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HAMPSHIRE COUNTY 



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FARM BUREAU MONTHLY 



Vol. IV 



NORTHAMPTON, MASS., NOVEMBER, 1919 



No. 11 



EVERYONE IS PLANNING TO COME 



You Cannot Afford to Miss It 



We couldn't be talking about anything 

 but the Annual Meeting of the Farm 

 Bureau which is to be held Tuesday, 

 November 18, at 10.30 o'clock in Odd Fel- 

 lows Hall, Northampton. This meeting- 

 means the getting together of all the men, 

 women, boys and girls interested in the 

 building up of their own communities and 

 the making of a more prosperous and 

 progressive Hampshire County. 

 The program is given below : 

 10.30 — Business Meeting. 

 11.00 — Report of Farm Bureau Agents. 

 11.30— Results of 1919 Projects, given by 



town project Leaders. 

 12.00— Our Boys' and Girls' Clubs 



Reports by Club Members. 

 12.30 — Dinner, served by Northampton 



Grange. 

 1.30 — The Future of Agriculture. 



Pres. K. L. Butterfield, Mass. 



Agricultural College. 

 2.30— Program of Work for 1920. 

 Remember the trustees want every 

 town well represented and everyone to 

 take an active part in the making of the 

 county projects for 1920. The work in 

 the county will progress just so fast as 

 you take an active interest in the organ- 

 ization and this means to start with your 

 presence at the annual meeting. Save 

 the date of November 18 and be sure and 

 attend. 



DON'T LET MONEY DRAIN AWAY 



The care of farm manures is an old 

 question and much has been written con- 

 cerning this in the agricultural papers. 

 Present conditions seem to justify our 

 calling attention to a few points along 

 this line. 



1. As the price of fertilizers, labor and 

 all other commodities has risen, so has 

 the value of manure. 



2. Loss of part of the fertilizing value 

 of manure is a more serious matter now 

 than in the past. 



3. Liquid cow manure contains one- 

 half of the nitrogen and four-fifths of the 

 potash in the manure. Based on the pre- 

 sent value of fertilizer materials approx- 

 imatly 5.5'/r of the money value of manure 

 is in the liquid manure. 



4. Saving all the liquid manure pos- 



Concluded on page 7 



COMPARISON OF LOCAL AND CERTIFIED SEED POTATOES 



WHAT ABOUT CONCENTRATES 



THIS WINTER? 



Dairy Cattle of High Productive Ability 

 Require Liberal Grain Feeding 



Present market conditions are causing 

 the majority of dairymen to do some 

 figuring on the variety and amount of 

 concentrates to be fed dairy cattle this 

 fall and winter. Just what will happen 

 to the grain market and transportation 

 during the next six months is indeed 

 difficult to predict. Even our best in- 

 formed, reliable grain merchants refuse 

 to venture decided opinions. 



But our cattle must have grain, never- 

 jtheless. Roughage is not suflficient for 

 either the growing or producing animals. 

 The amount of the daily concentrated 

 ration recommended will depend entirely, 

 in the case of matured cows, upon their 

 physical condition, stage of lactation, and 

 their inherent tendency toward producing 

 milk. Men who feed dairy rations with 

 no regard to these factors are not eco- 

 nomical feeders and have no legitimate 

 right to be at the business. 



We believe thoroughly in making ex- 

 ten.sive u.se of home-grown clovers, al- 

 falfa, corn silage and the various cereals, 

 or a mixture of them. Our best dairy- 

 men make as full use of these as is pos- 

 sible, but do not depend on them entirely 

 for cows of high producing ability. So 

 we apparently need the purchased con- 

 centrates, preferably those of high pro- 

 tein content and availability. Cows of 

 Concluded from page .5 



WHAT IS YOUR POTATO YIELD ? 



New Seed Gives the Best Results 



It is commonly believed that seed po- 

 tatoes do not run out readily in the hill 

 towns of western Massachusetts. It is 

 not considered necessary to buy new seed 

 as often as in the Connecticut Valley or 

 in the eastern part of the state. Many 

 people in the western part of the state 

 have grown the same potatoes from five 

 to ten years and have not changed seed in 

 that time. 



In the spring of 1919 two or three car 

 loads of new certified seed potatoes were 

 brought into the western part of Hamp- 

 shire County. On some farms this new 

 ieed was plaiited beside some of the old 

 seed which the farmers had, although no 

 definite attempt was made to arrange 

 demonstrations. 



In all ca.ses but one, which the writer 

 has observed, the new seed was superior 

 to that which the farmer had. Not only 

 was the growth of the tops more vigorous 

 during the .season but the yield of the po- 

 tatoes was greater. In some cases the 

 farmer's own seed produced a fair crop 

 and it might have been considered good, 

 if better seed had not been planted in the 

 same field. 



One farmer had hill-.selected his po- 

 tatoes for several years and considered 

 that he had a very vigorous strain. For 

 some reason these potatoes run out during 

 the seasons of 1918 and 1919 and the 

 yield was very poor. If this man had 

 Concluded on page 7 



