp- 



ton. 



Advisoi7 Board 



Leslie R. Smith, Hadley 



Chas. R. Damon, Williamsburg 



Ferley E. Davis, Granby 



C. E. Hodgkins, Norttempton 



Warren M. King, Northampton 



M. A A'orse, Belchertown 



Mariin Morris, Southampton 



EDITORIAL 



O. C. Searle & Son of Southampton 

 harvested this season one of the 

 largest, if not the largest crop of al- 

 falfa per acre cut in this County. 

 On one and one fourth acres there 

 were 37.5 tumbles, weighing on an 

 average 3 pounds to the tumble. 

 This makes a yield of 4 1-2 tons per 

 acre ready to go in the barn. On 

 this same piece of land, Mr. Searle 

 states that he has never been able to 

 grow a good crop of grass. The al 

 falfa was planted two years ago 

 this summer and wintered through 

 in fine shape as the yield indicates. 

 Mr. Searle is so pleased with the crop 

 that he has already planted another 

 field and plans to increase his acre- 

 age of alfalfa to ten acres before the 

 summer is over. 



draft colts. This stimulates the in- 

 terest in breeding farm mares and 

 already twenty mares have been 

 bred to the college stallion and twen- 

 ty more signed for August. 



In the demonstration work this 

 season the most interest has seen 

 shown in the potato spraying and 

 apple spraying demonstrations. The 

 following farmers are co-operating 

 in the potato demonstration: C. C. 

 Burt, Plainfield; C. E. Davis, Cum- 

 niington; Geo. Barrus, Goshen; 

 Fred'k Burr, Worthington; H. L. 

 Merritt. Chesterfield, Emory Bart- 

 lett. Enfield; and Wm. Ovid Eames, 

 Middlefield. In the apple spraying 

 work — ^N. K. Lincoln, Plainfield; F. 

 D. Steele, Cummington; Howard Da- 

 mon, Chesterfield; Harry Wright, 

 Ellis Clark, Williamsburg; Arthur 

 Edwards. Westhampton; W. A. Par- 

 sons, Southampton and J. T. Ryan, 

 Ware. 



The Massachusetts Agricultural 

 College reports every town in the 

 County except Middlefield, Green- 

 wich and Belchertown has boys and 

 girls entered in the Agricultural and 

 Home Economics Clubs. This a fine 

 showing on the part of the boys and 

 girls, may they receive the help and 

 support of their parents and local 

 townspeople so that their interest 

 will keep up during the summer. Mr. 

 Wetherbee, special agent of th" 

 Farm Bureau for boys' and girls' 

 work during the summer is di- 

 recting and supervising the work in 

 as many towns as possible. 



The fine co-operative spirit shown 

 by Mr. Geo. Timmins of Ware is 

 what is bound to better agriculture 

 in our communities. Mr. Timmins 

 gave free stable "use for the Massa- 

 chusetts Agricultural College stal- 

 lion, Ker David for the month of 

 May and is planning to again opeji 

 his doors and keep the stallion for 

 three weeks during the month of 

 August. Mr. Timmins and Mr. Bert 

 Green were also responsible for the 

 extra premiums being listed by the 

 Ware Driving Association for their 

 Fair a year from this fall for 



In several towns this spring poor 

 stands of potatoes have been report- 

 ed. The plants came up rater un- 

 even and often the sprouts were 

 spindling and lacked vitality. With- 

 out doubt the most trouble has been 

 caused by "Rhizoctonia" or common- 

 ly called "Little Potato" disease. If 

 you have an uneven stand, dig up 

 some of the weaker plants and see if 

 you can find the trouble. If "Lit- 

 tle Potato" disease is present, the 

 tips of the tender shoot, beneath the 

 surface of the ground will often 

 be killed and a second shoot will be 

 found starting just below the dis- 

 eased area. On some of the larger 

 fprouts one may find brown dis- 

 colored areas that later may develop 

 and kill the plant. If you have any 

 such trouble in your potato field, 

 remember next year to soak the seed 

 in corrosive sublimate. 



the year. This is outside what was 

 used in the home and sold to sum- 

 mer people. Mr. Waugh does not 

 keep individual records but he be- 

 lieves in keeping a well bred bull and 

 raising his own heifers. 



Mr. W. A. Waugh of Prescott has 

 a herd of grade cows that last yea 

 averaged 6650 pounds of milk for 



THINNING APPLES 



During the past two weeks the 

 apple prospects have greatly changed 

 In many orchards 2-3 to 3-4 the fruit 

 have dropped and the apples left on 

 the trees are well scattered. In a 

 large per cent, of the orchards it will 

 not pay to thin the fruit this sea- 

 son, but in some orchards, however, 

 the trees are set heavy enough to 

 warrant it. A good rule to follow in 

 thinning is to only leave one in a 

 cluster, thin the branch enough so 

 that there will be no danger of 

 breaking (it may be to 3, 6 or 8 

 inches) and leave the largest num- 

 ber of apples on the outside of the 

 tree when working on red varieties 

 as the Mcintosh or Baldwin. 



POULTRY CONVENTION 



The Fourth Annual Poultry Conven- 

 tion will be held at the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College on July 

 19. 20 and 21. 1916. An exception- 

 ally fine program has been arranged 

 and everyone Is urged to attend. No 

 poultryman in the County can afford 

 to miss this Convention. 



GRAIN PRICES 



The following quotations are tak- 

 tn from the Boston Chamber of Com- 

 merce for July .5, 1916: 



per ton 

 .Middlin.srs !f23.25 — $27.00 



Bran, winter 22.25 



Bran, spring 22.00 



Mixed Feed 24.00 — 28.00 



Red Dog 31.00 



Cotton Seed Meal 33.50 — 35.50 

 Linseed Meal 32.00 



Hominy Feed 28.65 . 



Stock Feed 29.00 



Oat Hulls 17.50 



Alfalfa Meal 23.00 — 25.00 



GOVERNMENT CROP REPORT 



(July 7, 1916) 

 Massachusetts 



Tobacco — July 1 forecast. 10.700,- 

 00 lbs. producion last year, final 

 "Stimate S. 030, 000 lbs. 



Potatoes — July 1 forecast, 2.790,- 

 000 bushels; production last year, 

 final estimate, 3.120,000 bushels. 



Hay — July 1 condition 107, com- 

 pared with the eight-year average 

 of 85. 



Apples — July 1 forecast, 1,100,000 

 barrels; production last year, final 

 estimate, 885,000 barrels. 



