4—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 9, 1963 From Where We Stand... “Silent Spring” Without Pesticides Miss Rachel Carson’s impassioned plea for a ban on all agricultural chemi cals notwithstanding, the farmers of America will be using more chemical pest control during the coming year. Now we do not believe in the in discriminate use of powerful poisons by irresponsible persons, but we do not believe life in the United States as we know it could exist for very long with out the chemicals now used to control plant and animal pests. We all know that America is by far the best fed and best clothed nation on the earth. We have become better fed and better clothed in spite of the fact that population has climbed at pheno minal rates and land has consistently, gone out of agricultural production. Of course we know some of the increased production per- acre and per animal has come about through the use of better seed and livestock, and through the use of more fertilizers, but much of the increase in volume and most of the improvement in quality of farm pro ducts is the direct result of pest control through chemical sprays. ’ We realize, and would be the first to admit, that some of the chemicals used to kill bugs and weeds could kill people and animals, but so could com mon table salt kill people if they used enough of it in the wrong way. Each year more powerful and more deadly poisons are being discovered or developed, and hand in hand with these developments goes higher and higher 'quality food products. The time is long past when the housewife will be satisfied with a peck of apples with worms in only a third of them If the modern housewife finds one worm in the entire peck, she is likely to take her business elsewhere. ’lf the housewife has to trim away a few leaves of a cabbage head, she is unhappy with the grocer who buys such inferior merchandise. And we doubt if Miss Carson her self would long continue to purchase the scabby, misshapen potatoes which were common on the market just a few short years ago. But it is not only in quality that the American farmer excells. How long, do you suppose, would the milk supplies in this country keep abreast of the grow ing population if farmers could not pro tect their alfalfa fields from the ravages of weevils and spittle bugs? How long could grain farmers hope to keep a sup ply of corn on hand for the meat ani mals for the nation without the aid of labor saving herbicides? And how could the farmers of the nation hope to keep a wholesome supply of milk, eggs and meat on the nation’s tables without the help of the wonder drugs which have done so much to maintain the high degree of health in the farm herds and flocks? We agree that some education is needed in the use of all farm chemicals. • Egg Promotion (Continued from Page 1) opeiating plants at least twice a month under the quality-con ijol piogicim The progiam is a benefit to both the consumer and the nidiketer, he said, but nioie consumer education is needed to make the housewife 31)01 e quality conscious February and March are fine Some local farmers continue times to prune most shade and to be reluctant to accept strip fruit trees When the tree is farming or contour strips as a ■dormant the sap is still down means of holding water and _ . ... . . „ , and less loss of nutrients will topsoil. The spring of the year p n Pot Established November 4, , ’ , _ ...r result; without leaves the is one of the good times to es- Lancaster, Penna. 1955. Published every Satur- ° P. O. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. layby Lancaster-Farmlng, Lit- sha P e of shade trees is easier itablish strips in sod ground or Offices: j tz to determine. Thinning of both in stalk ground. On sloping or ~, 22 E. Main St. _ fruit and shade trees is a good hilly ground greater crop yields Lititz, Pa. Entered as 2nd class matter Zerbe said there are fewei Phone . Lancast er Lititz Pa under Act of Mar practlce to P ermit the entrance will he obtained when both laying ■ hens on Pennsylvania,., EXuresa. 4-3047 ;or, „'„..pf .moresunshine to the fruit water and soil fertility are kept * Shoher Zerbe, aiea icpiesen fative tor the teed company an nounced that his firm is plann ing to air thiee short films on qualitc eggs ovei six television stations beginning February 9 The films will be shown a to tal of 149 times in the si\ cit- We know that some farmers believe in the theory that if a little bit does some good, a lot will do a lot of good. We know that some chemicals have been misused, but we tremble to think what would happen to the food supply of this nation and the world if all chemicals were suddently removed. With modern testing programs, the danger to consumers is so small that it hardly shows up at all in comparison to the harm that could be done through the use of food not protected by some pesticides. At any rate, new chemicals will be on the market this year, and the farm ers of the nation will continue tg use them to the advantage of all the con sumers of the nation. At least that’s how it looks from where we stand. ' ' , Communicators who have suffered confusion in the “numbers game” for many years now have good reason to wonder about some of the new ideas coming out of research designed to learn how to communicate effectively with people and not merely “reach” a certain number of people. Advertisers and publicity men alike have often been convinced that success ful communications efforts on behalf of a product, service, or idea depend upon the quantity of people reached. Hence the mass media “numbers game” has been a hectic “rat race,” because every medium of communication, it seems, has a different way-of measuring au dience to prove that it reaches the right audience for you. Television has assumed great im portance to communicators as a. result of this “numbers game” because a net work evening show can* produce an audience in the multi-millions.