4—Lancaster Farhung, Saturday, October 31, 1959
FROM WHERE WE STAND -
Don’t Let Your Skimmer Leak
Some of us can still remember how
Grandpa milked old Bossie by hand and
Strained the milk into a crock in the cold
water at the spnnghouse. After it had
cooled, Grandma came out with a long
handled, shallow ladel and skimmed off
the cream.
Skimming off the cream was not a
hard job, but then Grandma had to be
very careful that some- of tire cream did
not dribble back info the crock because
then she not only lost what leaked back,
but the rest got stirred up and she could
not skim it.
Well, the days of the crock in the
spnnghouse are a long-ago memory; but
some of us are still letting our skimmers
leak. Agricultural research has given us
the cream in improved strains, varieties,
implements, and methods, but we are let
ting profits dribble away because we are
not particular enough about details.
As a case in point, we all know Lan
caster county farms are capable of pro
ducing 100 (plus) bushels of com most
years, yet one agricultural leader this
year scad that offer taking a series of
yidld tests he is convinced that a,majori
ty Of the fanners in file county are grow
ing'less than 60 bushels average. With
hybrid varieties to fit all conditions, in
secticides, fungicides and herbicides to
control pests, improved machinery, ferti
lizing materials for aH- soil types, and im
proved cultural practices for the using,
somewhere along the line the skimmer' is
leaking 1 .- -
It does not insure Success to adopt
orfe-approved practice and forget about
th& rest. Sometimes one small factor may
be the difference between profit and loss.
When a teacher of Vocational Agricul
ture asked a boy why he hadn't stayed
with his sow-while she farrowed, the boy
answered, "Well she lost only one." but
thttt one pig multiplied by several farrow
in£s might mean the difference between
a growing business or a going out of
business sign*
Several years ago a young dairyman
asked the writer to help him analyze his
farming records to see if he could find
out why his dairy was not making mon
ey. We looked at as fine a set of reo
I Davidson
Twenty years or more ago Sen Robertson is chair
a beloved national humorist man of the powerful Senate
got more laughs from his Banking and Currency Corn
wisecracks about Congress- mittee, which has jurisdict
men than from any other tion over the Securities and
source, add the'unintentional Exchange Commission, Small
effect has been a lasting mis- Business Administration, Ex-
conception regaram & ■ ,v >e nort-Import Bank, Export
work and character of the Contiois, p ruco and Wage
average member of Congress Controls of the'x/ense Pro-
We have tried from time auction Act Consumer CrljiL
to time in this column to pro- Controls, Housing and all Se
vide a more correct picture cunties Legislation, the Fed
of our public servants, and eral Reserve Board, and the
so this week we are doing a National Banking Act
bright sketch of one of our What Are Senators Made Of?
favorite Congressmen, Sen.
Willis A Robertson of Vir
ginia
Lancaster Farming
Lancaster County’s Own Farm
Weekly
P. O Box 1524
Lancaster, Penna.
Offices:
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Lancaster, Penna.
Phone . Lancaster
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Hubert G Campbell Advertising
director & Business Mhnager
Established Novembi r 4 1955
Published every Saturday by
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frs Association, National Editor.
1»1 Association,
THIS WEEK
—ln Washington
With Clinton Davidson
Laud Senator
At a public meeting of the
Ways and Means Committee
of the House, in 1941, my
wife remarked: “The fourth
man on the Democratic side
has such a splendid personal
ity; it accents kindliness and
and even a degree of sereni
ty Who is he?”
When I called on this gen
tleman (then Representative
Robertson in his sixth term
as a member of the House) I
learned t his father was a
Baptist mini ter a ripe schol
ar who could read the Bible
fluently ip Greek, Latin and
Hebrew; that he devoted the
best years of his life as a
home missionary serving
mountain churches in south
west Virginia, or as Rep,
Robertson expressed it at
that time “He rode a mule
all over those mountairis ~sb
as to preach in small church-
ords as you could ask to see. Ifi the barn
we looked at the cows (some good ones)
and the young man started to point out
individuals and their records.
