Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1916-04-14
COUNTY AGENT PLANS
Will Test Soil as Soon as He Can
Get About in Automobile
Much Pruning in Next Few Weeks
Demonstrations to Be Conducted
Legume Crops Cut Fertilizer Bills.

Legume Crops Cut Fertilizer Bills.
In the Monthly News Letter sent
out by County Agent A. w. Sweeton
to the members of the Windham
County Agricultural association the
following is stated under the heading,
Plans for Spring Work:
GA number of people in each town
have expressed the desire to have soil
samples taken and tested for lime re-
quirement. AS soon as the roads are
in shape for automobiles the agent
will visit these men and take their
samples and make a report to them
within q few days. Your town direc-
tor will be notified sometime ahead
and anyone wishing soil samples TAX
cn at this time should notify him or
write directly to your county agent.
"Miss Bessie NJ. Thayer, home
economies specialist of the Vermont
extension service, will be in the coun-
ty on May 10, II, IS and 10, to dis
cuss topics of interest to women. APP
pointmcnts have already been made
for meetings in West Brattleboro,
Brattleboro and Wardsboro. At these
meetings the ladies will have their
choice between discussion on the
ITlHClDlGb VI Il Ohu DGltCIlOu anu u
demonstration of Seasonable Dishes
for the Spring Menus. This work is
given by the Vermont extension agri-
cultural service. We shall be glad to
hear from anyone in regard to hold
ing one Of these meetings in their
community.
"There is much pruning that must
be done if Windham county is to live
- AI,, ,tnf h nl, otpn
at the New England fruit show last
October. This will have to be done
in the next few weeks if it is to bene-
fit us this season. Would not a prun
ing demonstration or conference on
the latest developments in pruning
and spraying help toward getting
more Of this done in your community
These pruning demonstrations and
conferences will be in order during
April and we shall be glad to hear
from anyone in regard to holding one.
Plans for the 1916 crop demonstra-
tons are under way. This season
there will be work with soy beans,
corn varieties, alfalfa, apples and lin
ing There will be fifteen or twenty
plots of soy beans to show the me-
thods of growing this crop to improve
our silage. There will be several
tests of corn varieties to show the rel
alive value of the early maturing
kinds for silage. There will be some
twenty fields where the value of lime
in the growing of clover will be
shown. There will be one or two
pruning and spraying demonstrations
to show the results of these opera
tions. Plans for the alfalfa work will
appear in another number of the News
Letter.
The News Letter contains also di-
rections for planting and harvesting
soy beans and much other informa-
tion concerning that crop, with this
introduction:
"Among the troubles of the Wind
ham county dairyman are the grain
bill and the fertilizer bill. If these
could be cut down and the value of
the product kept up it would mean
much to the profit side of the account
The value of the legume crops to do
this trick, and give us homegrown
protein and soil fertility at the same
time has not been appreciated. We
should grow more clover, more Cana
dian peas, more alfalfa, and we should
get acquainted with the soy bean,
new legume which seems to do well
here in southern Vermont.
"The soy bean is native of Japan
and China and it is now being grown
in many parts of the United States.
This crop is not sensitive to soil acid
ity, it will stand light frost, and
will do well where corn thrivcs. Its
rank growth and its high protein con-
tent make it especially adapted to cut
ting into the silo with corn. This nj
trogen- gathering plant makes very
heavy growth of root nodules, which
contribute much to the store of soil
fertility.
Among a variety of other things
the News Letter gives the following
information:
"The Association as organized in
1913 with a membership of four hun
dred Since then a county agent has