Norwich Bulletin Newspaper, January 1, 1916, Page 29

b § ndfiatfi County Records Wi County agent work js new in Windham county. Barly in 1916 ive farmers, and business men as well, realizin: m'ié tEevmrk is developing rapidly in other sections, and that beneficial results have followed the work of a county agent wWhen his efforts have been properly directed by the right kind of u:.&'nnhfian. “met and organized the Windham County Farmers’ assoclation. This association is an organization of farmers and business men who are co-operating with the U. S. Department -of ‘Agriculture and the State Agricultural college for_the development of the agricultural, and incidentally the in- duétrial, resources of the county. The unit of organization is, as,dn most cases, the county. Farmers, manufacturers, mer- chants, professional men, railroads, trolley lines these and any other industries should be thoroughly and effectively united, and should work tégether for the welfare of the community. The rate of progress in the right direction is directly determined by the degree of harmony existing among these closely related and interdependent industries, and the activity of the officers and directors of the association. - This organization has as its board of directors a wide-awake successful farmer from every town in the county. These men know farming conditions throughout the county, and know how a county agent can work to further develop the resources of the county. The co-operation of such men with each other and with a county agent cannot fail to show good results. Secured Mr. Kennedy as County Agent. In March, 1915, thc Windham County- Farmers' association hired as their county agent, Worthington C.'Kennedy, who was then-attending the Massachusétts Agricultural college. Mr. Ken- nedy was born and raised on a farm, attended the local district school, and was graduated from the Hardwick, Mass. high school in 1906. He took a short course at the Massachusetts Agricul- tural college the following winter. ' From then until the fall of 1911, Mr. Kennedy was employed in different branches of the dairy Industry in Hardwick and Springfield, Mass., and in the states of New York and Vermont. In September, 1f1, he en-. tered the Massachusetts Agricultural college, graduating in June, 1915. In college he devoted his time to the study of fruit grow- ing, soils, fertilizers, and preparation for county agent work. Having been brought up and educated as a practical farmer, he is able to see the needs of Windham county agriculture, and to work with his directors in planning demonstrations of farm “ practice which will be of practical vaiue to Windham county farmers. At the annual meeting of the Windham County Farmers' as- sociation; Mr. Kennedy read a report covering the work he had done up to December 1st, 1915. -This report was published in a recent issue of this paper. Although this was the first annual meeting, his report did not cover a full .year's work. Mr. Ken- nedy began work March 19, 1915. He made arrangements with the scholarship committee of the Massachusetts Agricultural col- lege by which he was allowed to work four days per week and attend college two days per week until his graduation June 16, 1915. His report, then, covered 11 weeks of two-thirds time and 24 weeks of full time, or to be more exact, 184 working days. Definite Programme to Get Results. ‘Where county agents have been at work for some time, it has been found necessary for the directors to decide on a few * definite lines of work, 4o map out a definite programme for each line, and to plan a definite series of demonstrations, meetings, and takks along each of the lines of work selected. These plans, or outlines of work cannot, of course, be laid out on a project ¥basis. Miscellaneous farm visits to farms where the owners wish to ask the county agents a number of questions on each branch of their business cannot well be classed under any one project. Emergency calls, which all county agents receive, such as prescribing something to drive off hen-lice which are making life miserable for ‘the unfortunate lady who has to pick her own Sunday dinner chicken, or susggesting an appropriate decorative scheme for a room in which a children’s party is to be held ca not be worked out on a strictly project basis. Every county agent gets such calls, but his real work is in carrving out ac- cording to a definite programme some carefully planned work, carrying it to a definite conclusion, and publishing the results: If his wholes time were spent in-answering misccllancous calls, his work would degenerate into that of a free horse or cow doctor, and; he would burn up a Iot of, gasolene and wear out a number ' of perfectly ‘good -Ford tires without having accom- plishied anything Which could be pointed to as something perma- nent- and weil worth while for the farmers of the county. § Directors and Agent Work Together. Realizing this, the directors of the Windham County Farmers' association at the beginning of the work decided on the lines of work they Wished their county agent to follow. ' Projects were then drawn up, which stated, in as few words as would com= pletely. outline dutles, just what Mr. Kennedy was to do, and how he should do it. Each of the directors of the associa- tion was supplied Wwith a copy of each projeet and it was his duty to. ses that the county -agent confined his activities so far possible to the work laid out for him. It is the duty of the Airectars, alsp, to find-farmers willing to co-operate in carrying out such demmonstrations of farm practice as the projects call for. The work done this/past season and the results accomplished are, in gvery case, progortionate