THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Agriculture will be present and as- 

 sist in the instruction. The dates of 

 the school are April 3, 4, 5 and 6. 

 The forenoons will be largely given 

 up to discussions and the afternoons 

 to demonstration work. Anyone in- 

 terested should send to George L. 

 Farley. Supervisor Junior Extension 

 Work, M. A. C, Amherst, Mass. for 

 a detailed program. 



FOOD SUPPLY. 

 Continued From Page One. 

 an increased acreage of corn. A 

 large farm garden will also materi- 

 ally decrease the cost of supplying 

 the dining-room table. Staple crops 

 that require small amounts of ferti- 

 lizer and labor as field beans, may 

 be increased to advantage and assist 

 greatly in meeting the present un- 

 settled conditions. In case of war, 

 the food supply will be one of the 

 limiting factors and it would be the 

 duty of every farming community to 

 do their utmost in meeting the de- 

 mands of the country for food prod- 

 ucts. 



HATCH CHICKENS NOW. 



Poultryman Makes His Greatest 

 Profit from Birds Hatclied Be- 

 fore the Fii-st of May. 



The poultryman makes Ills great- 

 est profit from the chickens which 

 are hatched before May 1. The early 

 hatched cockerels are sold as broil- 

 ers when the broiler market is at 

 its best. The flood of late hatched 

 broilers brings prices down and con • 

 gests the market. The greater re- 

 turns received defraying the cost of 

 raising the pullets. These pullets 

 in turn begin laying when eggs are 

 bringing the highest prices and 

 when there is the greatest shortage 

 of strictly fresh eggs. 



Still more important. early 

 • hatched chickens grow more rapid- 

 ''- ly than those hatched late in the sea- 

 son and are much less likely to be- 

 come sick. The late hatched chick- 

 . :is always are the first to catch cold 

 ;ind spread disease throughout the 

 tlock. Chickens hatched late in the 

 year will not mature before cold 

 weather and usually will not lay un- 

 til well into the winter, or even to- 

 ward spring. This means that they 

 will have to be fed and carried over 

 t- for several months at a constant ex- 

 pense, with no return, and this at 

 a time when feed is at its highest.. 

 The early hatched pullets can Tie 

 developed to a large extent on range, 

 and a saving in grain feed is pos- 

 sible in this way. 



The highest producing pullets are 

 those which begin laying early To 



get into the 200-egg class a pullet 

 must lay 60 or more eggs before 

 March 1. In order to do this, pul- 

 lets must be hatched before May 1, 

 so that they will begin laying by 

 the 1st of November. In the section 

 of the country north of the Ohio 

 river it is advisable to begin hatch- 

 ing not later than March 1 and to 

 continjie hatching at intervals 

 through March and April, so that 

 pullets of different ages will be com- 

 ing on, and the broilers will not all 

 be ready for market at the same 

 time. 



The American breeds (Plymouth 

 Rocks, Wyandottes, Rhode Island 

 Reds, etc. ) should be hatched ear- 

 lier than the Mediterranean breeds, 

 such as the Leghorns, Minorcas, etc., 

 because they take about one month 

 longer to mature. Pullets of the Am- 

 erican breeds will begin laying at 

 about 7 months of age, and those of 

 the Mediterranean breeds at about 6 

 months. 



It is often diflncult to get enough 

 broody hens to set the eggs early. 

 This may be partly overcome by set- 

 ting the earliest eggs in an incu- 

 bator and putting those eggs unaer 

 hens a few days before they are 

 ready to hatch. A hen usually can 

 brood from one and one-half to two 

 times as many chickens as she will 

 hatch, so that additional chickens 

 hatched in the incubators can also be 

 given to hens which are hatching 

 eggs at the same time. 



Early hatching will produce mort 

 eggs in the fall and winter, while a 

 larger proportion of hens will get. 

 broody early in the spring, thus 

 completing the necessary circle for 

 early fall egg production. 



Early hatched chickens are by far 

 the most profitable in every way. — 

 U. S. D. A. 



CARE OF A YOUNG ORCHARD 



The most important time in the 

 life of an apple tree is during the 

 first seven years after being set. 

 just as we are told that the years of 

 growth in children and live stock 

 are the most important; a mistake 

 in treatment or a setback in the 

 growth in all txee cases means a 

 decided loss. I have found in my ex- 

 perience that one or two-year-old 

 trees set in an orchard need as near 

 individual attention as it is passible 

 to give them if we expect to get a 

 uniform growth. 



My experience has been chiefly 

 with cultivated orchards. By com- 

 paring them with trees grown in 

 uncultivated land, I have always 

 been favorably impressed with the 

 cultivated trees, especially during 

 the first ten years of growth. 



In setting out an orchard t find 

 it very important to get the rows 

 of trees straight and square, not 

 only for looks, but for the greater 

 ease in cultivating, and the less 

 danger to the trees themselves, as 

 they are much less likely to be in- 

 jured by the team, plow, cultivator 

 or harrow, if they are all in .i 

 straight line than w'ould be the case 

 if the row varied. 



Some people stake out the orchard 

 by means of boards or wires running 

 from two base lines at right angles 

 to each other. This is the meihod I 

 have always followed, although I re- 

 cently visited a large orchard that 

 was laid out with a plow and I must 

 say that the trees were in rows 

 straight enough for all practical 

 purposes. The method of laying out 

 the orchard was as follows: The 

 field was measured and staked alon:; 

 all four sides and along all high 

 places where one could not see the 

 full width across the field. Then 

 with a pair of horses one man held 

 the plow and one took each horse by 

 the bridle and walked straight for 

 the stake at the opposite side of the 

 field. This was done in both direc- 

 tions and then the trees were set in 

 the angle where the furrows crossed. 

 This method not only served to lo- 

 cate the trees, but also helped in 

 digging the holes, as very little hand 

 digging was necessary after these 

 two furrows were made. 



In regard to dynamiting the holes 

 for the trees, I have talked with 

 quite a number who have set out 

 trees with .both dynamite and hand 

 dug holes, and T have also tried both 

 methods. While I find some very 

 firm believers in dynamited holes, 1 

 find more in this section that have 

 tried that method and can see no 

 advantage in it over the hand-dug 

 holes. In every case where the man 

 believes firmly in the dynamiting I 

 find that his soil is more or less clay 

 or hardpan, while the men who do 

 not find any advantage in the dyna- 

 mite have an open soil tending to- 

 ward gravelly loam. This is the 

 case with my soil. 



When the orchard is set the first 

 pruning must be done and at this 

 i time it is necessary to decide on th^ 

 type of tree and the height of head 

 that is wanted. I have adopted th.? 

 method of heading at about 1'^A to 

 3 feet from the ground. On a fairly 

 good soil I have found that a one- 

 year whip is fully as satisfactory to 

 set as a two-year-old tree, especially 

 if I wish to change the head from 

 that made in the nursery. On the 

 ether hand, on poorer land where it 

 is more difficult to get a tree to grow 



