HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Vol. IV 



NOKTHAMPTON, MASS., AUGUST, 1911) 



No. 8 



SUCCESSFUL WOOL SALE 



The following article contributed by 

 the Franklin County Farm Bureau will 

 be of interest to the sheep breeder.s of 

 Hampshire County, as many of our men 

 marketed their wool through the Fiank- 

 lin County A.ssociation. 



The P'ranklin County Sheep Breeders' 

 Association is to be congratulated on 

 making a very successful sale of the wool. 

 The whole clip was sold at an average 

 of about 63 cents net to the farmer. At 

 the time the Association began to J^ke 

 in wool, buyers were offering from 50 

 cents and 55 cents w^j about the top 

 price in the county. Tht wool was all 

 graded and sold on grade. There were ' 

 so many grades that it rather confused 

 the grower, but roughly speaking the 

 wool grades are staple and worth more 

 than the short wool with which shoddy [ 

 can be mixed without detection and which 

 is called clothing wool. The terms full 

 blood ?-, 3, and \ blood are used to classify ' 

 the finest, full blood representing the fine 

 Moreno wool and the fractions the pro- 

 portion of the Moreno blood which usu- 

 ally produce that type of wool. A rather 

 unusual market this year paid more for 

 the fine wool than for the mediums which 

 are usually sold higher, but full blood 

 and one half blood stable wool netted 70 

 54 8-10 cents, the Black Wool, Tags, 

 8-10 cents per pound; the ii, 62 8-10 cents, 

 the 2 58 8-10 cents, the clothing grades 

 Pulled, etc., 38 8-10 cents. It is very 

 easy to see that those having the 70 

 8-10 cents wool will be better satisfied 

 with the results than those having the 

 38 8-10 cents grade, and perhaps the 

 growers will realize that it pays to pi-o- 

 duce good quality in wool as well as in 

 other things. Black fleeces, those having 

 scattered black hair, seedy and dirty 

 wools are things easily avoided. The 

 Association paid the expenses of organi- 

 zation, built a storage room, set aside a 

 reserve to meet the interest of stock and 

 a small sulpus, and handled over 17,000 

 pounds of wool for which the farmers 

 received nearly $1,500 more than they 

 have received had it been sold in the 

 usual way. It is hoped that this success- 

 ful record may act as a stimulant to the 

 sheep industry of the county. 



THE APPLE MARKET CONNECTICUT VALLEY TOBACCO 



LOOKS FAVORABLE GROWERS ORGANIZE v 



With fall approaching, fruit growers 

 are wondering what the outlook on prices 

 is for winter apples. The crop report 

 for July 1 is very interesting, especially 

 in regard to the New York apple crop 

 which has considerable influence on 

 apples from this district. 



Western New York 



Hudson Valley 



Shenandoah District 



Predmon District 



New England Baldwin Belt 75 



Another good indication of a bright 

 mai-ket this fall is the present activity 

 of apple buyers. Last fall practically 

 no buyers were in the field and the fall 

 market was rather dull. 



No grower should hurry selling his 

 crop, but wait until it is harvested and 

 ready for the market. Good winter 

 apples will be in demand and indications 

 all point to a high price. 



The apple crop in Hampshire County 

 will be very light through the hill towns, 

 with a very satisfactory crop in the Con- 

 necticut Valley District. While the blow 

 in the spring was one of the best seen in 

 years many orchards in the hill sections 

 are bearing very light and it is the 

 occasional orchaid that has a good crop. 

 The South Amherst District which is 

 fast becoming the apple section for this 

 part of the state has a good crop of fall 

 apples of very fine quality. 



The Hampshire County and Hampden 

 County Tobacco Organizations in Massa- 

 chusetts, togethei- with the Connecticut 

 organizations, have affiliated themselves 

 into a parent organization, known as the 

 "Connecticut Valley Tobacco Grower.-!," 

 Inc. This organization will have as its 

 duties the standardizing of the grades, 

 supervising the packing, and mai'keting 

 the tobacco for the different locals. The 

 forming of this parent organization was - 

 a vital step as it will prevent the possible 

 chance of any local competing against 

 another local on the market and will 

 assist greatly in the standardizing of mar- 

 ket grades. 



At the election of officers which took 

 place in Hartford, August 9th, Charles 

 F. Ward, Broad Brook, Conn., was elected 

 president; G. Fred Pelissier, Hadley, vice- 

 president; H. L. Hamilton, Ellington, 

 Conn., secretary; and A. H. Brown, 

 Windsor, Conn., treasurer. 



LOCAL POTATO SEED 



HAS HARD TIME 



PROVING ITS VALUE 



During the first part of August, Prof. 

 Earl Jones of the Mass. Agricultural 

 College took a trip through the western 

 part of the County, inspecting the potato 

 fields, planted with certified seed secured 

 from New York State. In many of the 

 fields, interesting comparisons were seen ; 

 certified stock was planted side of home- 

 grown seed, different varieties, both local, 

 certified and New York and Maine seed 

 growing in the same field, late plantings 

 and early plantings, all taught lessons 

 Concluded on page 2 



THRIP SPOILS ONION CROP 



Indications point to a light crop which 

 should bring good prices 



The heavy rains the latter part of July 

 worked havoc with a great many fields of 

 onions by furnishing ideal conditions for 

 the deadly work of the thrip. As a result 

 the onion harvest will begin earlier than 

 usual. In fact, at this time (August 6), 

 fully twenty-five cars of seed onions have 

 already been shipped from Connecticut 

 valley points. 



The acreage. Generally speaking, the 

 onion acreage has been i-educed this year 

 in New York, Ohio and Massachusetts. 



Neiv York. In Wayne county the acre- 

 age this year is 1,500 compared with an 

 ordinary crop of 2,000 acres. While 

 some fields are in excellent condition the 

 avei-age stand on August 1st was poorer 

 than last year and the pi-ospects for the 

 county as a whole are for a much lighter 

 crop than last year when the yield was 

 close to 425 bushels per acre. On account 

 of a recent hail storm in the vicinity of 

 Macedon the condition of the crop is not 

 over 50 per cent. A good figure for the 

 county as a whole is about 66-2/3 per 

 cent. Similar conditions prevail at Fair- 

 Concluded on page 5 