to the activity of the local director. Five Projests to Work On . There were’ five ‘projects undertaken in ‘Windham county this first geason.f This article Will not go into detsil regarding rations fltm‘:fi ddvice given, cropping systems planned, and in- dividual work” abne on miscellaneous farm.visits by the county agent, but will give a bEef account of one or two striking re- sults accomplished with each project. Farm Management Demonstrations. Project No. 1 was entitled, “Farm Minagement Demonstra- tfons.” Before prescribing for a sick man, a doctor always has him stick out his tongue, feels of his pulse, takes his tempera- ture, asks him questions, thumps him here, digs him there, and determines. in his own mind what ails him. So with a sick in- dustry, the directors of the Windham County Farmers' associa- tion wished to find out what was the matter with Windham county . agriculture. They directed their county agent therefore to take farm management surveys of a number of farms. This consisted of asking the owners of these farms a number of ques- tions about their business, some of them of almost a personal nature, it is true, but nevertheless necessary to make possible a clear understanding of conditions. These questions are made out by the bureau of farm management of the United States department of agriculture, and the figures given by the farmess in ‘answer to them showed as closély as possible the total capital invested, total receipts., and total expenses. The total expenses subtracted from the total receipts gives the farm income. The capital invested.in the farm, however, if invested otherwise or put in the bank would return some income. Interest at 5% is - thought it would be safe to work along certain lines touching therefore figured on the total capital, and subtracted from the farm income. This gives the amount the farmer receives in cash for his labor. s Fifty-four Farm Surveys Taken. The questions on expenses and receipts give, however, the expenses and receipts for each branch of the farm business, and by going ever a record thus taken it is possible to determine what part of the farm business is returning a profit, and which branch, if any, is causing a loss. Means can then be suggested by which these losses may be stopped, and often by making slight changes in some part of the work the labor income is considerably in- creased. Mr. Kennedy was fortunate in haying the co-operation of H. F. Keyes, who was then at the Connecticut Agricultural college, and Mr. Whelpton of the United States depariment of agriculture, in taking the 54 surveys which were taken in Wind- ham county. These are now ready to return to the farmers and the first work of the county agent after January 1st will be to return these and discuss them with the farmers from whom the records were taken. Improving the Dairy. Project No. 2 was called “Dairy Improvement.” Dairying is the largest branch of farming in the county and the directors THE U.S.DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE STATE'S RELATIONS SERVICES DIAGRAM SHOWING HOW THE FARM BUREAUS OF CON- NECTICUT RECEIVE SUPPORT, ASSISTANCE AND CO- OPERATION FROM THE STATE COLLEGE AND FROM THE U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE dairying cven before the results of Project No. 1 were available, The dairy {mprovement project called for such work as inducing breeders to use pure-bred sires, and also pure-bred cows when possible; encouraging the building of silos; organizing herd im- provement associations; gncouraging the keeping of dairy records, not only of the amount of milk given and its butter-fat content, but of the feeds given and other cost items; and encouraging the raising of good heifer calves from the highest producing cows in the herd. Organized Herd Improvement Association. The big work done on this project was the organizing of the herd improvement association No. 4. Mr. K. B. Musser, exten- sion dairyman from Storrs, had spoken on Herd Improvement in the County before the arrival of the county agent. Considera- ble interest had been shown, and a few farmers had started to organize for ziring a man to keep records of their herds. With the help of Mr. Fergus of the United States department of agri- culture, Mr. Kennedy succeeded in getting together 26 men, who organized the herd improvement association No. 4, and hired Charles E. Simmons, who finished his course at Storrs in June, 1915, to do their record-keeping. Keeping Track of the Herd. Twenty-six men make thc ideal number of men for such an association. Mr. Simmons visits the farm of each member once per month, and this gives him a farm to visit each working day. He arrives in the afternoon in time for the night milking, weighs the milk of each cow, takes a little to test for butter-fat, and weighs whatever feed is given. At the morning milking he does the same. Using the figures thus obtained for a monthly aver- age, he figures what each cow costs, and what she returns to her owner, the difference between these figures being the profit on the cow. Fach of the men in this association, therefore, knows how much money he is making from every milking cow in his herd. This enables him to select calves from the very best to raise for increasing his herd, or for replacing cows which are not so profitable. It enables him also to select and sell cows which are not giving a satisfactory profit. By weeding out unprofitable cows, and properly feeding the profitable ones, memhers of this association are rapidly increasing the profits from their cows. While not so accurate as daily milk records, the monthly records average within 2% of the actual production of the animals and are accurate enough to