THE HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



THE GREEN HAND 



The opinion, prevalent in tlie 

 cities, tliat any one can readily be- 

 come efficient as a farm hand is of 

 course erroneous. There are many 

 odds and ends of everyday work that 

 require someUiing of knowledge 

 and something of knack, and the 

 green man will waste a great deal 

 of time over them and sometimes 

 make costly mistakes. The care of 

 the stable and handling of horses are 

 a typical instance. Then much of 

 the regular work which seems com- 

 paratively simple is quite otherwise 

 on the necessarily large scale with 

 which it must be done. There is a 

 right way to hoe and many wrong 

 ways, and the principal differences 

 become evident in both speed and 

 comfort after two hours in the sun. 

 .\nd of course in the many more in- 

 tricate phases of farm work only the 

 trained man is efficient. 



Still with the increased acreage 

 throughout the country, the fabu- 

 lous wages paid in the cities, and 

 the demand for men in military af- 

 fairs, the trained man is hard to 

 get. Some of the men who have 

 been farming over conscription day 

 may be expected to drift into oth- 

 er lines of work later, and the hay- 

 ing and harvesting season are 

 ahead. Applications for work are 

 less frequent at the office and it is 

 possible that extra hands will be 

 very hard to get during the summer. 



As the schools close for the sum- 

 mer a certain amount of green help 

 wll become available and the Bu- 

 reau feels that much of this ought 

 to be turned out on the land. It is 

 now looking about in the high 

 school for boys who are strong and 

 intelligent enough to make helpful 

 farm hands, but who are seldom 

 worth as much as such as they can 

 obtain in other and less strenuous 

 ways. It will be necessary to ap- 

 peal to their patriotism to get them 

 for farm work. Fifteen likely boys 

 liave already applied for places. A 

 ftw college men may also be secured. 



There are some things in favor 

 of such hands. They are usually 

 intelligent and interesting and will- 

 ing to learn. They do not have 

 their own notions of how things 

 should be done and insist upon do- 

 ing them according to those notions. 

 They are tidy and pleasant to have 

 in the home, sometimes becoming in 

 a very real sense part of the family. 

 And they do not command so high 

 a wage. 



The Bureau may have your ap- 

 plication for such help as it 

 becomes available. If not, and you 

 want it, let us know. 



CHICK FEED 



D. W. Fields of Brockton has es- 

 tablished a new record as an auction 

 buyer by bidding off a five-months- 

 old Hols'tein bull in Worcester, 

 June 7 at $53,200. 



One of the reasons for keeping out 

 of the bean patch during damp wea- 

 ther is that any bruises suffered at 

 such times increases the liability to 

 anthracnose. 



There are nearly 3000 agriculur- 

 al counties in the United States and 

 in 127S of them there are county 

 agents at work. There are 47S 

 women at work in the field. 



In iMississippi, Alabama and North 

 Carolina, in districts which suffered 

 recently from floods, over $85,000 

 worth of seed was purchased for the 

 farmers with the balance of the flood 

 relief appropriation. 



Only about 10 per cent of the In- 

 (lian corn of this country is used for 

 human food. Shades of Corn Bread 

 and Corn Muffins! 



The Bureau has handled 2925 

 bushels of seed potatoes this spring. 



Seed America First — Wall Street 

 Journal. 



The New York state survey indi- 

 cates that the state is growing 25 

 per cent, more potatoes this year 

 than last, 31 per cent, more corn, 

 42 per cent, more beans, and 77 

 per cent, more cabbage. 



iMount Holyoke College in South 

 Hadley is raising its own stable 

 crops for the coming winter and the 

 college girls, under the direction of 

 the college gardener, are doing the 

 work. They are to continue the 

 work throughout the summer, com- 

 ing to South Hadley in installments 

 for the purpose. 



Pigs like fresh air, green forage, 

 and clean quarters. No animal, or 

 human either, would thrive in the 

 average pig-pen. 



Weeds are vegetables out of place: 

 pansies are weeds in a beet bed, and 

 beets are weeds among pansies. 

 Witch-grass is always a weed. 



One milk man sells 500 quarts o; 

 buttermilk in Holyoke. Although 

 cheaper than whole milk it is near- 

 ly as nutritious and considerably 

 more healthful. And like olives, 

 those who have acquired a liking 

 for it pronounce it delicious. 



One woman recently said that she 

 had been trying for two days to get 

 us by telephone, but that our line 

 was always busy. Business, not 

 gossip! 



Of the fixet five canning schools 

 conducted in iMassachusetts by the 

 extension department of the col- 

 lege, three were in Hampshire coun- 

 ty. 



One pound of cottage cheese on 

 the basis of protein is equivalent 



to 1.52 pounds of fowl, and on the 

 basis of energy, to 10 3-4 ounces of 

 fowl. 



Three tractor plows have been at 

 work in the Northampton meadows 

 ths spring. 



Ayrshire breeders! 39 cattle from 

 Hunter & Montgomery's, Scotland, 

 are to be sold at the Eastern States 

 Exposition grounds in Springfield, 

 June 14. 



THE BUREAU AND CHILDREN'S 

 GARDENS 



Mr. Gould lias established a 

 school garden at the Kimball School 

 in Enfield which may well serve as 

 an example to other district schools 

 of the county. The children have 

 one-fourth of an acre of land, plowed 

 and harrowed, and are planting it 

 with Kidney and Yellow Eye beans. 

 Under the direction of Miss Flor- 

 ence E. Johnson, their teacher, they 

 are to care tor the crop. The proj- 

 ect is being financed by the North- 

 ampton National Bank with the en- 

 dorsement of the Bureau, and pro- 

 ceeds are to be devoted to improve- 

 ments in the school house. 



There are a thousand children in 

 Ware, South Hadley <and Northamp- 

 ton working in school and home 

 gardens under supervision. In North- 

 ampton the supervision is being fur- 

 nished by the Bureau for seventy 

 gardens in the Williams Street play- 

 ground and for the home gardens in 

 Wards One and Three. Local visit- 

 ors are doing splendid volunteer 

 work in all these towns. 



Mr. Rand, of the Bureau, has re- 

 cently secured land from the Mount 

 Tom Pulp Mill for sixteen children 

 on Mount Tom Island, and the chil- 

 dren have planted mostly corn and 

 beans. In Easthampton, where the 

 Grange is giving large prizes for 

 the best cared for gardens, he has 

 personally visited 150 children and 

 reports 116 bona fide gardens, that 

 is gardens at least fifty square yards 

 in area, containing at least five va- 

 rieties of vegetables, and wholly 

 cared for by the boy or girl couf 

 cerned. The award of the prizes 

 will be On tlie basis of two inspec- 

 tions by expert and disinterested 

 judges. 



In Northampton, June 23, has 

 been reserved by the city commit- 

 tee for a field day for the young 

 gardeners, with ice-cream and pa- 

 triotic buttons furnished by the 

 Equal Suffrage Association, and ad- 

 dresses pertinent to the occasion by 

 the mayor and Prof. Farley of the 

 State College. There will be near- 

 ly seven hundred children for the 

 celebration. Admission will be lim- 

 ited to garden workers strictly. 



