HAMPSHIRE COUNTY FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



PUBLISHED BY THE 



Hampshire County Farm Bureau 



A. F. MarDiMisrall, County Agent 

 Helen A. Harriman, Home Deiu. Afrent 

 C. H. Gould, lioyK' and Girls' Club Lender 



Office First National Bank Building 



Northampton, Mass. 



Entered as second class matter Nov. 9. 1^15. at the 

 Post Office at Northampton. Massiicbusetts. under 

 the Act of March 8. 1879. 



"Notice of Knlry " 



''Acceptance for mailing at special rate of post- 

 age provided for in section llOli. Act of October 3. 

 1917. Authorized October 31, 1917." 



I*rice, JJ.5 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 



Fair Time 



Within a few weeks, the Fair season 

 will be with us again. Middlefield Fair 

 is to be September 3 and 4 ; Cummington, 

 September 2.5-26; Northampton, October 

 1, 2, .3. What have you prepared to ex- 

 hibit? Remember in an exhibit, the first 

 impression that the judge gets, is the one 

 that helps him most in making his de- 

 cision. This means everything should 

 have a clean, attractive appearance. 

 Have all cattle well brushed or washed 

 and hoofs and horns cleaned. Never 

 bring stock into the ring with manure or 

 manure stains on them. If it is a fruit 

 or vegetable exhibit, uniformity, freedom 

 from blemishes, and truene.ss to type are 

 the points to follow. 



Don't wait until a few days before the 

 fair before thinking about your exhibit. 

 Start now and then you will have an 

 exhibit that will do justice to yourself 

 and the fair, and will be educational to 

 those who see it. 



.At a meeting of interested sheep men 

 of New England held in Boston at the 

 State House on July 12th, it was decided 

 to hold a Pure Bred Ram Sale of the 

 breeds piominent in New England, in 

 conjunction with the Eastern States Ex- 

 position. 



TQBACCQ GROWERS PLAN 

 I TO USE COVER CROPS 



I To Build Up Soil 



The experiences of many of our best 

 tobacco growers during the last few years 

 with the use of cover crops on tobacco 

 land have proved beyond question that 

 it is a valuable practice. Last year saw 

 a big increase over the year before in 

 followers of this plan. All indications 

 now point to double the acreage this year 

 over last in land covered with timothy or 

 rye. County Agent Southwick of Hart- 

 ford County, Connecticut, made some 

 startling announcements Farmers' Week 

 at the Mass. Agricultural College, con- 

 cerning the amount of plant food con- 

 served, and the organic matter added by 

 the use of cover crops. Also those men 

 troubled with tobacco sick soils have 

 found they can improve conditions 

 greatly by the use of timothy. 



Allowing land valued at $500 to $1,000 

 an acre to only grow a crop about 60-70 

 days and then be idle the balance of the 

 year, subject to the leaching of the rains, 

 seems even to the casual observer, as a 

 very poor farm practice. Why not let 

 this soil help build itself up by growing 

 organic matter in the form of a cover 

 crop and also let this crop hold the avail- 

 able plant food over for the next tobacco 

 crop instead of letting it be leached away 

 by the winter rains? 



Timothy has proved itself to be the best 

 cover crop for tobacco, except possibly 

 on the very light sandy soils where rye 

 may be used to advantage. Rye is usu- 

 ally .sown at the rate of IJbu. per acre 

 and timothy at i bu. to the acre. 



Concluded from page 1 

 that should be followed by farmers in- 



'terested in potato growing. 



No final results can be given at this 

 time, of course, but arrangements are 

 being made with as many farmers as 

 possible to keep accurate records on yields 

 from .small equal areas so that the proper 

 deductions can be drawn in the fall. 



From the appearance of the vines, there 

 was a decided difference in favor of the 

 new seed when it was planted beside seed 

 grown on the farm from five to ten years. 

 In a few cases the local seed produced 

 fair potatoes and the field would have 

 been pronounced very good if there had 

 been no seed with which to make com- 



' parisons. 



Some farmers say that the vigor of 

 seed potatoes can be kept up in the hill 

 towns for sevei'al years and the second 

 year's crop from new seed is better than 

 the first. Prof. Jones states that he can- 

 not say how long the vigor of potatoes 

 can be kept up under careful selection, 

 but with ordinary selection, the seed runs 

 out in a few yeans. Prof. .Jones' obser- 

 vations lead him to believe that farmers 

 should get new seed more often. 



Don't Tell Anyone We Told 

 You But: 



Rosen Rye is the only kind of rye to- 

 plant. That is what the farmers say who 

 are growing it this year. If you are 

 planning on planting any rye this fall 

 i be sure and do not plant the common 

 variety. 



In marketing the wool pooled in the 

 Franklin County Association, Howard 

 Johnson, Worthington, received the high- 

 est price paid by the association. His clip 

 came from Shropshire sheep. 



Poultry culling demonstrations are to 

 be given in Hampshire County during 

 the last week in August and the first 

 week in September. If you are interested 

 in poultry, be sure and attend the demon- 

 stration in your section. Don't buy high 

 priced grain to feed low producing hens 

 or pullets. 



Robert Barr, age 9, of Huntington, 

 has the best field of rape in the County 

 Pig Club. 



i The estimated onion crop of 14 leading- 

 Northern onion states was equivalent to 

 ' 22,365 cars of 600 bushels each. It sur- 

 j passed the great crop of 1917 by nearly 

 2,000 cars and was nearly 9,000 cars ahead 

 of the short crop of 191 6. 



An efl'ort is being made to bring some 

 prominent corn growers from the Corn 

 Belt into eastern Massachusetts, so that 

 they may have first hand knowledge of 

 the damage the European corn borer is 

 doing. It is hoped that in this way the 

 big western corn growers may be able 

 to secure sufficient Federal aid in check- 

 ing the spread of the corn borer further 

 west. 



Francis Pease and George Olds of 

 Middlefield, are members of the County 

 Calf Demonstration Team. 



Alice Fairman of Worthington, a Pig 

 Club member, has a Berkshire pig that 

 has been gaining a pound and a half a 

 day. 



1. It is not always sufficient to have 

 seed corn mature. 



It must also be well dried out. 



2. The crib is not a safe place to store 

 seed corn. 



The following recommendations seem 

 warranted : 



1. Select in the field, about the av- 

 erage time of the first frost, a two years' 

 supply of matuie seed corn. 



2. Have it thoroughly dry before 

 freezing weather comes. 