be practical. Such a, monthly record shows whether the cow is returning enough profit to warrant keeping her. The cost of having these monthly records kept is less than it would cost most farmers if they did the work them- SHOWING SOME EXAMPLES OF PRIZE WINNING CONNECTICUT CATTLE S CAL! 3% Firsi: Year df E‘k 24,718,969 TROLLEY PASSENGERS ~ wich—Slight Loss from a Year Ago—But Im- provements Made in Equipment Provide This Community With Service .of the Highest Standard. The general depression which was felt by the entire countiry, during the early part of the year, was reflected in Norwich in a small decrease in the volume of business done by the trolleys centering in Norwich. Where, in 1914, -an increase of 4.22% was shown, in 1915, there is a slight loss, which was the result of general business depression, jitney competition and the increased private ownership of automobiles. The total number of passengers carried by all the lines, the management of which is centered in Norwich, 18 .....cpcccctceverciaprossansnoscsanns . 24,718,969 On the Norwich & Westerly Traction company's lines (Norwich to Westerly and through to New London) .. cee . 5,017,047 Total number of car miles operated on the SYStOM ......ii.iiciicieniiiiiriitiiieticiaiiiaeas - 2,323,345 Total number of car miles operated on the Norwich & Westerly system 1,056,169 The number of passengers carried on division, which includes operations in the cities of New London and Norwich.............. ereaees 14,225485 This is a loss for the year of about 250,000, ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————— selves, $1.50 per year per cow. For this $1.50 the dairyman gets 12 tests of each cow, amounting to 1214 cents per test. The farmer who has tried to figure a cow’'s production for a month, the feed he has given her, and t6 get from these figures his profit or loss on the cow realizes that 12% cents is small pay for the time it takes him to do it. Mr. Kennedy has been able to help one farmer to select a young pure-bred bull for his Herd, and to aid another farmer in sélecting a cow needed to increase his herd. A = Co-operation the Third Project. Every little while some new enthusiast breaks forth with a new variation on the subject of co-operating to do away with the middlemen, and other pirates, who are making enormous profits on both ends of their business by squeezing the farmer and making him sell for a low price, and by holding up the con- sumer and compelling him to pay a high price. Co-operation, ‘where needed, has helped farmers and others in both selling and buying. The directors of the Windham County Farmers’ asso- : ciation, wishing to derive all possible benefits from their asso- ciation, asked their county agent to see what could be done in the way of encouraging co-operation. Their third project was, then, entitled, “Co-operation.” No one had ever drawn up an outline for such a project, and these directors, and county agent, did not at the time feel competent to say that their efforts toward co-operation should be thus and so. Mr. Kennedy was, therefore, instructed to encourage co-operation and to aid any farmers wishing to co-operate to become so organized that they could handle, In definitely organized groups, such of their business as lent itself to co-operation. After a few months of work and experience, Mr. Kennedy drew up a “Co-operation” project, which, with a few changes, has been adopted by his directors. Co-operation For Permanent Benefit. An entirely wrong idea of co-operation, and the relation of the Windham County Farmers' assoclation and its county agent to co-operation, had become prevalent in the county. The func- tion of the county agent is not to do the co-operating, but to help the farmer to co-operate; it is to teach co-operation, and to see that whatever co-operation is attempted is, first, necessary, and, second, undertaken in the right spirit, and in a way that will result in some permanent benefit. In other words, the man who has things done for him is not benefitted, while the man who is shown how to do things for himself receives something that is worth much to him. Co-operation in buying is simply bulking orders to such an extent that goods may be bought at a wholesale price, and that the transportation charges per unit may be lowered, and the performing by the farmer himself of some of the service which the retailer usually performs. Co-operation in selling is simply bulking produce in lots large enough to in- terest competition among buyers, this resulting in a higher price offered, and to reduce the cost of transportation to the consumer. Interest has been shown in a few cases in co-operative buy- ing. In Woodstock Mr. Kennedy has succeeded in getting to- gether a few interested farmers and in showing them how to co-operate in the purchase of supplies. These farmers have pur- chased over $1,700 worth of supplies during the past season. They are already beginning to plan for the purchase of their next year’s fertilizer supply. Windham County Orchard Improvement. The fourth project was entitled, “Orchard Improvement.” Nearly every farm has an orchard on it somewhere. Every farm has some land that could be profitably set to orchard fruits. ‘Windham county soil, climate, and nearness to markets makes the county an ideal place for fruit growing. There is room for plenty of development of the orcharding industry. Mr. Kennedy . . NEW-CAR STORAGE BARN’ BUILT AT THAMESVILLE, NORWICH 'vember and December. SR s County Agent; Work Amuwwuouuerfldmeealhyt-mtlnufinm’ the number of passengers carried for the months of October, No- There have been no very marked changes in the physical ‘condition of these properties during the