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. 



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 



Lesli.e R. Smith, President, Hadley. 



W, D. Mandell, Treasurer, Northamp- 

 ton 



K. K. Clap'.?, Secretary, Nortliamp- 

 ton. 



Advisory Board 



Leslie R. Smith, Hadley 



Chas. R. Damon, Williamsburg 



Ferley E. Davis, Granby 



C. E. Hodfrkins, Nortliampton 



Vvarren M. King, Northampton 



M. A .viorse, Belchertown 



Marn'.n Norris, Southampton 



EDITORIAL 



The Ware Board of Trade, through 

 the Civic Committee, voted to fur- 

 nish prizes (or Ihe winners in the 

 boys' and girls' garden contest in 

 that town this season. The prizes 

 are to be awarded at the school ex- 

 hibit of vegetables which will be held 

 early in the fall. 



The farmers in the county who 

 soaked their potato seed in corrisive 

 sublimate have, for the most part, 

 nearly perfect stands iJi their fields, 

 while several who planted with no 

 treatment have rather poor stands. 

 A perfect stand with all our crops 

 shoull be our aim. For example, — 

 if with a perfect stand of potatoes 

 the yield is 150 bu. to the acre, with 

 a missing hill in every six (which is 

 quite common), the yield would be 

 reduced to 125 bu. which might 

 mean the difference between profit 

 and loss. 



We are experiencing a season very 

 similar to last, with regard to wea- 

 ther conditions in which many pota- 

 to fields were practically ruined by 

 late blight killing the vines ana 

 rotting the potatoes. Damp, humid 

 weather gives an ideal condition for 

 the development of potato blight. 

 Once blight hits a field, very little 

 can be done to check it. Try to pre- 

 vent it by keeping the vines thor- 

 oughly covered with bordeaux mix- 

 ture or the prepared bordeaux sprays 

 from early summer until the end of 



the growing season. It will be ne- 

 cessary to apply the spray every ten 

 days or two weeks. As the vines get 

 larger and cover the ground, do not 

 be afraid of hurting them with the 

 team, keep on applying the spray. 



CALF CLUB 



Last spring when the calf club 

 was organized in the state very few 

 boys or girls in Hanipi?hire County en- 

 tered. It was not listed on the entry 

 blank and for this reason several 

 boys and girls thought the contest 

 had been given up. Such is not the 

 case and this club has the advantage 

 that one can enter at any time, there 

 being no time limit. More interest 

 should be shown in this club and 

 more entries are looked for during 

 the summer and fall. 



Dairying combines so well with 

 other kinds of farming, uses waste 

 land for pastures, uses the poorer 

 hay and roughage so well, makes ma- 

 nure, provides work that women and ' 

 children can do if necessary, and I 

 has so many other points that but- \ 

 ter or whole milk alone can ne- 

 ver provide a business of high pro- 

 fits. Dairying will always be done 

 on a very close margin, and will 

 usually tend to be overdone. For 

 this reason, it is of the utmost im- 

 portance that milk production he 

 combined with some more prftable 

 enterprise, such as cash crops. 



— Warren's Farm Management 



an organization and have assisted 

 our Farm Bureau in meeting about 

 2-3 of the agent's salary. But the 

 g! eater part of the support of the 

 biiitau comes from the County com- 

 missioners and individual subscrip- 

 tions, it is your organization and if 

 you wish it to prosper you must give 

 it your financial support as well as 

 your interest. 



If at the present time you do not 

 belong to the Bureau and are receiv- 

 ing any assistance from it, your 

 neighbors are paying for what you 

 receive. You have a director of the 

 Farm Bureau in your town. Find 

 out from him what the organiza- 

 tion stands for and get back of this 

 movement to better agricultural con- 

 ditions in Hampshire County. 



In several localities the mistaken 

 idea seems to prevail that the work- 

 ers of the Farm Bureau are special 

 agents of the Mass. Agricultural Col- 

 lege, delegated to work in this dist- 

 rict with all expenses covered by the 

 state. A recent article in one of the j 

 local papers in reporting the work 

 of the agent stated that the agent 

 came from the Farm Bureau of the 

 Mass. Agricultural College. 



We wish to correct this idea. The 

 College always stands ready to as- 

 sist and advise on any agricultural 

 work in the state, but their teach- 

 ers cannot stay in one locality long 

 enough to make a complete study of 

 the local needs. Farmers and busi- 

 ness men have realized this and 

 formed the Farm Bureau so that 

 they could have one or more men, 

 working in their county who could 

 study local conditions and make 

 more efficient use of the different or- 

 ganizations, as the State College, 

 State Board of Agriculture, U. S. 

 Dept. of Agriculture, etc. 



The United States Department of 

 Agriculture and our State College 

 have realized the importance of such 



CO-OPERATIVE MARKETING OF 

 APPLES. 



Last fall fourteen farmers in ih;! 

 town of Williamsburg and four in 

 Chesterfield viccided that they won d 

 attempt to pisrket their apples co-ip- 

 eratively, have their apples graded 

 and sorted u;' if ormly and make a 

 start at l:?.it ".n establishing a call 

 for their bra: on the market. Con- 

 sidering the : aall lots of fruit han- 

 dled, and '■!■_ uncertainty of the mar- 

 ket, the attempt was considered a 

 success. 



The fruit was graded accoixling to 

 the Massachusetts apple grading law 

 and the following averaje prices re- 

 ceived: 



No. bbls. Receipts Per bbl. 

 Grade A 456 $1329.14 @ $2.91 



Grade B 493 1096.50 @ 2.22 



Ungraded 435 S16.10 @ 1.88 



13S4 $3241.74 @ $2.34 

 Overhead charges per bbl, 15c 



Cost for sorting and packing per 

 barrel, 19c 



34c 



This gave an average to the grower 

 after deducting for advertising, lith- 

 ographs, corrugated caps, sorting and 

 packing, packers, equipment, storage, 

 salary of manager, etc., of $2.00 per 

 bbl. for A's, B's and ungraded. 



The cost of grading was excessive, 

 due largely to the amount of small 

 apples. This can be greatly lessened 

 by the use of a mechanical grading 

 machi.ne. 



All the growers that were in last 

 year are planning to sell their apples 

 through the association this fall, and 

 the territory will be enlarged to take 

 in any farmer with sprayed fruit who 

 ships his appples from Williamsburg. 



The plans are to have the farmers 

 in the hill towns put their apples in 

 barrels as soon as they are picked, 

 squeeze the barrel heads in enough to 