"This cow returned $225 over feed cost
last year. This one was a boarder. This
one cost us $l5O to keep." The look of
surprise he got caused him to hasten to
explain, "Well, (hat cow has been around
so long Dad just hates to get rid of her."
That was where his skimmer leaked.
In culling you have to be ruthless enough"
to forget sentimentality and believe the
records.
Professor Joseph Hanlein, dairy spec
ialist at the University of Delaware said
in 'a speech recefitly that the average
cow in the United States has the inherit
ed ability to produce much more milk
than the American farmer is getting out
of her. He went on tp explain that only
about 14 per cent of the milk a cow pro
duces is attributable to her hendity. The
other 86 per cent is controlled by feeding
and management. Professor Hanlem con
tinued by pointing out that a farmer can
take a cow with good blood lines, feed
her a perfectly bananced ration, breed
her at the tight time, and then ’with im
proper milking procecu es cut her pro
duction by as much as 30 per cent. That
is a lot of cream to drip back from a
leaky skimmer.
A few years ago one of 'the major
feed companies went into the Ozark hill
country and bought a load of native raz
orback sows. These sows had averaged-,
less than three pigs per litter before they
went to the test farm, but after a period
of feeding and conditioning they were
bred to healthy boars and raised an av
erage of over eidht pigs each.
All this is- reminiscent of the- story
about the book salesman who ended his
sales pitch to the farmer by saying, "With
these agriculture books you can farm
twice as good as y6u farm now."' to
which the old fellow replied, "Shucks,
son, I don't farm half as good as I know
how now."
We have the cream and we know
how to dip it up, but we had better learn
how to keep our skimmers from leaking.
At least that's how it looks from
where we stand.
es.”
As a result of this heritage
Sen. Robertson h&s been an
active member of the Senate
Wednesday breakfast group
which discusses Biblical tea
ching, and he tries to serve • __
the Nation in a manner ]\[ n T X r Io Tirvon
pleasing to the Lord. iIU W J.O L 11C 1 11110 . • •
While a member of the
House Ways and Means Com
mittee, in which all tax legis
lation must originate, the
Virginian statesman helped
write 12 tax bills, steered the
Hull Reciprocal Trade Agree
ments Program, was largely
responsible for simplification
of income tax forms, and for
the “pay-as-you-go” tax plan.
Economy in Government
His fiscal studies first as a
"timber and then as chair
-man of he House Ways and
Means Cormttee, served
him well on the saate Bank
ing and Currency onmittee,
on which he served 12/cars TO EXTEND PASTURE SEASON Livestock Pj
before becoming Chairma. have a chance to keep production costs at a minj
o? «ve S»aTe° ApSopSoS vmt can be cont.„„ed cm,., the freezmp we
subcommittees which handled snow wer. Pasture crops such as winter ry£
96 per cent of the total bud- domestic vegrass,’ field brome grass, or any of the
grass pastu's such as bluegrass or orchard?! ass
I know from long personal g raz cd late * the fall Without danger to In estocH
relations with the Senator, , c , c , , „ . „ w s
that he has consistently wor*- ever > le S umes ter frosts and freezmg weatl “
ed for economy and a balanc- regarded as dangrous irom the standpoint of bio
ed budget, while at the same
time sponsoring relatively m- TO FERTILIZE COER CROPS—Many wmtoi co'
expensive but vital items . .
which have been of great as- will continue to grovlate into the fall, ad
sistance to farmers. - such as straight nitrcen or a complete fertilizer*
Although Sen. Robertson crease the growth of \e crops and produce mod
has received numerous plaud- matter to turn under rxt spring.
its for this effective work on
the several important financ- to MOW. LAWNS—Th question of how late m
ial committees of Congress, s j lou a j awn be mowe'is often discussed Turf
m the opinion of this writer , Inr u as
his religious heritage and re- commend that the gss be chpped regulari
ligious activities are respon- B rows The idea endowing extra gr
absolute Integrte tection may only, treasc thq trouble from
ty and fairness at all times, other fungus disuses. Mow as long as there
Bible Material: Acts 4. 32 through 5 16.
