THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Hampshire County is justly proud 

 of the overwhelming success of the 

 Hartley Schools. These results give 

 undisputed proof that Agricultural 

 work among the boys and girls In 

 Hadley excels that of any other 

 town in Massachusetts. The credit 

 is due to the efficient efforts of Mr 

 E. J. Burke, Agricultural supervis- 

 or, the teachers in the different 

 schools, the int.erest and support oi 

 the local people and above all, to 

 the boys and girls themselves who 

 had the gardens and brought home 

 the prizes. 



Continued PYom Page One. 



to be unheaded after being hauled 

 to the shed and then the association 

 had to head up all the barrels after 

 the fruit was graded. On tie farms, 

 as a rule, the owner assisted in 

 heading the barrels. 



The results show, however, that 

 1159 were packed in the central 

 packing shed at an average cost of 

 20.4 cents a bbl. while 872 barrels 

 were packed on the farms at an av- 

 erage cost of 23.0 cents a barrel, 

 or a difference of 2.G cents in favor 

 of the central packing shed. Three 

 cents extra per barrel was charged, 

 however, for hauling the fruit from 

 the store-house to the cars which 

 makes the total cost about the 

 same. The growers who brought 

 their apples to the central house 

 had the advantage of not having to 

 store their fruit, no bother In 

 boarding the men packing, and did 

 not have to assist In heading up the 

 barrels. 



The cost of packing apples un- 

 der similar conditions varied with 

 the amount and the quality of the 

 fruit. The money saved by having 

 apples of good quality is shown by 

 the following comparisons. Farms 

 are chosen that produced approxi- 

 mately the same amount of fruit. 



Packed on the Farm. 

 Farm No. Grade (bbls). 



ABU Total 



4 27 57 21 105 



5 6 28 61 95 

 Farm Grading & Packing Saving 



No. Cost per bbl. per bbl. 



4 15.8c 6.9c 



5 22.7c 



To show that the same results 

 were obtained in the packing shed 

 a record comparison is given. 



Packing Shed 

 Farm No. Grade 



A B U Culls 



19 16% 68 38% 21% 



18 29 72 14 9% 



Farm Total Cost per Saving 



No. Marketable bbl. per bbl. 



18 115 22.5c 4.6c 



19 123 21.1 



The larger the per cent, of Grade 

 A and B's, the less it costs to pack 

 the fruit. 



Tn the first comparison, in pack- 

 ing 100 barrels, a saving would be 

 made of $6.90. A very conserva- 

 tive estimate would be that 45 

 apple trees would produce this crop. 

 Prof. F. C. Sears in his book on 

 "Productive Orcharding" gives the 

 following figures for the cost of a 

 foliage spraying in a block of 53 

 bearing Baldwin trees, the trees ap- 

 proximately 30 years old: 



Labor, 6% hrs. (3 men 



and team) at 87%c $5.69 



Materials, 250 gals, spray 



Arsenate lead) 1.20 



Total Cost $6.89 



The increased cost of spray ma- 

 terial (lime-sulphur and lead) 

 would increase this about 85c. 



On this basis the cost for spray- 

 ing 45 trees would be $6.57. In 

 other words, enough saving would 

 be realized on the cost of packing 

 alone, to pay for one extra foliage 

 spray. There is an abundance of 

 proof right in our own County to 

 prove that an extra foliage spray or 

 special pains with the first foliage 

 spray that is applied will Improve 

 the crop for more than the differ- 

 ence between these crops mentioned. 



Besides being an economy in 

 packing, a higher price is realized, 

 of course, for the better grades — a 

 difference this year of fifty cents 

 a barrel.. The per cent of Grade 

 A fruit is what governs the price 

 received for the entire crop. In a 

 cooperative association such as the 

 Williamsburg organization where 

 the fruit is carefully graded, the 

 farmer receives exact returns for 

 any improvement he makes in the 

 quality of his fruit. 



The members of the Williamsburg 

 Fruit Growers' Association owe 

 much to their officers and manager 

 for the success of the organization 

 this past year. Its future will de- 

 pend largely on the assistance and 

 support of everyone of the mem- 

 bers. 



PIG CLUB WINNERS. 

 Of the twenty-seven prizes given 

 in the Massachusetts Pig Club, 

 Hampshire County boys won five. 

 No prize higher than third prize 

 was won in the County but the re- 

 sults show that the boys did con- 

 sistent work. The two first prizes 

 awarded were won by Clifden Agar 

 of Worcester and Willard Buckler 

 of Pittsfield. The second prize win- 

 ner was a girl, Esther Wilmot of 

 Salisbury, Essex County. Edward 



A. Montague of Westhampton woa 

 a third prize and James Comins, 

 North Hadley; Edward Pydenkevez, 

 Hadley; Talbot EUlrldge, Amherst 

 and Arthur Streeter, Cummington 

 won fourtii prizes. There were 

 eight third and sixteen fourth prizes 

 offered. 



Some of the facts brought out bj 

 the contest are of value t.o the farm- 

 ers in the County as well as to tttfl 

 boys and girls. 



The contest was four months' 

 long. 



Average weight of pigs at 

 beginning 35 ibg. 



Average weight of pigs at 

 end 177 lbs. 



Average gain in weight 

 per pig 142 lbs. 



Average initial value of 

 pi.s:s $5.6^ 



Average cost of raising pig 9.15 



Average total cost of pig 14.7B 



Average selling price of 

 pig 21.36 



Average net profit per pig 6 58 



There were 225 pigs and 165 

 members or 1 33 pies per member. 



Average profit, per member S8.40 



Average daily gain 1.17 lbs. 



Average cost per pound 

 gain $0,068 



Pig Club members grew 40.000 



pounds of pork, valued at S5.000 00 



! and at a net profit of $1,500.00. Thb 



! average net profit per pound was 



I $0,046. 



I Mr. V. A. Rice, Pig Club Agent 



I states: "In the last two years you 



i boys and girls have proved that hog 



growing in Massachusetts can be 



I made a profitable business. In thia 



year's results I find that. 108 mem- 



I bers used pasture. The average 



profit to those members who used 



pasture was $10.00 and the average 



i profit to those members not using 



pasture was S6 90. You sep what 



this means, that the boy or girl who 



uses pasture is going to make, on 



an average, $3.10 more on each pig 



grown than the boy or girl who does 



not use pasture." 



PEACH BTTDS 

 ARE THEY ALIVE? 



The following information has 

 just been given out by Dr. J. K. 

 Shaw, Research Poniologist of th« 

 Massachusetts Agricultural Experi- 

 ment Station. 



"The recent severe cold weather 

 has killed a considerable portion of 

 the peack buds and the question 

 arises whether enough live buds re- 

 main to produce a crop or whether 

 our experience of last year is to be 

 repeated. On February 15, 1918, 

 the temperature at the Massachu- 



