HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 

 BOYS' AND GIRLS' NA/ORK 



CHAKLES H. GOl'LIJ, Lead* r 



Judging Contests 



A popular feature of the fairs now-a- 

 days is the young people's judging con- 

 tests. At the Amherst fair there was a 

 stock judging contest won by Edward 

 Fydenkevecz of Hadley, a grain and 

 vegetable judging contest won (three 

 prizes) by the three Kokoski children of 

 Hadley, a fruit contest won by John 

 Bishko of Hadley, and a plowing contest 

 won by John Devine of Hadley. At the 

 Cummington fair a stock judging con- 

 te^3t was held by Mr. Rice of M. A. C, 

 with the following results: first, Frank 

 Kokoski of Hadley; second, Carleton 

 Shafer of Ashfield; third, Earl Streeter 

 of Cummington. The Hadley team beat 

 the Ashfield team. At the Northampton 

 fair there was a stock judging contest 

 conducted by Mr. Turner of M. A. C, a 

 corn and potato judging contest con- 

 ducted by Prof. Jones of M. A. C, and a 

 canning and bread judging contest con- 

 ducted by Miss Harriman. In the last, 

 first prizes were won by May Ryan of 

 Smith's School and Mae Devine of North 

 Hadley. 



Seven boys from Ashfield and Hadley, 

 quite on their own initiative and at their 

 own expense, have taken in a fair cir- 

 cuit outside the county, and entering 

 stock judging contests at each fair. They 

 have been to Great Barrington, Barre, 

 Brockton and Worcester. In Worcester 

 they each won something. In the fruit 

 judging contest they took the first four 

 places. 



At the Eastern States Exposition the 

 county is limited to twenty-five plates of 

 potatoes, three pigs, et cetera. The boys 

 and girls plan to send some material for 

 competition, and a team composed of 

 Messrs. Johnson, Bi-shko and Devine of 

 Hadley, coached by Mr. Burke and Prof. 

 Jones of M. A. C, are going to enter the 

 corn judging contest and give a demon- 

 stration of some phase of the care of 

 corn. 



prize winners were Doris Cady and Wil- 

 bert Moore. Those in charge of the af- 

 fair were Mr. West, Miss Fiske and Mrs. 

 Munson. 



The Cummington exhibit was held in 

 connection with the local fair, Septem- 

 ber 20, 21, and the products of four or 

 five towns were on display. The canning 

 prizes were won by Evelyn and Nellie 

 Streeter. In Middlefield a similar ar- 

 rangement obtained and the prizes were 

 there won by Olive Graves and Phyllis 

 Smith. 



The exhibit in Worthington took place 

 October 10 under the direction of Miss 

 Alice Bartlett and in connection with it 

 Mr. Gould gave an illustrated lecture on 

 boys' and girls' work in the state. On 

 the same day another exhibit was held 

 in Chesterfield. On October 11 one was 

 held in Williamsburg, and a talk was 

 given by Prof. Farley of the State Col- 

 lege. 



In Hatfield it was held October 1- in 

 the high school building under the direc- 

 tion of Superintendent Richards and the 

 supervisors. The products were judged 

 by Prof. Hart of M. A. C. and Miss 

 Harriman, and the next morning were 

 transported to Northampton to take sec- 

 ond prize in the contest of town displays. 



The examination papers written by 

 the eight Hampshire County boys who 

 are candidates for the newly established 

 sheep club have been duly written and 

 sent in to the judges. The interest in 

 the project is gratifying and its possi- 

 bilities are infinite. 



One pig club member has already sent 

 in his complete record for the season 

 just closed and the rest are due. They 

 are different pigs than they were last 

 spring. 



Boys' and Girls' Exhibits 



The young people's canning and mar- 

 keting clubs have given some splendid 

 exhibits in their various towns. 



In Granby, September 27, there was an 

 exhibition with forty-six entries. They 

 were judged by Miss Harriman and Mr. 

 Gould of the Bureau and the canning 

 prizes were won by Lois Ferry and 

 Amelia Kalunka. The exhibit was in 

 charge of the Woman's Committee under 

 the chairmanship of Mrs. Ball. 



In Huntington, September 28 an ex- 

 hibit was held for the garden crops, pre- 

 serves and sewing, and there were 

 eighty-one entries. All of the schools 

 but one were represented. The canning 



A report of the boys' and girls' garden 

 work in Northampton is to be incor- 

 porated in the annual report of the 

 school board for 1917. The educational 

 value of this summer work is becoming 

 generally realized. 



The Boys' and Girls' building at the 

 Northampton Fair was full to overflow- 

 ing with exhibits made by the boys and 

 girls of the county. The picture on first 

 page shows the interior of the building 

 as it appeared filled with vegetable dis- 

 plays, canning club exhibits, school ex- 

 hibits and home economic work. Had- 

 ley schools won the .silver cup for the 

 best display of vegetables from gram- 

 mar grades, with Hatfield second. 

 Smith School won the prize cup in the 

 class for agricultural schools and high 

 school. 



A Boy's Garden Record 



Teddy Meschicovsky, gi-ade five, the 

 author of this story, won from his little 

 garden six prizes, netting him $10.25. 

 His account is worth reading for its own 

 sake. 



My garden is 6 yards wide by 13 yards 

 long, 78 square yards in all. April 21 

 Papa dug my garden and put in manure. 

 April 27, in a light rain, I planted 6 

 inches from the edge of my garden a row 

 of Danvers half-long carrots, and 18 

 inches from the carrots a row of Crosby's 

 Egyptian beets. On May 2 I planted two 

 rows of Giant Flat Dutch cabbage seeds. 

 May 5 I planted my potatoes. I don't 

 know what kind they are; my grand- 

 father gave them to me. Before they 

 were planted they were dipped in water 

 and formaldehyde for an hour so that 

 my potatoes would not get scabby. When 

 they were dry I cut them in half and 

 planted them with the cut side down, and 

 covered them good, and packed the dirt 

 down with my hoe. The same afternoon 

 I planted a row of early radish (icicle) 

 next to where the cabbages for plants 

 were planted, for I wanted the radish 

 and cabbage plants out of the way when 

 I planted my squash and tomato plants. 

 The seed for my tomatoes, New Stone, I 

 planted in April in Papa's hot bed. My 

 parsnips I ordered from school and got 

 them May 7, the Monday after the spring 

 vacation, and I planted them after school 

 between my beets and potatoes. They 

 are Henderson's Hollow Crown. May 11 

 I planted some Hubbard squash in straw- 

 berry baskets and put them in the hot 

 bed. I wanted to see if I could raise 

 some early squash plants. 



The first time the man came to look 

 at my garden, May 14, my carrots, beets, 

 radish and cabbage were up. He told 

 me to rake my garden often to keep the 

 moisture in and to keep the weeds down. 

 I raked it twice a week and after every 

 rain. May 30, Memorial Day, I planted 

 Stowell's Evergreen Sugar corn. I 

 planted 20 hills and put five seeds in a 

 hill. Afterwards I left only three plants. 

 The ne.xt day I set out twelve of my to- 

 mato plants, and wrapped paper around 

 each stem so the cutworms could not cut 

 them off. June 1, I saw my potatoes 

 coming through the ground. My other 

 vsquash I planted in hills. May 29, and I 

 put five seeds to a hill, and I only had 

 two hills of them. But they didn't come 

 up. After that my beets and carrots 

 had to be thinned out 4 inches apart. I 

 put wood-ashes on my potatoes and to- 

 matoes because they were full of little 

 black flies. 



June 5, just a month after I planted 

 my radish seed, I pulled out the first ones 

 Concluded on page 6 



