Vol. 1. No. 35
Some Spots in
County Are Dry;
Combining Now
Although some scattered parts
of Lancaster County are dry, hot
weather has brought corn and
tomatoes right along, Associate
County Agent Harry & Sloat re
ports today.
Haymaking is generally in fuP
. swing throughout the Garden
Spot, although work is somewhat
slow m the northern parts of the
County where damp weather has
slowed work
Cherry picking is underway
throughout the County, and the
bulk of the strawberry crop has
been picked and packed
’ Barley, Oats Combining
Combining of barley started
Tuesday, and wmter oats will bp
combined starting next week
Mr Sloat warns that pink ap
hids and green peach aphids are
very heavy at this time, and
spraying is urged in tomato and
potato fields
Severe wind struck parts of
tlm County Saturday night, with
a little ram--Rain was heavier m
.the southern end of the County,
according to Bernard N White,
in charge of the Lancaster
Weather Bureau Office. A brief
'windstorm struck again Sunday
mght. ,
7 Cooler,, Weather Due -
, Parts-Of the County reported a,
-little shower Tuesday night, with
.05 of an inch reported in .some
places. Temperatures have been
ranging above normal for the
•month, at least one degree, Mr.
White added. Precipitation in
-Lancaster has totaled 2.77 for the
month to date against a normal
2 81.
Cooler-weather is moving in,
and the five-day forecast indi
cates lower tempeartures Thurs
'day and Friday, warmer Satur
day, cooler again by Monday
with showers and thunderstorms,
totaling one-half to one inch,
over the weekend.
Sessions Underway
On Migrant Workers
Sessions are extending through
today for the Migrant Worker
Staff Orientation Conference of
the Eastern Region, who are fa
milianzizng themselves with ac
tivities of nearly 1,000 migrant
workers who will be employed in
Lancaster County this summer.
Meetings are being held in the
Evangelical and Reformed Theo
logical Seminary in Lancaster,
with the county’s new chaplain,
the Rev. Donald E. Smith in
charge. County chairman is Mrs.
R Morris Weaver, Millersville.
16 Sail for Germany
Under Pax Program
Sixteen young men sailed
Monday for Germany where they
will start alternative work pro
jects in lieu of military service.
Victor A. Olsen, former Man
heim Township resident, ad
dressed the group Friday "at the
Mennoijite Central Committee
headquarters, Akron.
Sunday evening a farewell
service of consecration for the
young men was held at Metzler’s
Mennomte Church.
Despite frost, hail, wind and other '
vagaries of weather, the Lancaster Conn
ty cherry crop this year is tops, sweet,
spur - delicious.' Here is a heavily load-
4H, FFA Meet
In Workshop,
Tour Co-Ops
Sixteen Future Farmers of
America and Four-H Club
members last night attended a
meeting that is preliminary to
attendance at the 28th summer
meeting of the American Insti
tute of Cooperation.
This annual event this year
will be at Raleigh, N. C., July
30 to Aug. 2.
Topic of last night’s meeting
at the Farm Bureau Auditorium
in Lancaster' was J’Tlow Farm
ers Can Organize to Do Busi
ness.” A tour of Lancaster
County cooperatives is also be
ing made.
Attending were representa
tives of all cooperatives in Lan
caster County, Four-H and FFA
leaders. George M. Myers, sec
retary of the Pennsylvania As
sociation of Farmers Coopera
tives spoke.
Named for the workshop
were Dean Hoffer, R 3 Manheim;
Glenn L. Porter, R 1 Washing
ton Boro; John D. Eshleman,
R 1 Willow Street; James L.
Hastings, R 2 Kirkwood; Ken
neth Garber, R 1 Willow Street;
Leßoy Esbenshade, Esbenshade
Road, Lancaster; C. Kenneth
Young, R 1 Mount Joy; Dale L.
Shirk. iRI Quarryville; Lloyd
Denlinger, R 4 Lancaster; Carl
Metz, Lampeter; Mervin H.
Bare, Witmer, C. Eugene Groff,
Ri Ephrata, Donald Rafferty, R 1
Mount Joy, L. Deppen,
Rl Marietta; Richard Ober, Rl
Mount Joyr Kenneth W. Watts,
Rl Elizabethtown.
Quarryville, Pa., Friday, June 29. 1956
Heavily Laden- Cherry Branch
Cherry Picking Headlines Season’s
Activities on H. L. Shank Farm
By ERNEST J. NEILL
Pickers, by the thousands, are
working this week on the ex
cellent cherry crop produced
along historic Conestoga River
in Lancaster County by H. L.
Shank. v
Before the season ends, to
wards the last of next week,
some 9000 or 10,000 pickers
may go home with 60 tons of
white and dark sweet cherries,
and the tangy red pie cherries.
It’s been 20 years since Mr
Shank, now nearing 72 years,
began his popular pick-them
yourself program. And already,
the day before the Tuesday
opener pickers were in there
pitching, checking in through
the weighing stand at the high
way entrance, leaving after
paying charges by weight.
