THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 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. 



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. 

 Parley B. Davis, Granby. 

 E. B. Clapp, Easthampton. 

 Warren M. King, Northampton. 

 Chas. R. Damon, Williamsburg. 



EDITORIAL 



ANNOUNCEMENT 



The members of the Farm Bureau 

 support and maintain this paper. 

 One-half of their membership fee 

 goes toward a year's subscription of 

 the paper. If you are not now a 

 member, please send one dollar to 

 the Farm Bureau which entitles you 

 to its membership and the paper for 

 a year. 



NEW ENGLAND FRUIT SHOW 



public place for such a market, before 

 the end of March, 1916. The State 

 Board of Agriculture must approve 

 the site. 



This means that Northampton 

 must provide a market where the 

 farmers can back up their teams and 

 sell their produce direct to the con- 

 sumer. If a central place is selected 

 that is easily accessible this should 

 be of big assistance to farmers in 

 marketing. 



About ten or fifteen market places 

 have been established under this law 

 and it is hoped Northampton will 

 soon locate a place. If the farmers 

 will take hold of this next season 

 and make use of it both the farm- 

 er and the consumer will profit by it. 



BOYS' AND GIRLS' EXHIBIT 



The boys' and girls' exhibit at the 

 Northampton Fair far surpassed any- 

 thing of its kind in the State. Over 

 600 entries were made which was 

 larger than both the children's and 

 adults' last year. One tent was fill- 

 ed with the vegetable exhibits, one 

 with the cooking, preserves, needle 

 work, drawings, etc.. and still anoth- 

 er for the poultry exhibit. 



The schools of Hadley had the larg- 

 est and best display of vegetables, 

 cooking and preserves. Northamp- 

 ton, Easthampton, Williamsburg and 

 Ashfleld deserve great credit for the 

 excellent showing they made. 



The silver cups offered by the 

 Three County Fair Association for 

 the best exhibit from any High 

 School or Agricultural School was 

 awarded to Hopkins Academy, Had- 

 ley, first, and Smith Agricultural 

 School, second. For the best ex- 

 hibit from graded schools, Hadley 

 schools won first and Nortliampton 

 schools second. 



The Fruit Show this year, although 

 small as compared with previous 

 years, had excellent quality, reflect- 

 ing the better care and the increas- 

 ing interest that is being taken in 

 fruit. 



Among the growers in Hampshire 

 County who exhibited are Sereno 

 Clark, Ellis Clark, Harry Wright, 

 Williamsburg; Wright A. Root, 

 Easthampton; Bay Road Fruit Farm, 

 W. H. Atkins, South Amherst; A. B. 

 Howard & Son, J. T. Geer, Belcher- 

 town. 



Hampshire County ought to be 

 proud of the showing made at the 

 Fair by Its boys and girls. But do 

 not let us stop here- — keep the good 

 work up and let every parent do his 

 share toward interesting the chil- 

 dren in any line of agricultural or 

 home-making work. 



FARMERS' MARKET 



The bill for establishing farmers 

 markets passed the legislature and 

 by its provisions, every town or city 

 with more than ten thousand inhabi- 

 tants must establish a farmers' mar- 

 ket or set aside a lot or street or 



BUYING GRAIN 



The two troubles that seem to 

 bother the dairymen the most from 

 the average farmer's viewpoint, ire 

 the low price of milk and the high 

 price of grain. The grain bill is, in 

 some cases, spoiling the looks of the 

 cream check or milk check. Should 

 we not pay more attention to the 

 grain mixtures we teed, both as to 

 the results in the milk-pail and for 

 the price we pay for the mixture? 



Just the other day a farmer inform 

 ed the county agent that he had 

 always fed gluten, but after hearing 

 so much about cotton seed he had 

 decided to change over and try cot- 

 ton seel for a while. Two months 

 ago, when gluten was high in price 

 and cotton seed was very cheap, tnis 

 farmer was feeding gluten. Now 

 when cotton seed is hardly quoted 

 on the market it is so high and glu- 

 ten is selling reasonable, he decides 

 to change to cotton seed. 



Another case was of a dairyman, 

 paying $1.S0 per bag for stock feed 

 that only analyzed 10% protein and 

 was high in crude fibre — paying 

 more for this grain than the best feed 

 on the market was selling for, and 

 getting a grain that had a poor feed- 

 ing value. 



Grain is an expensive necessity at 

 the best and more attention should 

 be paid to the changes in prices, the 

 mixtures we feed and how the cows 

 respond to certain kinds of grain. 



Several districts are becoming in- 

 terested in buying their grain co- 

 operatively. Many times this works 

 to good advantage and is well worth 

 trying. There is one thing we should 

 all remember, however, and that is, 

 that co-operative buying does not 

 succeed unless we are prepared to 

 buy in large amounts and pay cash. 

 It is on these two points that the be- 

 nefits of co-operation stand. 



Buying grain in this manner does 

 not mean that the farmers must buy 

 from a local dealer outside their own 

 town. Oftentimes the local deal- 

 er can offer prices as attractive as 

 an outside concern when he is sure of 

 cash and a large order. The buying 

 of grain in a Concord buggy or in 

 two or three bag lots and having it 

 charged is one reason for high grain 

 bills. 



What the farmers want is to ob- 

 tain their grain at the market price 

 and allow enough for the grain deal- 

 er to make an honest living. 



Co-operative buying of grain will 

 help to standardize the price of 

 grain in the county. For instance, 

 today the dairymen in Northampton 

 are paying more for their grain than 

 some of the dairymen in the out- 

 lying towns. This should not be so, 

 but it is impossible for one farmer to 

 rectify the matter. But above all, 

 whether buying alone or with a 

 group, keep in touch with the mar- 

 ket, know the best grains to buy, 

 and mix the right proportions to give 

 the best net returns. Weigh your 

 milk and keep individual records on 

 your cows to know the results of 

 your feeding. 



