HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Farm Bureau 



A. F. Marl>ou;;all. County Agent 

 Helen A. Harriniaii. Home Deiii. Aeent 

 C. H. Gonhl, Boys' anil Girls' Club Leader 



Office First National Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 



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

 Post Office at Northampton, Massachusetts, under 

 the Act of March 8, 1879. 



" Notif e of Entry" 



"Acceptance for mailing at special rate of post- 

 age provided for in section 1 \0'S. Act of October 3, 

 1917, Authorized October 31, 1917." 



Price, 85 cents a year 



Officers of the Trustees 



Leslie R. Smith, President 

 Clarence E. Hodgkins, Vice-President 

 Warren M. King, Treasurer 

 Charles H. Gould, Secretary 



Trustees for County Aid to Agriculture 



Edwin B. Clapp, Easthampton 

 Charles E. Clark, Leeds 

 Clarence E. Hodgkins, Northampton 

 William N. Howard, Ware 

 Milton S. Howes, Cummington 

 Mrs. Clifton Johnson, Hadley 

 Warren M. King, Northampton 

 Leslie R. Smith, Hadley 

 John A. Sullivan, Northampton 



Mrs. Skimmilk's hired man was loafing 

 around Sorghum Smith's all morning 

 right in the busy .season. Finally 

 Sorghum couldn't stand it any longer. 



"What's the matter, Tim, ain't you 

 working?" he asked. 



"Naw," growled the hired man. "Quit 

 the old girl this morning. She's so 

 darned mean she'd skin a gnat. This j 

 morning as I was eatin' she suddenly ! 

 says to me, says she: 



" 'How many pancakes d'you think 1 

 you've et so far this morning?' .she asks, i 

 just like that. 



" 'Why, I don't know, ma'am. I ain't 

 kep' track,' I says to her. 



" 'Well I have,' says she. 'You've .just 

 gulped the twenty-third,' says .she. 



"Well, sir, it made me so danged mad 

 that I just got up and went off without 

 my breakfast!" 



Have you sent in notice to the Farm 

 Bureau concerning a poultry culling 

 demonstration for your community? An 

 article on the value of this work is given 

 in another part of this issue. The 

 College is prepared to give culling dem- 

 onstrations between August 7 and Sep- 

 tember 13. The demands for this work 

 is great so if you are interested, make 

 your wants known at once. 



ERADICATION OF WITCH GRASS 



Witch grass, known in parts of the 

 state by other names, as quack grass, 

 dog grass, etc. is the weed that does 

 the most damage in Massachusetts. 

 Many farmers say the control of witch 

 grass is their most serious problem. 



The damages of this weed to the agri- 

 culture of the state may be briefly 

 summed up as follows: 



Increases tabor cost of crop production. 

 Extra labor is required to control this 

 weed in cultivated crops and much of 

 this is expensive hand labor. 



Reduces yield's. Yields aie reduced 

 when the witch grass gets ahead of the 

 ciop. 



Land is cropped a lone/ time. Fields 

 which have been cleared of this weed 

 are kept in cultivated crops while other 

 fields which need taking up are left to 

 grow more unproductive. 



METHODS OF CONTROL 



There are methods of eradication 

 which are fairly successful. These are 

 more successful in dry weather than in 

 wet seasons. Perseverance is as impor- 

 tant as the method and half-hearted 

 attempts to eradicate this weed will be 

 a failure. 



Summer Fallotving. This is an ex- 

 pensive method, which is recommended 

 as being very satisfactory, where care- 

 fully followed. 



Sod land is plowed shallow in mid- 

 summer after the hay has been harvested 

 or after close pasturing. The field is 

 cultivated with a disk or spring-tooth 

 harrow after plowing and then every 

 ten days or two weeks until winter. In 

 wet seasons, more frequent disking is 

 necessary, going over the land as soon 

 as the green sprouts show. This land 

 is plowed deep in the spring and a cul- 

 tivated crop grown. Keeping this clean 

 gives the weed a final knockout blow. 



If di.sking does not get ahead of the 

 witch grass a second plowing 5 to 6 

 inches deep in late summer or early fall 

 will help. 



Sotriiig bucl.'wheat or millet after har- 

 vesting hay. The field may be plowed 

 after removing a hay crop as suggested 

 above and then sown thickly to buck- 

 wheat or millet. These ciops are rank 

 and quick growing and to some extent 

 get ahead of the witch grass and choke 

 it out. Many farmers have satisfactorily 

 grown buckwheat for this purpose. 

 While it may not entirely kill out the 

 witch grass, it will weaken the stand. 

 These crops may be harvested or plowed 

 under. 



Fall Pliiicing and Disking. Plowing 

 in late summer or early fall and disking 

 once or twice to drag as many root-stalks 

 to the surface as possible, will help 

 weaken the stand of witch grass. This 



Don't Tell Anyone We Told 

 You— But: 



There is always a "best" farmer in 

 any community. If you are the best in 

 your community, isn't it because you are 

 the most progressive, the most willing to 

 learn from the experiences of others, and 

 the most willing to give of your experi- 

 ences to others?— Jajnes Magazine. 



The Poultrymen of the state are plan- 

 ning a big convention at the Massachu- 

 setts Agricultural College July 30-Aug. 

 1. A valuable program has been ar- 

 ranged. Be sure you are one of the 

 large number of poultrymen who are 

 planning to attend. 



Now is the time to consider seeding 

 some of our cultivated land so that some 

 of the older land may be taken up next 

 year. Seeding down in corn about the 

 first of August has. in general, proved 

 satisfactory in the western part of the 

 state. The corn fields must be kept fairly 

 level and free from weeds. Silage corn 

 is preferable to seed in because there are 

 no stooks to kill the young grass, but 

 this is not so serious as the places where 

 the grass is killed can be re-.seeded. 



Following the last cultivation of the 

 corn, the grass seed can be sown by hand 

 or with a seeder. With a normal amount 

 of moisture, the seed will soon germinate. 

 In a dry season the land should be 

 brushed or lightly cultivated to cover the 

 seed a little. 



The corn stalks may be broken by 

 dragging a rail over the land when the 

 ground is frozen or by rolling in the 

 early spring. 



method is not as effective as harrowing 

 and disking during the summer, but it 

 is well worth while because it will weaken 

 the stand. 



Ridging potato land. Some farmers 

 have gotten rid of witch grass in potato 

 fields by ridging the potatoes two or 

 tihree times per season. Digging the 

 crop will help get rid of the plants left 

 in the row. On land that dries out 

 during the summer, too much ridging is 

 not advised because the yield of potatoes 

 may be reduced during periods of drouth. 



Disking Field in Spring. Disking or 

 harrowing in the spring as much as pos- 

 sible before the crop makes much growth 

 helps get rid of the witch grass. Many 

 farmers have, in this way, eradicated it 

 from land which was not planted to a 

 crop until mid-summer. 



Cultivation witli horses cheaper than 

 lia.nd labor. Planting corn in rows so 

 that it can be cultivated both ways will 

 save a lot of expensive hand labor in 

 combatting the weed. 