Covered Bridge of 1836
Some oi Mr. Shank’s orchards
he west of New Danville, oth
ers back of his residence along
the New Danville pike north of
town on the way to Lancaster.
All in all, they cover some 125
acres of historic Lancaster
County farmland, and some
overlook histone Second Lock
Bridge in a field aptly named
Second Lock .Ridge.
Second Lock Bridge dates
back to 1836, and, Mr. Shank,
an able historian, related the
, 308-foot structure, longest cov
ered bridge in the County, cost
$3,800 when built. “It is well
preserved, and should stand
another 100 years,” Mr. Shank,
told, adding that maintenance by
the County is exceptional
His neighborhood, where
cherry picking is the leading
item today, dates back much
farther than that His people ar-,
ed branch on the farm of H. L. Shank
near New Danville. (Lancaster Farming
Staff Photo)
rived there m 1727, and in the
ensuing years, the region
around the covered bridge was
one of the busiest in this sec
tion. Location of the lock on
the Conestoga Canal helped
much in the early-day prosper
ity of this section.
Fruit Production 50 Years Ago
Some of the cherry trees still
producing are 30 years old.
People from miles around,
from Lancaster and ad
joining counties, come by car
and truck, containers rattling
empty as noisily as some of the
many devices Mr. Shank uses
to discourage invasion by crows,
blackbirds, robins.
Flashing pieces of tin hang
from trees, but the caw-caw
caw of the crow grows into
more of a vociferous complaint
from aloft when a shotgun blast
interrupts his feasting, or
when a cherry bomb or two
inch Fourth of July salute im
presses him that he is doing
wrong.
“It’s a battle with the birds.'”
Mr. Shank told “I use artifi
cial owls, and the crows re
spect them. Blackbirds and
robins don’t’ he added. Use of
firecrackers is restricted, be
cause the birds soon get used
to the racket.
(Continued on Page Five)
Wool Incentive Set
At 44.9 Per Cent
Some wool growers, USDA re
ports, are still under the impres
sion that under the incentive
payment program it makes no
difference what they sell their
wool for, and that the govern
ment will make up the difference
between their individual price
and the 62-cent incentive level.
?2 Per Year
July 1 Date
For Transfer
At Landisville
By Ernest J. Neill
Julv 1 will be the official trans
fer date of the new Pennsylvania
State University experimental
farm north of Landisville where
Tuesday some 20 persons toured
small gram plots and heard re
ports from experts in the field.
Dr C. S. Bryner, agronomist
in charge of the plots, planned
the meeting for farmers and seed
growers where it was disclosed
the new Dual winter wheat
seems best adopted to Lancaster
County growing conditions.
Produced at Purdue, Dual is
the first winter wheat developed
that shows great resistance to
both leaf rust and Hessian fly.
Results are still unknown fully,
the visitors were to'd, but yielded
two to five bushels more than
Pennoll on experimental farms
at University Park.
Grain Studied
During the morning sessions,
seed certification inspectors
studied grain diseases, the ap
pearance of weeds in plots on the
Landisville station Weeds were
indentified, as well as the partic
ular strains of wheat, oats and
barley
Most of the new varieties of
winter wheat produced in the
United States are now in test
plots at Landisville, and all var
ieties of barley grown in the
world are on test at State Col-"
lege.
Discussions were conducted on
Tetra Petkufe rye, and there are
several selections of Ken Bar—
developed at the University of
Kentucky and released simultan
eously with Kentucky U by the
Pennsylvania State University—
that are promising, but not yet
ready for release.
Leconte and Dubois winter
oats, the group was told, do best
in Lancaster County.
Seeding Rates
One of the top topics of the
day was seeding rates to produce
early fall pasture “That’s where
Dual works best,” the group was
told.
At University Park last year,
varying rates of nitrogen were
applied in the spring, and it was
found addition of the fertilizer
made growth too rank, with
yields of 61.3, 53 3 ' and 56 3
bushels per acre, to average 57.
Dual did not do so well at Lan
caster County plots, yielding 47.3,
47.1 and 47.2, still averaging 52. L
in two years at both stations.
“The only varieties doing bet
ter are some still very much in
the experimental stage,” the ex
perts advised.
Tetra Petkus comes later in.
the spring for pasture, and can
outyield wheat for grain. In oats,
both Dubois and Leconte pro
mise satisfactory yields. Dubois
is the better for general use, Le
conte better for straw, but is not
.as hardy Canadian selections, as
Ken 8, the Dayton variety from
Ohio and the Kenbar are also
under test.
Late September Planting
In a seeding date of 2% bu
shels per acre, satisfactory yields
(Conltirfued on page three)
ILLINOIS PEACH CROP UP
Prospects of a 920,000 bu.
peach crop this year will be about
far above yields last year, the
State-Federal grop Reporting
Service in Springfield advises.
The 1956 crop is still about" 58
per cent below the average for
the last 10 years.