roTi7
L Day Set for Mar. 11
Ister County’s Annual Dairy Day program will
I a t 930 a.m., Wednesday by J. Rohrer Wxtmer,
I ceremonies for the annual event, according to
[mith, chairman of the Dairy Day Committee,
wing opening ceremonies, announcements and
pns a quartet of speakers, including three Penn
Kalists, will be heard.
Horne, PSU agri
igineer, will speak
ting and Wafering
.Parkin, PSU dairy
will discuss “Wa
lewage Disposal.”
nauel Guss, PSU
specialist, will pre
topic of “Dairy
Mastitis - King,
img the morning
.Richard J. Spiers,
iiries president, will
Dairy Outlook
; Situation.” /
ternoon session will
i Parkin returning
Ik on “Dumping
at 1:30 p.m.
; pm., Smith- will
; a panel discussion
Comfort - Breed
ing - Herd Replace
members will be
Announced For
ato Growers Institute
•ennsylvania’s second largest potato producing
.ancaster County is expected to send a large del
-3 the Bth annual Pennsylvania Potato Growers
March 11 and 12 at Potato City Hotel near Coud
rding to county-by county potato production rec
ig back to 1939, Lancaster in that year was the
itato county in the Keystone State,
e following year Lehigh growers put that county
id which they held until the drought year of 1957
le, with more favorable weather conditions, be
top potato county with Lehigh second and Lan
rd
;ar Lehigh regained
ein spud output
aster came back to
>nd spot which it
for 17 consecutive
40 through 1956.
facts came to light
Pennsylvania Crop
! Service records
ailable this week
the State Depart
! Agriculture to the
ama Co-operative
growers Association,
of the Potato City
vo-day conference is
: f° r full discussion
Brs of current prob
below grass roots”
ft comes at a time
rowers will obtain
- ln making final
'°ns for their 1959
5,000 acres, Lancas-
day
ather
■ORECAST
lay - Wednesday
Weather Bureau,
incastor Office
eralures Wl n aver .
degrees above
° r five-day
: * air a «d colder
a >} Varmin 3 Sun
; y , chance
about Man
ner Tues. & W ed.
18 mperalur « range
Mrs Raymond Witmer, Har
old Book, Ivan G. Martin
and John Metzler.
Smith reported an all-day
display of water softnerand
conditioner equipment will
be on exhibit, also dumping
station outfits.
Lunch will be available
at the Pavilion for $1 per
( person.
Dairy Day is conducted
by the Extension Service in
cooperation with the Milk
Distributors, Milk Market
ing Co-ops and Dairy Breed
Associations.
Committee members are.
Charles E. Cowan, John A.
Flora, B. Snavely Garber, S.
A. Horron, Robt. Kauffman,
Robert Keen, Aaron Landis,
Alan B. Miller, Dr. -T. H.
McMurray, John Paes, Mel
vin R. Stoltzfus, J. Rohrer
Witmer and Dr. H. G. Wohn
:seidler
ter County commercial pota
to growers last year harvest
ed 965,000 hundredweight
values at $1,727,300 -based
on December 15 prices
which averaged about $1.78
per hundred pounds for the
county. The average yield
per acre was 193 cwt., high
est for any county in the
state and well above the
state average of 175 cwt. an
acre. Erie was second in
acreage at 5,600 but third
in volume, 952,000 hundred
weight, averaging 170 bags
of 100 pounds each- to the
acre.
Biggest volume of potatoes
harvested m Lancaster Coun
during the 1939-58 period
was 1,240,000 hundred
weight in 1948 when the
yield averaged 155 cwt. from
8,000 acres.
Several hundred Pennsyl
vania potato growers are
expected to attend the Pota
to City Institute, according
to Ivan Miller, Corry, Presi
dent of the association.
Program, planning includes
top place consideration of
the latest innovation in po
tato culture—twin row vs.
triple row planting in com
parison with the longstand
ing single row practice.
Advocates of multiple
row planting claim higher
yields of U. S. No. 1 tubers
which may revolutionize
potato production, they say
David Seem of Kutztown
will moderate a panel at 10
o’clock Wednesday morning,
(Turn to page 11)
Lancaster. Pa.. Saturday, March 7, 1959
LATE FEBRUARY, 1958 brought this scene to Lancaster County as one of-the
heaviest snowfalls in history throttled activity in the region. From the 800-plus travel
ers stranded in a Turnpike restaurant to countians cooking in their fireplaces, it was an
experience to remember in the vagaries oi Pennsylvania weather This year Lancast
er County had about 1 5 inches of snow during all of February—only 7 2 inches from No
vember 1 to March 1. February’s normal snowfall - 72 inches. LF PHOTO
Mere 10% of Last Year's Snow Total
In County For Entire Winter-So Far
' - One year ago" this week; ’Lancaster 4 County and the
entire Eastern half of the U. S. was diggmg out—again—
from heavy snowfall. Electric service had been restored. It
was again possible to communicate by telephone and a
trip to town was again possible. In many cases, inadvis
able, but possible.
