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 BUBEAU 



Leslie R. Smith, President, Hadley. 



W. D. Mandell, Treasurer, Northamp- 

 ton 



John Mensel, Secretary, Northamp- 

 ton. 



Advisory Board 



Leslie R. Smith, Hadley 



Chas. R. Damon, Williamsburg 



Ferley E. Davis, Granby 



C. E. Hodgkins, Northampton 



Warren M. King, Northampton 



Wm. N. Howard, Ware 



E. B. Clapp, Easthampton 



MORE SHEEP? _ 

 The State Board of Agriculture 

 is raising the question as to the de- 

 sirability of increasing the flocks of 

 New England sheep and is prepared 

 to introduce breeding ewes from the 

 far West into' tlie state in case there 

 is sufficient demand. The sheep un- 

 der consideraiion are a cross b;- 

 tween the Lincoln and the Ram- 

 bouillet, the former being a large 

 animal with very long wool and the 

 latter the largest of the Merino 

 group with heavy fleece and fair 

 mutton quality. The cross has been 

 recommended by the department of 

 of animal husbandry at the State 

 college. The ewes will be delivered 

 at Northampton and will sell for 

 about $14 apiece. There is no 

 question but that the hill towns 

 are well adapted for sheep and the 

 matter of the dog nuisance is large- 

 ly subject to local control. The 

 Bureau would be glad to hear from 

 tJie farmers of the county in regard 

 to this project. 



BUREAU BUYS MORE SEED PO- 

 TATOES 



The Farm Bureau in conjunction 

 with the County Committee has pur- 

 chased over two thousand bushels 

 of seed potatoes this spring, an» 

 another civrload is on the ■wny. 

 These potatoes have been purcliase'i 

 largely to meet big orders which 

 tlie local dealers were too rushed 

 to handle, and sold from $3.60 to 

 $3.75 a bushel. 



CORN COMMENTS 



The mistake of planting untested 

 seed is becoming more and mors 

 apparent. A single ear of dead ker- 

 nels will make a big difference in 

 the row in which it is planted anl 

 might have been eliminated by a 

 little intelligent care. Certainly it 

 would be well to have a few tested 

 ears to fill in the missing hills next 

 month. There is something to be 

 known from the very appearance ot 

 the seed on the ear. The puny ears 

 and those not well filled out should 

 be discarded. Treatment of the 

 seed witli arsenate of lead is a wise 

 precaution in case there is trouble 

 from crows. 



Coldness of soil causes much loss 

 in the corn crop, and because the 

 fall frosts are more serious tha;i 

 those of spring, there is danger at 

 both ends of the season. Much can 

 be done by harrowing to warm up 

 the soil and in tliis way the plant- 

 ing time may be thrown forward a 

 bit. It is generally believed that 

 one fall frost is worse than three 

 spring frosts. 



It is a debatable question wheth 

 er a farmer can afford to hoe corn 

 with labor so high. Where witch- 

 grass is peva'ent it is probably ne- 

 cessary to hoe once carefully, but 

 this can be simplified and later 

 hoeings avoided by using the checti- 

 row syster) ot planting. This mean* 

 that a marker must be used to de- 

 termine the location of the hills; but 

 this can be easily constructed at 

 home and after the marking has 

 been done the planting will go on 

 as is usual with field corn in New 

 England, by hand. Of course if a 

 check-row planter is available it 

 saves much labor. The immense 

 advantage of being able to culti- 

 vate in both directions is obvious. 



After the problem of weeds the 

 most serious one is that of mois- 

 ture. The land should be so loos- 

 ened as to take in the rainfai. 

 readily, and on a side hill the rows 

 for silage corn should run along 

 the slope tf -.revent washing. And 

 after the moisture is in the soil, a 

 surface soil mulch should be main- 

 tained to keep it there. This ap- 

 plies only to that period before the 

 corn is high enough to shade the 

 ground. This has been more fullj 

 explained elsewhere in this issue, 

 but it cannot be too strongly em- 

 phasized. 



The dairyman must be sure to 

 fill his silo. The more food that h3 

 can raise on the farm, the less 

 grain he will have to buy next win- 

 ter, and it looks as though the 

 grain problem will be more serious 

 than ever before. 



BOSTON BOYS' AGRICULTURAL 

 CAMP 

 Thirty Boston boys, sixteen years 

 old and over, under the supervision 

 of Mr. Mitchell Freeman, a Boston 

 lawyer, have rented thirteen acres 

 of land near the Lower Pond in 

 Belchertown for an agricultural 

 camp. They plan to work out for 

 the local farmers as much as pos- 

 sible, using bicycles to go to and 

 from their work, and to insure ths 

 activity of any spare time or extra 

 hands they are going to cultivate a 

 good share of the thirteen acres In 

 beans, and possibly more land in 

 potatoes and other winter vege- 

 tables. Mr. Mallory of the State 

 College has been employed to take 

 charge of the farm work and 

 twelve boys are already on lue jod. 



M. A. C. FARMERS IN CHESTER- 

 FIELD 



Much interest is being taken in 

 the project of Edwin Whiting and 

 Messrs Smith, Lipshires and Phipps 

 of the State College on the Whiting 

 farm in Chesterfield. The young 

 men are planting twenty-six acres 

 of potatoes. The young men have 

 bought horses and machinery and 

 are working night and day to make 

 the venture a success. By exchang- 

 ing work with the local farmers 

 they are giving some of their ma- 

 chinery the greatest possible utility. 

 The ground has all been plowed and 

 the seed is rapidly going in. 



PIGS FOR THE BOYS 



The Farm Bureau through thJ 

 agency of Mr. Gould of the Agri- 

 cultural college, released for the 

 time being to help out in Hamp- 

 shire county, is getting pigs for se- 

 lected boys and girls and is thus 

 encouraging the home production of 

 pork. The buyer may pay for the 

 pig outright (usually $7.00) or he 

 may give his note for the price plus 

 fifty cents as security and pay in 

 the fall with current interest after 

 the pig has been fattened and sold. 

 The project is proving very popu- 

 lar. 



Fifty-si pigs were distributed In 

 Northampton the morning ot May 

 26 and over a hundred applications 

 are on file. In the case the buyers 

 live well out in the country the pigs 

 will be delivered by the Bureau. 



