USA > Massachusetts > Worcester County > Sutton > History of the town of Sutton, Massachusetts, from 1876 to 1950, Volume II > Part 57
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Several of the farmers purchased and started the breeding of purebred cattle. Devons, by Henry Stockwell, later Stockwell and Gifford; Albert Marble also kept a few of this breed; Dutch Belted and Jerseys, by George Dodge and later, Dodge Bros .; Brown Swiss, H. Scott Stockwell; Holstein-Friesian, Scott Jones. Marble Putnam and his son Charles raised Ayrshires on their farm in Eight
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Lots district.
In the fall, they exhibited these herds at Fairs in Oxford, Uxbridge and Stur- bridge. This gave them an excellent opportunity to advertise and sell breeding stock.
R. H. Baton started the trend toward large farms when he purchased three farms in the Hathaway district and operated these as one unit. He used to sell about fifty-eight quart-cans of milk per day. These farms are now operated as a unit by Everett King.
The silo, as a method of storing green corn for winter livestock-feed, began to appear about this time. These were built, at first, into a bay in one corner or side of the barn. They were usually square which made it hard to pack the corn firmly in the corners and often resulted in considerable loss, due to spoilage. The round- wood stave-silos soon proved more practical and were erected instead of the square type. These could be put inside or outside the barn. The corn was cut in the field and hauled to the silo where it was run through a chopper and cut into pieces about one-half inch long. It was then hoisted into the silo by an elevator. The power to operate the cutter and elevator was usually a fifteen horsepower gasoline engine.
The period of 1910 to 1920 brought the first of the many rapid changes agri- culture has gone through. In 1912, several farms in the eastern part of Sutton were purchased and planted with apple trees. The cost of carrying these orchards, until they came into production, was so great the original owners were forced to sell before they harvested many apples. Some of the orchards were sold or re- financed several times. The setting of these orchards changed the agriculture in this part of town from dairy to fruit. There were only four major dairy farms left in the area.
The next major factor affecting agriculture was the establishment of an agricul- ture department in the High School, in Sept. 1913. Mr. Oscar Anderson, a recent graduate of the Massachusetts Agriculture College, was employed as the first instructor. Nearly twenty students were enrolled in his classes. Mr. Anderson left Sutton at the end of the first year and Mr. Samuel Clark, another graduate of Massachusetts Agriculture College, took his place and stayed for two years.
During the period the agriculture department was in the school, the students in the classes were required to carry one or more agriculture projects on their home- farm under the supervision of the instructor. This brought their fathers in close contact with some of the research work the Massachusetts Agriculture Experiment Station was carrying on. About this time, the Massachusetts College of Agricul- ture took steps to carry their educational program out to the farmers in the State. Both Mr. Anderson and Mr. Clark arranged for the College instructors to hold one week Agriculture Institutes for the farmers in town. These meetings were well-attended. The total enrollment for the week was ninety-five. Expenses for the week included board and room for the school instructors while in town, ad- vertising, postage, provisions for the women's course, and trucking charges, totaling $39.73. This was met by a collection taken among the members of the class.
Under Mr. Anderson's charge, with the consent of the board of Selectmen, the Town Common was remodeled. The students rearranged and put in substantial
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walks. Shrubbery was set out and cared for. The lawns were mowed and walks kept free from weeds. Likewise the school grounds were taken care of.
The two programs of the Agricultural Experiment Station were a distinct help in educating the farmers on methods to control three fruit insects, codling moth, San Jose scale and tent caterpillar. The larva of the codling moth is the fat worm you find in the apple. At the winter meetings and again during the spring, through demonstrations, the farmers were instructed how to spray their apple trees with arsenate of lead as the blossom petals were falling. The moth, laying its eggs in the blossom end of the small apple, was killed by this spray. The first equipment used was a hand-pressure pump attached to a barrel. This same spray helped control the tent caterpillar. The San Jose scale, a very small insect that sucked the sap out of the tree, was controlled by spraying during the winter with lime sulphur, a very strong contact spray. The tent caterpillar, living on wild apple and cherry trees as well as cultivated fruit, became very troublesome. The moth of this insect lays its eggs in masses of about two hundred on small twigs of various trees, apple and cherry in particular.