year, excépt thé con- struction of a storage barn on the site of the old Montville car barn In Norwich on the New London-Norwich turnpike. Providing Against Failure of Power, A sub-station is being bullt at New London and-high tension lines rebuilt and extensions added to connect all of the power stations in the system, as insurance against failure of power. Added office facilities have been provided through the pur- chase of the Waterman R. Burnham property on Main street, Norwich, which has been entirely rebuilt inside and an extension added, giving exceptionally fine office accommodations, which will be occupied at the beginning of this year. A number of improvements have been made in the bridges on the system, concrete being substituted for wood, and the phy- sical property put into ®xceptionally fine condition. Service is of High Class. < There has been a considerable increase in the number of car miles of service rendered, in spite of the falling off in business, which would indicate a higher class of service than has ever been rendered to this community. New cars of the most modern design and highest type of construction huve been put into use on the main line, and many improvements made in the equipment generally, with the result that this community is provided with unexcelled street csr service. began work just in time to take up this project. Demonstrations of pruning, spraying, thinning, and packing and grading have been given in various parts of the county. These have resulted in encouraging a number of farmers to iake better care of their orchards and to place their fruit on the market in better condi- tion. . Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs. Project No. 5 was entitled, “Boys’ and Girls’ Clubs.” This called for the organizing and following up of garden work among the school children. This work was begun only a short time ago in Connecticut, and was under the direction of a state leader at the Connecticut Agricultural college. Definite work among the boys and girls among the country schools had been planned and started by the college. For the City Boys and Girls. This was not interfered with by the county agent, but a new plan was taken up which applied to city boys and girls who could get only a very limited amount of land. This plan was, briefly, as follows: Each boy and girl who could get a piece of land containing one hundred square feet reported to his teacher PRIZE TURKEY GOBBLERS RAISED BY MISS KATHARINE - " C. MURPHY OF SCOTLAND and was given a set of questions on the crop in which he or she was interested. Work was confined this year to three crops, potatoes, corn, and tomatoes. When the boys and girls could answer the questions their names were enrolled among those eligible to take up the work. Those who were eligible elected one boy and one girl as their leaders. These boy and girl leaders shouldered the responsibility for the success of the garden work in their schools. Reports were sent to the county agent every month from each child by these leaders, and if any boy or girl had trouble with his garden the county agent was called on by the leader. Children Showed Remarkable Results. As this was a new type of garden work, it was thought best not to start more children than could be properly supervised, and the city of Willimantic, including the Windham village schools, was chosen in which to carry out the new idea. In these schools sixty boys and girls carried their work through to com- pletion, A fair was held by these children in the board of trade rooms in Willimantic on October 12th, and the quality of the vegetables exhibited by these children was remarkable. Inter- ested parents were invited to attend the fair. Many of them were present in the aftermoon when the following short pro- gramme was carried out: County Agent Kennedy briefly spoke of the work of the achlevement club. Then several of the boy and girl leaders and club members read papers describing their experiences during the summer. Mr. Brundage, state leader of boys' and girls’ club work, next told of the club work as done in other parts of the state, He was followed by Rufus Stanley, of Elmira, N. Y., who helped organize this type of club work in the county. Mr. Stanley spoke to the children on the achievement club work in other parts of the country. Prizes were then awarded, A bronze badge was given to every child who had stuck to his job and brought an exhibit, with a final report, to the fair. This final report showed the yield, cost, and profit or loss of the crop grown by each child. To the best in each school of each crop silver badgea were given, and to the best of each crop in all the schools gold badges were given. These prizes were made possible by the kind assistance of Mrs. H. H. Spaulding and Mr, Brundage. The school authorities co-operated heartily and did everything In their power to ald the work. Will Extend to Other Cities. During the coming year this work will be extended and the other cities in the county will be given an opportunity to take it up. This type of club work is particularly valuable, placing, as it does, the responsibility for the succegs of the work on the children themselves., This briefly touches a fow of the “high places” in the work of the Windham County Farmers' association. With 275 mem- bers, a live and active set of officers, efficlent and interested di- rectors, and nearly a year's experience, the future of the associa- tion looks very promising. Little of next year's work has been lanned in detail as yot. There is to be a meeting of the full :ol.rd of directors on Monday, January 8, 1916, at which next year's projects, and plans for the year's work will be discussed.