HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Farm Bureau 



A. F. MacDougrall, County Ag:<'nt 

 Helen A. Harriniaii, Home Deui. Agent 

 C. H. Gonld, Hoys' an<\ Girls' t'lub Leader 



OfBce First National Bank Building 

 Northampton, Mass. 

 Entered as second class matter Nov. 9, 1915, at the 

 Post Office at Northampton, ilassachusetts, under 

 the Act of March 8, 1879. 



Price, 50 cents a year 

 $1 a year, including membership in Farm Bureau 



Officers of the Farm Bureau 



Leslie R. Smith, President, Hadley 



W. D. Mandell, Treasurer, Northampton 



A. F. MacDougall, Secretary 



ADVISORY BOARD 



Leslie R. Smith, Hadley 



Chas. R. Damon, Williamsburg 



Perley E. Davis, Granby 



C. E. Hodgkins, Northampton 



Warren M. King, Northampton 



Wm. N. Howard, Ware 



E. B. Clapp, Easthampton 



The New Monthly 



The Monthly comes to you this time 

 in new form, larger in size, printed on 

 better paper, divided into departments, 

 and modestly self-supporting. We are 

 glad to recommend to you those who 

 have taken advertising space. They are 

 reliable dealers and interested not only 

 in your patronage but in your work. 

 You will be doing a good turn to the 

 Bureau if you mention the Monthly when 

 you respond to their advertisements. 

 The little want and sale advertisements 

 inserted by farmers who belong to the 

 Bureau we are still printing free of 

 charge. We hope that you will make 

 use of the question box and feel free to 

 .send in suggestions or material from 

 your own experience. The Monthly is 

 attempting to be a local and seasonal 

 comment on the agriculture of Hamp- 

 shire county. Help us to make it better 

 every month, and see to it that your 

 neighbors are on our subscription list. 



The state college will open in about 

 two weeks for a concentrated practical 

 course, running until May 1. Those 

 young men who can take up work there, 

 should see to it that they do. The de- 

 'mand for trained farmers will be greater 

 than ever hereafter, and he who has no 

 other clear duty, owes it to his country 

 to become just as efficient as possible. 



Seed Corn 



In normal years to plant poor seed 

 corn is foolish ; in such years as this, 

 it is unpatriotic. It is frequently hard 

 to get good seed in the spring. The 

 farmers who are growing corn this year 

 ought to look forward and provide their 

 own seed from their own fields. They 

 ought to save an abundance of it and the 

 very best. Do you realize that the 

 record yields in the boys' corn club 

 contests are nearly eight times as great 

 as the average yield per acre throughout 

 the country? This is partly due to 

 general care; it is partly due to the 

 quality of seed. 



When the corn ripens go into your 

 fields and select your seed corn on the 

 stalk. Remember that like tends to 

 reproduce like; that plants with suckers 

 tend to produce more of the same kind, 

 that early maturing plants tend to 

 produce more of that kind, that single 

 ear plants do the same. You can tell 

 more about the crop you are growing if 

 you select the seed not only from the 

 character of the grain but also the 

 character of the plant. There is nothing 

 remarkable about two full and perfect 

 ears from a single stalk in the hill, 

 because conditions are not normal and 

 the plant has the advantage of increased 

 sun and root area. You should select 

 your seed from plants that have done 

 creditably in full competition with the 

 rest under normal conditions. Otherwise 

 you are fooling yourself. Ordinarily we 

 say that those plants are to be sought 

 which are early in maturing, solid and 

 thick-set in growth, free from suckers, 

 and heavy ijroducing in grain. 



Go through your fields, then, with your 

 seed bag and pick the ears that promise 

 most. Pick more than you expect to 

 plant, for some may fail to germinate 

 and others may be lost over the winter. 

 Then put them in a dry and airy place, 

 where* they will be safe from rats and 

 mice, to cure. And however busy you 

 may be with other things, don't neglect 

 to do it. 



Field Days 



The Bureau has just finished a series-, 

 of field days. On August 30 the Ware 

 dairymen met at Forest Lake for an 

 agricultural program and basket lunch. 

 Mr. E. N. Boland, formerly of the ani- 

 mal husbandry department at the state 

 college and now with the Quaker Oats 

 company of Boston, gave a talk on feed- 

 ing dairy cows. Miss Harriman spoke 



1 on Conservation. In the afternoon Mr. 

 H. O. Daniels, a practical dairyman of 

 Middletown, Conn., discussed Efficient 

 Milk Production. 



I On August 29 a field day meeting was 

 held on the farm of George L. Barrus in 

 Goshen. Mr. Boland discussed the grain 

 situation, Mr. Summer R. Parker of the 

 state college spoke on dairy farming, and 

 Miss Harriman presented the problem of 

 conservation on the farm. There was a 

 demonstration of the use of concrete for 

 agricultural purposes by Prof. C. I. 

 Gunness of M. A. C. 



On August 31 a community day was 

 held on the town common in Granby. 



I There was an interesting tractor demon- 

 stration in the morning, in which there 

 appeared machines of the Case, Interna- 

 tional, and the Moline companies. After 



I the ba.sket lunch Miss Harriman and Mr. 

 Daniels spoke. The latter's talk had to 



I do with an adjustment of dairy farming 



' with present conditions. He recom- 

 mended the growing of more grains and 

 the consequent reduction of the buying 

 of feeds, the growing of more clover 

 which decreases the demand for grains, 



' and the growing of more young stock. 

 It was a notable address and those who 



I came a long distance to hear it, felt 

 amply repaid for their trouble. 



On September 1 a field day was held 

 in Plainfield. Agent Putnam of Frank- 

 lin county. Miss Harriman, and Prof. 

 Lockwood of the state college were the 

 speakers. 



Funds 



The Mt. Holyoke College girls have 

 completed their farm work successfully. 

 Working in groups of eighteen through- 

 out the summer, they have grown nearly 

 10 acres of stuff' for the dining halls this 

 winter. 



Mr. Gould has canvased in some of the 

 towns where pledges for the Bureau had 

 not been paid, and everywhere he met 

 with a ready response. Pledges from 

 some of the other towns, however, have 

 not come in, and if those concerned will 

 give the matter their prompt attention, 

 it would be of great assistance to the 

 directors. 



Daniel Willard has said that the test 

 of every enterprise should be, "Will this 

 help to win the war?" It happens that 

 with most farmers patriotism is pretty 

 nearly the same thing as good business 

 policy. 



The Apple Grading Law 



The new Massachusetts apple grading 

 law provides for three grades: "Fancy," 

 large apples without blemish and having 

 the required color characteristics; "A,"" 

 apples of any size without defect, much 

 the same as the old No. I's; and "B," 

 apples of no particular size and color, 

 but free from serious defects and in 

 every sense of the word "useful." All 

 other apples must be classed "ungraded." 



All closed packages of apples packed in 

 Massachusetts for sale must be branded 

 with the following information in some 

 printed form: state wherein grown, 

 grade, mininum size of fruit, amount, 

 variety, and name and address of party 

 responsible for the packing. 



For more complete explanation of the 

 law write to R. E. Annin, State House, 

 Boston, or to the Farm Bureau for Cir- 

 cular 50. 