A prize was offered to each school in town for the pupil who picked the largest number of egg-masses. A total of 129,745 egg-masses or 29,949,000 eggs were destroyed.
The poultry industry was also undergoing many changes. The foster mothers, the mechanical incubators for hatching eggs and the coal-heating brooder had come into use. With this equipment several farmers started to specialize in keep- ing poultry. George Randall in the Old Stone district and Charles Hough in the Hathaway district were two of the first to specialize in poultry. They both kept about a thousand laying hens during the winter. With this expansion they started building larger laying houses. The first of these was about sixteen feet deep and long enough to house the desired flock. Soon, several other smaller flocks were started in other sections of the town.
In cooperation with the Massachusetts Agriculture College, fertilizer-demon- stration plots were laid out on the farms of Dexter Brigham, George N. Perry, D. Oscar Putnam and Tyler Stockwell with a lime-demonstration-plot on the farm of Everett Donaldson. The next year, several local farmers co-operatively purchased two carloads of bulk ground limestone. The purpose of buying bulk lime was to save the cost of bagging it, but it proved to be quite a task in the hot summer. The farmers who bought it had to weigh and bag sixty tons.
In 1910, S. Martin Shaw purchased seven purbred Holstein cows. One of these was the daughter of Colantha Johanna Lad, one of the outstanding Sires of the breed. Her first calf, a bull, was used as a herd-sire in Mr. Shaw's herd for several years. In the winter of 1917, a number of this bull's daughters were milked four times per day and their milk weighed and tested under supervision of the Massachusetts Agriculture College. They produced as high as thirty-five quarts per day during the test period. Other farmers soon looked to this herd for foundation stock and herd-sires.
John Freeland, Fred Batcheller and George Perry also started purebred Hol- stein herds about this time. The number of cattle in these herds increased rapidly and about 1922 they co-operated with the breeders in Millbury and Auburn to hold a consignment sale of Holstein cattle at Millbury
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In 1915, William Stockwell started a retail milk and egg route in Millbury and Wilkinsonville. In a few years this route had expanded so he was operating more than one truck and was purchasing milk from several neighbors. About the same time, George Perry and his son Norman took over a retail milk route in Millbury. Later, this farm and route was operated as Perry Bros. by Norman and Willis Perry. After World War II, Willis Perry retired from the business and Norman's two sons, George and Alden, joined him. By this time a second route in Sutton Center and Manchaug had been added and the herd increased to about sixty head.
Many dairymen in the northern part of the town raised sweetcorn, cabbage and cauliflower for a supplementary income. These crops were ideal for this pur- pose: first the cash crop and then the by-products. Sweetcorn, cabbage, or cauli- flower leaves made excellent late summer and fall feed for the cows. Although some vegetables have been raised locally and sold in Worcester, the period of greatest production was from about 1910 to 1935. Many dairymen were growing sweetcorn but the cabbage and cauliflower on only a few farms. For years, Mr. John Freeland was known as the cabbage king of Worcester County. The other principal growers were, C. E. Wallace, Everett and Arthur Donaldson, George Keith and Henry Hartness. All of these men operated farms on a heavy soil with a good supply of moisture during August and September.
Dexter Brigham was the first farmer in town to use a truck to market his vege- tables. This truck, purchased about 1914, was an International, with a two-cylin- der engine and high, solid, rubber-tired wheels. This was the beginning of a trend that took our farm horses and oxen off the roads within a period of about twenty years.
Another major change that started to take place during this period was the extension of electric power and lights to the farmers. This gave them good light for both the farm and home and made it possible to establish many labor- saving methods.
In the next few years, there were several major changes that took place. The first of these was the increased use of farm trucks for hauling supplies and mar- keting farm produce.
The next change was the farm tractor for plowing and harrowing. These trac- tors with heavy steel wheels were slow and not desirable for use on the roads. They did, however, speed up plowing and harrowing and replace one pair of horses on some of our larger farms.
