of Mr. E. P. Browne, Savannah, Wayne county, sowed under the direction of Mr. D. P. Witter. He persuaded this farmer to save FIG. 497. WINTER VETCH AND RYE ON FARM OF E. P. BROWNE, SAVANNAH, N. Y. some for seed last year, and on an acre and a quarter he gathered and sold sixteen bushels of vetch seed at $6.60 a bushel, or over $100 from the acre besides the fodder. This year, he has in a young orchard ten acres of vetch and rye which has been cut for seed and threshed with the following results: Total number of bushels.... Amount of vetch, the ratio being 20 per cent or more. 270 54 216 He has been offered $1.20 a bushel for the rye, or... $259 20 486 00 $745 20 Although the results shown above were not obtained until after the close of the calendar year, they are of such interest that it was deemed advisable to include them in this report. COUNTY SURVEY WORK An entirely new line of work was undertaken in the fall of 1914 in the counties of Saratoga, Washington and Warren, contributary to Glens Falls. At the request of the Chamber of Commerce of that city, Mr. John A. Ennis, of the Bureau of Farmers' Institutes, with Mr. H. E. Babcock, Assistant Director of Farm Bureaus, spent most of a week in the above-mentioned territory, ascertaining the character of the agriculture with particular attention to what portion of the products of the farms were marketed in Glens Falls, a wealthy city of 16,000. With the exception of poultry, the bulk of the products consumed in the city, which could be grown in the surrounding country, came from a distance. Even a large portion of the milk came from Vermont. One dealer paid over $400 for western-boxed apples. The bulk of the potatoes, mutton and pork were also brought from a distance, yet the surrounding country did once and can still produce all these things, and at their best. Most of it is excellent farming land. A difference was found in the production of dairies of from $45 to $125 per cow. Here was evidently a lack of coordinate effort and local leadership. A report of the survey was later made at a meeting of citizens at Glens Falls. Probably a farm bureau will eventually result. These facts will make valuable material for institute workers in this section during the coming winter. [2199] COW TESTING ASSOCIATIONS With gratification and some pride attention is called to the tabulation of the cow testing association work. Despite the loss of eleven associations, the handicap from lack of funds during the summer which prevented any pioneer work, and the spread of the foot and mouth disease during the winter, there are now doing business thirty-seven associations, with approximately 930 members and 19,963 cows. Were the three associations organized since the close of the calendar year, June 14, added, New York would have one-fourth of all the associations in the entire United States this without a dollar of appropriation other than that from the institute funds. The maintenance and advance of the work has been made possible by the cooperation of the farm bureau managers. Only three associations have been organized in counties in which there are no farm bureaus. The illustrations given in the following pages from the report of Mr. A. J. Nicoll, bear testimony to the value of this work. Mr. John A. Ennis spent the month of January at the State School of Agriculture at Alfred instructing a class of young men from the dairy division in cow testing work. From this class have come some of our most efficient testers. Mr. F. G. Helyar, Director of the State School of Agriculture at Morrisville, has also specialized in training young men for similar service. [2201] |