The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1915-07-27
Farmers Hold Meeting,

Farmers Hold Meeting.
2 The Burlington County Board of Agri
culture held it's midsummer meeting
? on Wednesday, on the farm of C. Craig
Tallman, near Columbus. There was 8
5 good attendance of farmers and theil
families
Frederick Lippincott, president of the
, board, presided at the meeting.
Prof Alva Agee, superintendent of
, farm extension work conducted by the
New Jersey experimental station. was
the first speaker. His principal remarks
were in relation to the appointment of a
farm demonstrators and the establish
ment of farm bureau in this county,
The necessity of doing this in Burling-
ton county is beyond dispute, as agri-
culture is the chief business here and
should be assisted as much as possible.
Five other counties in the state have
demonstrators and in each it has been
to the great advantage of the farmers.
He urged those present to adopt the
plan of having demonstration appoint
ed, to begin work here October 1st, and
the farmers to pledge the county's share
of $3.50 of his salary to January LIST by
raising the money among themselves,
and then exert an effort to have the
board of freeholders make an appropria-
ton for next year.
Prof Agee spoke also on the subject of
marketing farm products, the biggest
problem of the day. The proper dis
tribution of produce, to get reasonable
and paying prices, requires organization
and familiarity with market conditions.
The farmers of eastern Monmouth coun-
ty are now studying and investigating
this subject thoroughly.
John HI. Hankinson, farm demon
strator of Mercer county, spoke briefly |
about the work that has been done since
the farm bureau there was organized |
He said that demonstration and the |
neighborly assistance that naturally |
comes with it produces better homes,
better farms and greater satisfaction
with farm life. The real foundation for
farm demonstration is demonstration
itself, not lot of speeches. In Mercer
county the work was begun with soil
improvement and it has continued |
satisfactorily along general lines. The
farmers are becoming familiar with the
newer ideas that come up with a change
OF conditions and they realize that they
cannot expect to handle the present-day
problems according to the old ideas
There must be an interchange of
thoughts and experience and operations
must be guided by strictly business
principles. There are many business
farmers who work and manage intelli-
gently and they are the fellows to be
followed. There are, of course, MANY
people who do not want to progress,
they hate to hire men because it hurts
them to pay wages, but they are to be
overlooked and disregarded in every
community to make way for real pro-
gress that is bound to come with agri-
cultural extension work. Mr.. Hankin-
son hoped that Burlington county would
organize the farm bureau that has been
proposed.
A dairyman named George T. Reid,
of Englishtown, spoke about that branch
of the farm industry. He urged his
hearers to make study of their herds,
the cost of milk production and the
quantity of milk produced. If a COW
does not produce 5000 or more pounds of
milk year it should be disposed of.
The cost of keeping poor or a good
COW is about the same.
He thought in view of the high cost
of feed, that every effort should be made
to raise on the farm as much COW feed as
possible.
Mr.. Reid said he preferred corn to any
other general feed. According to his
experience, the proper amount of grain
to feed is about one pound to every or
81 quarts of milk given. He would not
think of dairying without siio. He is
highly in favor of the use of alfalfa, as
it has the same nourishing and milk
producing value as the highest priced
feed. 1t is his opinion that farmer
cannot afford to pasture on land that is
high priced and good for growing crops,
as he can get better milk results from
the crops than from the pasture. His
final word to every dairyman was to get /
connected with some cow-testing asso-
citation.
Prof. o. H. Benson, of the United |
States department of agriculture, with
Miss Anna M. Hauser and Miss Fannie
Cooper, of the state department of
domestic science, gave demonstration
in the canning Of vegetables and fruits,
from which many new ideas were OBJ
tanned by the farmers wives and daugh-
ters present. 1t was also shown that |
many things are wasted on the farm
that can be utilized.
A gasoline propelled tractor, for use
in field work on the farm, was given a |
trial for the benefit of the men present, |
and it did fairly good work. 1t is sup
posed to take the place of three horses.
The organization of a farm bureau |
was not accomplished because the entire |
$3.50 needed for the demonstration was
not raised, the amount collected being |
slightly over half that amount. The |
money is being raised by getting one |
dollar from each farmer, which necessi-
tates calling on more men than the
committee had been able to interview.