Mechanical milk-coolers appeared on our farms, about 1925. These replaced ice as a method of cooling milk. Although the principle of these coolers was based on the melting point of ice, many dairymen had trouble with high bacteria- count. This trouble was corrected by maintaining the water in the cooler at a level with the neck of the cans. As these coolers and household refrigerators were pur- chased, the old icehouse disappeared from the farms.
The eradication of Bovine Tuberculosis in the dairy herds of Sutton took place between 1928 and 1930. This program started when the City Board of Health began to ask for milk from Tuberculin-Tested Cows. During this period, an area tuberculin test of all the cows in town was taken. This was a co-opera- tive program between the farmers, the State and the Federal Government. The State and Federal Government each paid the farmer a certain percentage of the
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appraised value above the meat-salvage price. The farmer took the rest of the loss. Although the average loss was about forty per cent of the cows, in many cases the entire herd was taken. This program was a severe financial blow to the dairymen and it also wiped out most of the purebred herds. Nearly all the re- placements purchased were grade cows.
Another severe blow to our agriculture industry was the chestnut blight, a virus disease that killed all of the chestnut trees. Previous to this period, the chestnut was one of our best building material, being used for timber and plank. It was also used very extensively for fence posts, bridge plank and telephone and electric light poles. The last good chestnut poles and timber were harvested after the ice storm in 1922.
This ice storm, one of the worst in our history, also destroyed a lot of our older orchards. This was especially true with the old trees scattered around the walls and pastures.
It was about 1915 that there were three major efforts to co-operatively market milk in the Worcester area. The first of these was the New England Milk Pro- ducers' Association, with headquarters in Boston. The co-operative was a bar- gaining association, negotiating to sell its members' milk to a dealer but never taking physical possession of the product. The association has a local unit, includ- ing Sutton, Millbury and Northbridge. These members elect a representation to the Worcester market committee. This committee runs the Association business in the Worcester market. In recent years, the association has built a plant in Worcester and processes or sells to markets outside of Worcester all milk the dealers are unable to sell in the market.
The A. D. Perry Co. of Worcester was purchased, in 1921, by a group of dairymen, headed by H. L. Ray of Sutton. This co-operative purchased milk from its members and sold it at retail. It continued to operate as a co-operative for about ten years.
The Worcester Dairy System was set up as a co-operative and started to oper- ate, on July 1, 1924. C. E. Wallace of Sutton was one of the directors and Presi- dent. The co-operative purchased a building on East Worcester St. and put in a plant to assemble all the milk from its members and then supply the dealers with their needs. This program met considerable opposition from the dealers and the co-operative was left with a supply of milk and a market for only part of it. The Association soon entered the retail market in competition with the dealers they intended to supply. The low price returned to the producers forced many members to quit the Association. The co-operative combined with two others from Springfield, Mass. and Manchester, N. H. and became known as the United Dairy System. It is now operating as a retail dealer and, about 1950, stopped purchasing Worcester County milk.
The depression period of 1932 to 1938 had less major changes than any other similar series of years. The value of the farm dollar was down, and most men were reluctant to make too many changes. There was, however, a slow but steady increase in the use of tractor and tractor-drawn equipment. The use of rubber tires on this type of machinery came into use during this period and made the equipment much more flexible.
In 1934, the Federal Government set up the Agricultural Adjustment Admini- stration on a county level and paid farmers to make certain crop adjustments.
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At that time, industrial income was low and agriculture was over-producing. The first program to affect agriculture in Sutton was a payment to two farmers to grow fewer pigs. Each man was given a quota and paid a stipulated sum if he did not exceed the quota.
The government then built their program on this basis, that our soils were one of the basic natural resources and started paying farmers to conserve soil, water and soil fertility. This program was administered on a county basis by local farmers. The payments were for growing cover-crops, seeding legumes, and the use of more lime, superphosphate, and potash.
Under this program there was a great increase in growth of alfalfa as a hay crop and later Ladino clover for pasture.
Early in this depression period, the milk price became so low the dairymen in Massachusetts asked the Legislature to set up a special Milk Control Board to regulate the industry. After World War II, the threat of out-of-State milk forced the industry to request the Federal Government to issue an order, regulating the price of milk in the Worcester market. This order was set up regulating the use and farmer's price for all milk used in the market.
