The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1920-01-03
SUMMARIZING
WORK OF COUNTY
FARM BUREAU
Agent F. C. Shaw Has Prepared
Exhaustive Report
MEMBERSHIP is GROWING
Progress Attained Shows Bureau Is
Firmly Established and Perform
Ing Valuable Service

F, Clifford Shaw, the Bennington
county farm agent, mas prepared a
narrative report of the WORK of the bur
eau during the past year which CON
tains large amount Of valuable in
formation. The .eport is a compre-
hensiye summary of the years work
and even the minutest of deta Is are
included. A curse y reading by one
who does not feel qualified to pass
upon the data included leaves a
y onounced impression that the bur
eau is established on firm foundat on
an that is work among The farmers
OF tho county is OF inestiinable value.
The bureau now has enrol ed near
lily three hundred male membe IS. A
year ago the executive committee
he d a meet ng and mapped out q pro-
gram which included such vital pro-
1ects as farm management. dairy I'M
provement, testing of corn and grain
yariet es, plant diseases and co-opera-
tive spraying, milk. poultry, sheep
and hogs and cooperative purchasing
OF supplies.
Something has been accomplished
in each depa ture in the st, more in
some than in others. but enough to
prove conc!usively that the possiblli.
ties for the Improvement of farm con-
ditions are unlim ted and that the bur
eau Is steadily and surely making pro-
gress. The bureau news letter has
hHHmn ha
an-up-to date publ' l'catlon. In add
ton to the informal on which is based
upon observation and experience gain
ed from visits with the farme s of the
county 1t i5 beng Illustrated with
photographs made by the agent.
Because OF the conditions of trans
portat,on the bureau wa; unable TO
make creditahle exhibit OF county
products at the Vermont state fair
but IN future years there Is no rea-
son why this section should not be
able TO make a Worthwhile showing
at White River Junction
Increased interest in the work Of
the bureau was proved by he large par
ticlpation in the auto tour which was
cclnaosed Of about 80 cars and 200
persons.
The decision to disburse the finan-
ces of the bureau, tn ough a budget
system and to raise the dues from 81
to 81 were steps that Indicate de-
termination to continue the work of
the bureau.
The agent has onsistently and per.
sistently ged upon the farmers the
necessity of keeping accounts OF fin
ances. During the year he str buted
more than one hundred books and al
though he has yet had no means of
learn ng how thoroughly they are be-
ing used he as obtained enough infor-
nation to know he has awakened In
terest in more systematic farm ,ng.
In number OF instances The books
have enabled farmers to ascertain the
value of the cows in
their dairy he ds and to weed out the
Improbable animals.
Another project that has been put
on foot is the Improvement of dairy
herds through better sires. Individu.
al farmers have adopted this plan and
when the agent is able to compare his
data he is confident that he viii have
some good results to report.
One of the most pronounced results
obtained tn ough the work of the bur
eau has been the Improvement of the
potato crop through cooperative
spraying. Cooperative spraying has
been carried on for three seasons but
the w ne IF he work was shown to
the best advantage during the year
just clio led. Because OF weather con-
dit ons potatoes rotted to such an ex-
tent that IN some in -tances the crop
hardly paid for digg ng to say nothing
Of n'anting and cultivation.
To asce tain to what extent the rot
ting of the tubers was due to disease
the agent obtained reports from 12
farms and covering % acres Of spray.
ed potatoes. The figures he obtained
showed an average yield OF 169 bu h.
els to the acre. In some instances
there was pract cally no rot and the
average percentage of loss from this
cause was 7.6. The average estimat.
I'd percentage of rot in the county
vas 484.
During the winter and spring meet
ngs considerable attention was given
10 the control of potato diseases and
The selection of seed and the results
we're demonstrated at the exhibit he'd
n connection with the annual meeting.
The potatoes exh bited were more uni
'orm and there was less evidence of
disease. At the first show held in
1918 ninetyfve per cent o. the po.
.atoes exhibited showed evidence of
disease.
One OF the most satisfactory accom-
olishments Of the bureau has been its
,orn and grain tests. In the case OF
ilage corn these tests have resulted in
he rejection of a number of varieties
hat had been giving poor results in
his section and in the more general
Use Of varieties that have made hcav-
or Yields The field corn tests of the
.919 season went far to demonstrate
ba variafiac that orn host odonta5 m