Mary k. Bettendorf, Librarian The Penna. State University library Bhlverslty Park, Penna. stat^^ Vol. m. No. 14. Connecticut Valley Co-op Manager Claims Tobacco Contracts Unfair ‘ Tight and unfair clauses m tobacco contracts this year dis couraged a good many growers, from selling to the trade,” claims Samuel J. Orr, manager of the Conn-Mass Tobacco Co-op which operates in the Connecticut River Valley. Orr was obecting to a new con ti act offered this year m the Val ley which provides a rebate to the buyer if low grades in the crop droped below an agreed-on-per centage. He also said that the con tracts were unfair because they tend to make the farmer think that he is getting more for his crop than he actually is. According to Harold K Street, farm editor of the Hartford (Conn) Courant, prices in the Valley this year were artificially buoyed up by the supports. Buying of havana seed on the open market opened Nov. 1 and continued through November at prices the buyers claimed were comparable to thq_ year before— about 50 to 53 cents a pound for the better grades It is estimated tnat 80 per cent of this variety was sold to the trade The 20 per cent left for the government was evidently the top of the crop. Buyers concentrated on the lower grades. For the other binder grown in the valley, type 51 broadleaf, the market opened Nov. 6 and lasted about two weeks. Forty per cent of the crop was bought These buyers again claimed that.they were paying about the same as in 1956, that is6o cents a pound for lh(* best'crop. The only- large manufacturer involved in buying Havana seed was the General Cigar Co. with small local operators taking most ot the leaf. Buyers evidently open- ed the market by picking off the top grades and went to the lower grades later. Buyng after the first wave was in the 35 to 42 cent State Agricultural Organizations Agree to Back Plowing Contest Nearly a score of statewide agricultural and allied organiza tions today agreed to back the biggest national farming event ever scheduled in Pennsylvania, the 16th annual National Plowing Contest and Conservation Exposi tion to be held next Aug. 21 and 22 at Hershey. Chairmen of many sub-com mittees to stage the event expect ed to attract more than 100,000 people during Hershey Pennsyl vania Dutch Days were an nounced by L. H. Bull, State Dep uty Secretary of Agriculture and general chairman of the exposi tion committee. M. K. Huber, retired cashier of the Hershey National Bank, was named treasurer. The exposition secretary is David finger, director of soil conservation, State Depart ment of Agriculture. Ralph E. Patterson. Pennsyl vama State University, chairman of the plowing contest division of the exposition said eleven com mittees have been organized, ranging from awards and judges to a banquet for contestants. Ralph W. Hunter, U.S. Soil Con servation Service, is chairman of the conservation exposition phase. He reported sub-committees at Quarryville (Lancaster County) Pa., Friday, Feb. 14, 1958 price range. The active buyers of broadleaf were the Myer-Mendelsohn Divi sion of Bayuk and Consolidated It is reported that Consolidated took the lion’s share The co-operative, which is the government receiving station, started taking m price supported tobacco about the middle of De cember and is still receiving broadleaf The average price for Havana seed sold to the govern ment was 47 cents with a range of 30 to 57. The average for broad leaf was 45 with a range of from 28 to 59 cents The prices bear out the fact that the co-op got the betteer Ha vana seed grades, as Havana seed is normally priced less than, broadleaf and is supported on that basis It yields better, which is why it is grown in greater quantities. The support price was subject to government grading The co-op refused to accept sorted tobacco this year Some sales to the trade 1 were in the bundle, and some on a farm-sorted basis Faym sorting is dying in the Valley. " Manufacturers have said that if Valley tobacco were bought at the price they wanted to pay, the price would be somewhere be tween the present Wisconsin price and the prevailing price. There is a 20 to 25 cent differen tial between the two now. Quotas have been cut by per cent in the Valley in the last three years. The government is now seeking a way to lower the support price and put the quotas on a “somewhat more reasonable” basis, Street says And in a somewhat familiar line, the manufacturers say, “In years to come, we’d like to buy more of your tobacco than is now grown.” But at their price! Type 51, broadleaf binder, is grown mostly in Connecticut and type 52, Havana seed, is grown mostly in Massachusetts. Both are under quotas and price supports, work on the development of vari ous conservation demonstrations to be operated on assigned areas of the 10,000-acre Hershey Farms, also grassland, wildlife, forest, woodland, highway and fish con servation activities. Separate com mittees are to be established for tours of the Hershey Farms and conservation practices in nearby counties. James Bobb, vice president of Hershey Estates and chairman of the local arrangements for the ex position, reported that at least 14 sub-committees are being organ ized in that division. John B. McCool, director of the Pennsylvania Farm Show, is to have charge of the many farm machinery exhibits that