The 1957-58 winter snow
fall total for Lancaster
County was a stagger;ngly
'Artic-like 60 inches. The
1958-59 winter snowfall to
tal to date has been a paltry
but appreciated 7.2 inches,
In fact, most Lancaster
County farmers are wishing
they had some of that 60-in
snowfall on their fields, be
cause since May, 1958 pre
cipitation for the county is
5 5 inches below normal for
the nine month period.
In addition, much of the
precipitation for this winter
quickly became runnoff due
to solidly frozen ground.
As a result, soil conditions
over most of the county are
noticeably drier than prefer
red.
In the plains and mid-west
states by contrast, snowfalls
have been among the heavi
est on record From east cen
Extension Schedules
T obacco Seed T reatin g Meetings
A two-day series of seed-treating and disease-control
demonstration meetings for county tobacco growers is
scheduled for March 12 and 13 by the county Extension
Service, in cooperation with Penn State University.
Harry S. Sloat, associate county agent, reports that
meetings will be held at the following places and times
MARCH 12—9 a m Witmer
J. Rohrer farm, Strasburg
RD 1, east of Strasbury.
1.30 pm, farm operated
by Chester Sensemch, Li
titz RD 3, one mile south
of Lititz
March 13—9 a.m., farm of
Ernest Lefever, Lancaster
RD 2, between Millersville
and Central Manor.
1:30 pm., farm operated
by John K. Fisher, Mount
Joy RD 1, between Mount
Joy and Marietta. i
tral New Mexico, across the
Texas Panhandle, over nor
thern Oklahoma and up into
the corn "belt, snow covered
the ground almost constant
ly
The same condition exist
ed throughout the mid-lands
and into northeastern Penna.
New York's upstate region
and New England.
Heavy snowfall as usual,
were the rule for the Sier
ras and Cascades on the Pa
cific s’ope. although the
Rockies had some historic
low snowfall totals in many
«pots, coupled with except
ionally frigid temperatures.,
Washington Boro, in Lan
caster County, is consider
ing return to Manor town
ship after flood borne ice
smashed a major portion of
that village’s real estate.
The eastern Corn Belt
flooding particularly along
the Wabash, inundated thou
sands of acres of farmland—
To control Wildfire, Sloat
reccomends cleaning and.
treating seed before plant
nng, treating muslin and se
edbed boards with formalde
hyde solution before plant
ing, sterilizing-seedbeds; us
ing bordeaux spray or drench
on bed after seeding before
covering; watering plants in
the morning on sunny days;
using regular seedbed spray
or dust program; spraying
: or dusting plants with DDT
before planting to control
$2 Per Year
along with urban and su
burban areas.
But in Lancaster County,
December was the coldest
month of the winter. Total
precipitation was 1 21 inches
191 below normal. Snow
fall was .7 inches—normal
4 1
November had been 2 5
degrees above normal in tem
perature, with a 47 2 average
and 133 inches above nor
mal precipitation, with a 4.06
total, including a half inch
of snow. Normal November
snowfall is 11 nches.
January was about normal
with a 32 degree tempera
ture average. But moisture
was 1 39 inches below norm
at 1.77, with only 4 5 inches
of snow, compared with the
norm of 8 3 inches.
February also was drier}
than normal, with 1.73 inch
es of total moisture, .88 be
low norm, with a mere 1.5
inches of snowfall, against
the 7.2 inch normal blanket.
Temperatures for the month
averaged 15 degrees above
normal at 34.5.
January’s low was 12 de
grees, February—lo; and De
cember 13
flea beetle, and preventing
the tobacco from getting
overripe in the field.
Dr. O. D. Burke, Penn
State plant disease specialist
will treat seed with silver
nitrate solution and explain
the above practices during
the four meetings. One quart
of seed will be cleaned and
treated for each grower dur
ing the meetings
Sloat reports this program
will continue as it has for
the past seven years, with a
small charge for cost of ma
terials.
Each farmer will have to
give his seed a final washing
at home and then spread it
to dry, he added.