Late in the afternoon of Sept. 21, 1938, a hurricane moved in from the south, destroying several barns, severely damaging many others. The fruit in the or- chards, ready to be picked in the next few days, was badly damaged. Many fruit trees were also badly uprooted or broken. Wooded areas were left a tangled mass of broken and uprooted trees.
The devastation of this storm had a very definite effect on the future types of agriculture on our farms. The poultry houses were gone and many of our small farm flocks were not replaced. The poultry industry became specialized and the houses were built larger and strong enough to withstand high winds. The small farm orchard was gone and the industry concentrated in a few large orchards. The damage to many small dairy barns also speeded up the trend toward larger dairy herds.
From 1940 to 1952, three major policies had a marked effect on our agricul- ture trends. The first of these was the War mobilization period with the demand for industrial labor. This, combined with other factors, like health-regulation, tuberculin test, expensive milk-cooling equipment and the hurricane encouraged many of our small farmers to rent their land to larger farmers and go into industry.
The next factor was World War II, which, with its great demand for food during the next few years, was a great stimulus to the poultry industry. This expansion took two forms, the first the increase in the number and size of laying flocks for egg-production and the second the raising of broilers to relieve the national meat shortage.
Just previous to the War period, the turkey industry started to return on Massachusetts farms. Several small flocks were grown on farms in Sutton during this emergency period.
By this time, the Dairy Industry had become concentrated in a small number of large herds, the owners operating the land on several smaller farms. This was made possible by the use of farm trucks, tractors and machinery on rubber. Dur- ing the War period, expansion was hampered somewhat by the rationing of building and farm supplies, farm machinery, gasoline and rubber tires. In this
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same period all men deferred from the armed forces for agricultural production were carefully checked to be sure economical production was maintained on these farms.
Just previous to the mobilization period, several new types of farm machinery appeared on the market. Some of these were mechanical field-bailers, field-chop- pers for harvesting corn or grass and legume silage, tractor-cultivators, mechani- cal tractor corn-planters and large high-speed orchard sprayers. The supply of this equipment was very limited during the War period but became plentiful as in- dustry shifted to civilian production.
In 1946, the Dairymen of Massachusetts formed the Massachusetts Selective Breeding Association with headquarters in Shrewsbury. This association made available to dairymen through artificial insemination some of the best proven herd sires that could be purchased in the Northeastern part of the United States. John A. Eaton of Sutton was one of the first technicians employed by the association and he supplied service in Sutton and the other Southeastern Wor- cester County towns. In this same year, the Soil Conservation Districts were estab- lished under a special act of the Legislature. The U. S. Department of Agricul- ture, co-operating with these districts, supplied two learned technicians to help farmers plan their farm operation to conserve soil and soil moisture. As a result of these plans, many farms started using bulldozers to clear brush land for pas- ture, remove stone walls so heavy machinery could be operated more efficiently and establish diversion-ditches to control soil erosion. By 1952, nearly every farm had been mapped and plans for soil erosion and water-control completed.
In contrast to 1870, the farming industry in Sutton is now confined to four major types: dairy, fruit, poultry and swine.
The dairy industry is concentrated on about twenty-five farms, in contrast to about a hundred in 1870. Most of the herds run from twenty-five to over seventy milking cows. They have gone through a complete cycle of raising all replace- ments, to one of purchasing most of them, and then back to raising most of them again. The use of proven sires has greatly encouraged this last shift of raising replacements. The milking is now done by machinery, the milk cooled by electric refrigeration and all milk utensils washed in the milkroom instead of the kitchen.
The cows are supplied with well-fertilized grass and clover pasture, in the summer, and, in the winter, corn or grass silage with early-cut grass and legume hay. Grain and sometimes beet or citrus pulp are fed as a supplementary feed. Several of the farmers, working in cooperation with the Worcester County Ex- tension Service, have their herds checked every month for milk, butter-fat pro- duction and feed costs. During the seventy-five year period, the milk production per cow has about doubled.