will be set up for the event, including the Pennsylvania State Plowing Con test on the Hershey Farms Aug. 19. Cooperating agencies represent ed on the over-all committee in clude the National Association of Soil Conservation Districts, the State Association of Sod Conser vation District Directors, the ag ricultural extension service of the Pennsylvania State University, State Soil Conservation Commis sion, U.S. Soil Conservation Serv- Drouth Shows Effect on 1957 EXAMINING A SPECIMIN of H-46 celery, developed by Amos H. Funk, R 1 Millersville, left, is Jacob Siegrist, R 2 Lancaster. The variety grown by Siegrist did not look-too good in the field, he said, but had very good keeping qualities in the trench. (LF Photo) Franklin, Berks and Perry Counties Certified as Brucellosis-Free Franklin, Barks and Perry Counties Thursday were certified as brucellosis-free, the State De partment of Agriculture announc ed. Certification of these counties as meeting the minimum Federal- State requirements was received from the U. S. Department of Agriculture. This brings to 62 the number of counties already certi fied in Pennsylvania under the statewide cooperative program. Brucellosis is a highly com municable livestock disease which can cause heavy losses to live stock farmers in animals and in milk production. According to the State Bureau of Animal Industry, Berks, Perry and Franklin Counties join 27 ice, Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Committee, Farmers Home Administration, Pa. Federation of Sportsmen, Pa. Farm Euipment Manufacturers Assn, Pa. Farm Equipment Deal ers Assn., the Hershey Estates, the State Depts. of Agriculture, Commerce, Forests and Waters, Highways, and the State Game and Fish Commissions. Other agencies will be added later, Chairman Bull said. other counties so classified since January 1955. A brucellosis eradi cation program has been in effect in Pennsylvania since 1934. The certification of Berks was attained when the 32,052 head of dairy and beef cattle tested show ed an infection of .51 per ceij». Cattle infection cannot exceed 1 per cent. Herd infection was 4.14 per cent of the 1,979 herds tested, but below the maximum 5 per cent allowed. In Franklin County 33,201 head of cattle were-tested and .50 per cent reacted to the laboratory analysis Herds tested totaled 1,- 935 with 3.9 per cent infection. Perry County cattle tested had the lowest rate of infection m both categories with .038 per cent of the 12,950 cattle tested and .45 per cent of the 881 herds showing infection. Tests were first made in Perry County in 1947 and in Berks and Franklin Counties in 1954. The State Department of Agri culture anticipates receiving state certification by March 1958. Unusual Celery Crop Drouth effects show themselves in peculiar ways This was proved again at a meeting of celery gnaw ers held Monday afternoon at the Amos Funk farm, HI Millersville. The object in point was black heart in celery While fairly com mon in other yeais, the past sea son saw the disease in excess of normal occurance. The reason, said Penn State experts, was an inbalance of nutrients caused by fluctuating water sunnlies In the greenhouse, they said, the disease can be caused by lim iting the calcium available to the plant. But this year the disease was brought on when the plant could not take up enough calcium because of the lack of soil mois ture. The black heart condition is similar to blossom end lot in to matoes and the treatment pre scribed is the same spraying with a calcium nitrate or calcium chloride solution Tarmsh plant bugs are also blamed for causing a similar con dition. It is thought that the bug may cause black heart, but not m the same manner aa the calcium deficiency Another plant nutrient deficien cy also came in for considerable discussion. This time it was the trace element, Boron. While there is plenty of boron (Continued on page 13) Poultrymen Name Greider, Exchange Board Elected Hatcheryman Jay R. Greider, R 1 Mt. Joy, was named to head the recently merged Poultry As sociation at a meeting of the board of directors held Thursday might at the Poultry Center. Other officers elected by the di rectors were: vice president, Noahi Kreider, R 3 Manheim; secretary, Daniel K Good, R 1 Columbia; and treasurer, Eugene S. Cassel, Lania Drive, Landisville. A five man committee was elect ed to operate the broiler auction. They were Kreider; Cassel; Mark Myer, Lampeter; Glenn Herr, auc tion manager; and Levi Brubaker, Rohrerstown. The board is charged with “ex panding, administering and im proving the Poultry Exchange op erations.” Brubaker, long a member of the board of directors of the Ex change, and president last year, was appointed advisor to the as sociation. He had retired from active participation in the activi ties of the Exchange and the poultry association. Also appointed at the meeting was a committee to study the by laws of the two groups and make suggestions for bringing them up to date. The excecutive committee of the board will take such legal steps as are necessary to complete the merger of the organizations. Both groups had approved the merger by a large majority of the members voting approval. The board will meet regularly at the Center on the first Thurs day of each month. $2 Per Year
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