Vol. 1, No. 6
Farms Here High
In Conveniences
And Push Buttons
Pennsylvania' farmers have
'more modern conveniences than
ever before and are running close
; to their city cousins on push-but
•ton gadgets, according to surveys
-announced by tne State Depart
ment of Agriculture
Nearly half of the State’s 146,-
- 887 farms now have television
sets, 95 per cent have electricity,
'7O per cent have telephones, 8s
■ per cent have Tunning water, 66.
- per cent have bathrooms and 60
. per cent have central heating
systems
One Auto Per f'arm
There is at least one automo
bile for eveiy farm in Pennsyl
vania and out_of every 100 farms
.in the State 36 have trucks, 89-
have tractors, 53 have gas en
' gines, ten have gram combines,,
eight have hay balers, 36 have
l silos and 31 have milking ma
chines, according to information
presented in the Pennsylvania
'Crop and Livestock Report for
1954, compiled by the Pennsyl-
vania Crop reporting Service.
, The average Pennsylvania farm
- has 96 acres and the value of all
jfield and fruit crops last year
5348,000,000, an aver
' age of $2,369 per farm- The value
of livestock, chickens, milk, eggs,
wool. and honey produced was
$438,024,000, an average of $2,982
per farm in the State
Mushrooms, Tobacco Tops
Pennsylvania in 1954- ranked
first among the more than 3,000
counties in the United States in
the production of mushrooms- and
cigar leaf tobacco, second -in
•buckwheat, foui th in peaches and
sour red cheiries, fifth in apples
and grapes.
This State also ranked first in
cash income from eggs, first in
farm income from chickens ex
cept broilers, second in income
- from all poultry and eggs, also
. second in number of chickens
raised and third in number of
eggs produced.
.Farm Women to
Hold Christmas Party
Farm Women Society No. 21
will hold their' family Christmas
party Friday evening Dec 9 at
7:30 in the Quarryville Fire Hall.
All members of the family invit
ed to attend. Fifty cent gift ex
change for men and women and
twenty five cent, gifts for child
ren.
CONSIDERATE THIEVES
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. The
robbers who took a safe from a
feed store recently were really
considerate- They carefully wrap
ped the checks, inventory books
and other papers in the safe so
that they were undamaged by
weather when the battered safe
was found" The $4OO in cash in
the safe wasn’t there, however.
Wintertime means barn feeding in Lancaster County and area Guernsey circles* The herd is
farming, and here Sam . Wenger tosses hay to one of the best known, and Mr. Garber is a
some of the prize Guernseys on the farm of Sna- nephew of Harry Snavely, one -of the outstand
vely Garber, Rl-Willow Street Both names, Gar- mg pioneers in Lancaster County Guernsey pro
ber and Wenger, are well known m Lancaster motion
~~ - . T
B. Snavely Garber
Named Producers
Co-Op Director
B. Snavely Garber,Rl Willow
Street, Tuesday night was named
a new director on the board of
the Producers Cooperative Ex
change at the annual meeting at
tended by; about 540 in the Gue
rnsey Sales Pavilion east of Lan
caster.
Others named to serve again at
Mark Hess, R 6 Lancaster; Ray
mond Miller, R 1 Lancaster-
Although, business in the past
year was up, dollar volume was
down due to lower market prices.
Sales increased. $130,061-56 to
$1,310,080 94. and expenses went
up from $175,374.33 to $1,227,025.
98- Poultry increased 40 per cent
to $4,909,091.17 and increased
29-6 per cent in weight handled
Ito 14,861,113 lbs Although age
volume was up 41 per cent, cash
paid was off 48 per cent There
were 11,504,856 dozen eggs pro
cessed with a value of $4,919,553-
59-
However, “fancies” increased
to 35-8 per cent, compared to 28-5
per cent in 1954
A total of $29,200 of net savings
was distributed to members m re
volving fund certificates.
Speakers- included H- W
Adams, assistant general mana
ger; Wyn Gerhan, manager of
Northeast Poultry Cooperatives
Association; President John Mel-
Quarryville, Pa., Friday, December 9, 1955
Wintertime Feeding
13 Students Cited
By Searsrßoebuck
One sophomore and 12 fresh
men enrolled m-ihe College of
Agriculture at the Pennsylvania
State University have been nam
ed to receive scholarships estab
lished by the Sears, Roebuck
Foundation. C- Gene Haugh,
Spring Mills RD 2, a sophomore
in agricultuial engineering who
won a freshman award last year,
also won a $125 scholarship this
year.