In crop production, you find the farms highly mechanized. Nearly every farm has one or more tractors to operate plows, manure-spreaders, cultivators, mowing and hay raking equipment. Several of the larger farms own hay-balers and field- forage choppers. These larger-farm operators custom-bale or chop grass or corn silage for the smaller owners. This program of mechanization has speeded pro- duction per man-hour and, at the same time, made the investment so high that it is not economical to operate a small farm.
The swine industry was confined to about four farmers, using as feed, garbage collected in Millbury and Worcester.
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HISTORY of SUTTON
The poultry-raising is now confined to about twelve farms in West Sutton, South Sutton, and the Wilkinsonville areas of town. These are plants, carrying from two thousand to about five thousand laying hens and raising their own pullets. Some of them produce their own chickens, and sell chickens to other growers in the area. Carl Holm of West Sutton also raised several acres of DeKalb corn every year to supplement his purchased grain-feeding program. The chickens are started during the winter in brooder houses in units of about two or three hundred. As soon as the weather is warm, they are moved to small tempor- ary shelters on the range. When the pullets are on range, they are vaccinated against fowlpox, New Castle and Bronchitis. Just before the pullets start to lay, they are placed in laying houses and kept confined as long as they are in the lay- ing flock. The poultrymen replace most of their laying flock every year.
The broiler industry built up rapidly, during and after the War. The large stone mill at Manchaug is now operated as a broiler plant producing over sev- enty-five thousand broilers for market every ten or twelve weeks.
By 1950, the fruit industry had become very complicated. The insect and disease control-program, requiring twelve or fifteen very carefully prepared and timed sprays, were required to produce good fruit. The Worcester County Ex- tension Service through their fruit specialist was issuing about fifteen special insect and disease-control bulletins direct to the growers, keeping them informed of the latest developments. They also supplemented this information with daily radio and newspaper messages. Using this information, the fruitgrowers in the eastern part of town have continued to stay in business. The orchards in the rest of the town are gone.
Some of the methods now used are, spraying every few days from the middle of April until July with several combinations of insecticides and fungus aides. These can be applied either as a spray or dust. The equipment used has also changed very rapidly during recent years. The power-duster and the high speed has brought the insect and disease-control program to where two men can keep a large acreage protected.
The systematic baiting of field mice every fall to prevent severe girdling of fruit trees was necessary. This is done by placing a special poison ball in the runs in the grass under the trees. One large orchard on Hill St., was badly girdled and destroyed.
The fruit harvested in the fall is packed in boxes and placed in cold storage. This makes it possible to market the crop over a period of several months. The chief varieties are MacIntosh, Cortland, Baldwin, Wealthy and Gravenstein.
MANUFACTURES
COLD SPRING BROOK ABOVE WOODBURY VILLAGE
Cold Spring Brook rises in the western part of the town and joins the Black- stone River at Wilkinsonville. In Putnam meadow, just above Clark Reservoir, the stream was used as part-time power, in 1876, by Estes Putnam for a mill,
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combination sawmill and cider mill. The water rights permitted flooding from September 15 to May 15, as the meadow was mowed in the summer. This mill has not been operated since about 1885, and has been torn down.
Clark Reservoir was used for storage only. The Clark Flour Mill had its own pond just below the Reservoir. The Coogan Mill, formerly the Clark Flour Mill, was operated by Michael and James Coogan as a flock mill from about 1868 to 1888, when they sold to Peter Simpson. The Coogan Bros. retired from business and moved to Millbury. Mr. Simpson tore down the old mill and wheel and built a one-story mill for shoddy pickers, putting in a new turbine wheel and running three pickers. At his death, in 1889, the property passed to S. N. Rod- gers, who leased to Fred S. Smith and sold to him, in 1891. Mr. Smith ran flock machines here until 1910 when the property passed to Sutcliff and Windle. They did not operate the mill, but took it down and moved it to West Millbury in 1912, where it later burned. The site of the mill is now overgrown with large trees. The property passed to the Providence Drapery Rod Co., in 1913; the house was occupied by various tenants. Peter Lovely bought the place about 1929 and tore down the house and barn, adding the land to his farm.
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