Devotional Beading: I John 4 11-21,
Fellowship 0f....
Lesson for November lj 1959
THE CHURCH Is never called
the “fellowship of believers” in
the New Testament, but it is often
called that, nowadays, by Chris
tians. There is a good reason for
the name. The early church was
a fellowship of believers. This
means as the record shows us* that
the early Chris
tians were of
“one and
soul." This does
not mean that
they thought
alike, for the
writer of Act a
avoids
saying they were
of one mind. They
were united not
in opinions but in thelr-faith. They
were believers-in rather 'than be*
lievers-about. A perfectly unan
imous church, all holding the iden
tical opinions m the Identical way,
would not bft a Christian church,
but a congregation of parrots. Be
lief is more than opinion; and in
this broader Sense the church is
Indeed a fellowship of believers.
Divert
Is this all? It might be all, if
Christian faith were the dead sort
of thing some people think it is.
But faith, as we see it in the lives
of New Testament Christians,
never appears by itself. .We read
that these believers worked out a
scheme to eliminate poverty
among them. The scheme did not
work, for we know that some years
later collections were being taken
up for the benefit of the Jerusalem
church But all the same, nobody—
especially no apostle—arose to say
to that church, “All your conceni
■hath people’s property and their
living conditions is off" the Chris
tian beam. It is out of our line, it
is not a Christian’s business to
know how other people live. Reli
gion is belief, it is not distribution
of worldly goods.”’ There is little
doubt that some must have talked
that way, because some talk that
way today. But the'church of those
TO ALLOW COWS TO GRIND
OWN HAY—The practice of i
several hundred pounds of gi ound
ton of dairy feed is not favored an
- ent feeding recommendations Will
great variation in the quality of 1
difficult to properly balance a rati
hay is included In addition, the
-is made more bulky and'm turn s.
fed in heavier amounts Giound ■
have a place in a ration ■wnh hi
ture grains in order to prc\ ent he<
molding
MAX SMIIH
days did find jt th e ,
see to it that no one s
' In an old America,,
ly half a'million Peo ,
many churches Th e
ment early this y Pai
they could no i on ‘
who were unempioy, 0 y,
sequence was that
drifted closer and cl,
vation. There was
enlist all the eity s
help feed these helpi e ,
barely half the ehuici
contribution or show,
est. These count thenv
hevmg” chinches
they believe?
1
Doers
Every chinch cong
Fellowship of Listens
Is expecting too muc
ship of Heaieis tj
readmga from the
week after week Bu
not merely a book t
to It is not only a
believed, _eithei it „
done. Jesus diew j
between^heaieis and
heaieis and
early chuich not onl
food-and clotnlng, th<
health. They did not;
the presence of disi
fornutres, they wer
by such tragedies, tl
they could, and it wai
deal, to relieve and
with thenr In shoi
church was a Fellow;
All churches are 1
people who pray. Bi
feature of that ear
church was that th
longed to it prayed t
is, they offeieci the
together. We do not
pose that the prayi
beginning “Sovereig
literally spoken in i
whole collection of I
we are not left m dc
was fhe player of ew
When the minister
pray” he means it—
Whert the nnnistei
unite in prayei, ’ doe
congregation do it, <
him pray along win
about Something else
Churches aie too
with being Sitting F
SupperiftgJS’eilowGhi
having, Oiling, Don
Ing—what God leal
together for —go hal
done at all.
(Based on outlines
the Division of Chris
National Council of f
Christ in-the V, S .
Commumtj Bless Sen
r BY MAX SMITH