Freshman winners, receiving
$lOO each, are - Sam W. Allison,
Tarentum RD 3; Jolin W Atche
son, ClarksviUe, James C Barron,
Slippery Rock; Richard A Booth,
Ivyland; Jay E. Coble, Hershey
RD 2; Paul Gabriel, Ulster RD 1;
Thomas Hancock, Johnstown;
Erwin D Maxson, Little Gene
see, N. Y; John H- Miller, Clari
on RD 1; Harold W. Myers, Jr.,
Chambersburg RD 2; Robert D-
Remsel, Fairmount City RD 1;
Glenn A Shirk, Quarryville RD
1; Daniel C- Speace, Elkton, Md;
William A. Tait, Jr-, Mercer RD
4; and Clair W. Zerby, Spring
Mills.
Ihom, Mount Joy; K. M Senders,
general manager; John J. Her-
Iholdt. poultry manager, and
Harold L. Detterlme, locker
plant manager.
Entertainment was provided by
the Ooatesville Choraliers under
direction of Bolhert H. MoFalls,
Jr. -
REAL CHECKER LOVER
MANGUM, Okla. W- E.
Weaver loves to play checkers
but wasn’t able to find many op
ponents. Finally he became des
perate enough to buy a grocery
store here, and installed a table
and a couple of extra chairs to
attract - some players. Among his
customers, he manages to snare
a to keep the checkerboard
Hogs Slump to
14-Year Low in
Chicago Trade
(Hogs this week continued skid
ding into lower price levels at
most of the major markets, with
Chicago Wednesday reporting
14-year lows on both the $11.75
top and the estimated $lO-25
average for barrows and gilts-
At Nations! Stock Yards, 111
(St Louis), the top was $11.75
also, with a few No. Is and No.
3s bringing $llOO to $ll-65,
with a few at $l2 00. In Chicago,
for the first time in many years,
some heavies went way below
the $lO mark, selling at $9.00 cwt
Lancaster, however, scored a
$l3 50 top Wednesday- Receipts
at St. Louis reached 13,500;
Chicago estimated 20,000, and
Indianapolis received 10,000.
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LANCASTER FARMING
Quarryville, Penna.
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Farm Numbers in
County Stable
Values Boosted
Lancaster County still holds
position as one of the most out
standing agricultural counties in
the nation, showing an increase
in farm dollar value of 31 per
cent against a decline of one in
total farm numbers
This is only part of a detailed
four-page report on the Preli
minary 1955 Census of Agricul
ture just released by the (Bureau
of the Census, U-S Department
of Commerce
One L<*ss Farm
In 1950 there were 7,952 farms
in Lancaster County, and in-1954
there were 7,951 The average
farm increased slightly in crop
land harvested from 62,3 acres to
62 7 acres, bat values jumped
from $20,527 foi the average farm
in 1950 to $26,713 in 1954, in
cluding land and buildings,
Value per acie also increased,
from $324.29 in 1950 to $425-15
in 1954
In cropland hai vested, how
ever, the number of acres in
creased Last year 7,205 farms re
ported 334,294 acres in croplands,
against 7,385 farms m 1950 re
porting 323,792 acres in cropland
harvested
More Acres Farmed
Although industries and hous
ing projects have moved into the
County, and have been accused
of converting valuable fanning
lands into commercial or resid
ential sites, more acres are being
farmed here than in 1949. There
were more farms in the 50-09
acre bracket last year, from
2,497 in 1949 to 2,517 in 1956.
Irrigation shewed a tremendous
increase in the period compared
by the census, with 74 farms in
1949 irrigating 433 acres, against
252 farms reporting 3,342 acres
under irrigation in 1954.
Green manure also came into
greater importance, with 1,494
Lancaster County farms last year
reporting 20,171 acres of cover
crops turned under.
Farm size showed one major
development, with three farms
reported in Lancaster County in
1950 over 1,000 acres each,
while last year the number drop
ped to two. Again here the ma
jority fell between 70 and 99
acres, although this category de
clined from 1,480 in 1950 to 1,432
in 1954. Farms under 10 acres in
1354 tataled 1,371 compared to
1,249 in 1950 Farms between 100
and 499 acres showed minor in
(Continued on Page Three)