- an increasing- number of communicators are finding that the size of the audi ence may be quite meaningless. Some of these multi-million people audiences may not include the best prospects for an advertising communication. It could even be that television’s most successful communications ventures, for the me dium itself as well as for advertisers or publicity efforts, might be some of the shows which have difficulty staying on the air because they do not attract millions of viewers. The big audience shows may succeed primarily in lulling viewers into such a state of mental lethargy no message gets through. Af ter all, most people watch most tele vision for its entertainment and re laxation values. " A good many interesting reports on communications research appeared dur ing 1962, and to help us get off to a flying start in 1963 it might be worth while to review at least several of these reports. Public Relation Tips For Dairymen. snme 1940 Per capita consum- eggs could tie ption is down, but people are Pennsylvania, becoming moie quality consc- The purpose of the programs ious He pointed out that there is two fold to increase per are 50 million people living m capita consumption and to sell the area from Long Island to certified (quality) eggs, he the Carolines, and most of their said. Lancaster Farming Jack Owen. Editor Robert G. Campbell, Lancaster County’s Own Farm , AdTer tising Director ★ ★ ★ ★ The Right Audience •4 Lesson for February 10, 1963 Bible Material: Mark (S 1-SS. Devotional Beading: 11 Corinthians 2:W through 3.3. OUBTLESS God could have made a universe where He did not need help of any kind. Whatever He wanted to do, would be done, and by Him alone. Per haps, for anything we know to the. 'ntrary. He has exactly that kind of universe run ning somewhere at this moment But not this one. For His own rea sons, and for our great good, God. constructed this universe in such a way that if God does not get help Dr. Foreman i D doing things, .they will not be done. Not that God requires help in everything. If He had any help in creating this universe in the first place, we cannot imagine who could have been His assistant or His blue print man. God had all the blue prints of the universe in His mind from before the beginning. But— once begun, while God still re serves the right to act at His own discretion without help of any one, the universe—or our part of it at least—does not run itself. Helping the ignorant Let it be-repeated: this is for our good. It is a wonderful privi lege to share in anything God does. It is a marvelous act on His part that He should let any one of us be responsible even for a tiny part of the vast realms of' God. But how can we know what God’s work is? How do we know .when we are helping Him? There is one thing, of which we may be sure: God is always working against evil. He is opposed to evil in every form. So when thq Son. of God lived and toiled in Gali lee, He too was battling against evil wherever He found it. One of the forms of evil is ignorance, error. Not knowing, or thinking that one’s thoughts are true when they are not,—this is dangerous. So one of the great activities of Jesus was teaching, and he did not try to teach all alone. He Now Is The Time . . . To Buy Quality Seeds Spring is approaching rapidly and all farmers and gardners will be anxious t» stai t \v orking the soil. Many seed pur chases will be made in the next few months and growers are urged to demand quality, purity, and certi fied seed if possible in order to get what you want. Unknown varieties and unknown sources of seed present an unknown result. MAX M. SMITH produced ■>■>4 Helping God BY MAX SMITH All kinds of farm machinery should be protected trom the weather in older to pie vent rust, working parts should be greased in order to keep rust away from these wearing areas. Even machinery that is stor ed should be checked for broken or, worn parts that need replacing; your farm ma« r chinery service man will be able to give you quicker service now aot the day you want to use it. To Prune Trees trusted certain fishermen enough to send them out two by two, to. teach people He would never livs, long enough to see. And in helping' Jesus, the disciples were helping God. Helping the hungry Another form of evil is pain, and this has many forms, as we alb know. When first chloroform wad used to help women m childbirth, many preachers protested. It was* not right, they said, to try to make child-bearing bearable. But minis ters know better now. Ail of us are aware that much pain in the world cannot be cured. We know there are limits to what can bo done. But when a Christian today, sees a hungry child or a suffering man or woman, he dare not, say to himself, as our ancestors might have said, “Too bad, but the pain and hunger are sent by God. and we need not try to do anything to stop it.” On the contrary, Chris-, tians are more alert now than, they used to be, to the claims of the suffering and the hungry and homeless. Every person you can help, in fact, is a living invitation from God, to be His helper in bringing good to pass in the place of evil. This is a real world Sometimes, we long for an easier world to live in. What we want,, we think, is a sort of fairy-tale, world. In the old stories, which, perhaps you read when you were young, you remember there often was a Fairy Godmother. When she arrived, she took over. AH' you did was sit back, watch her’ wave her magic wand, and enjoy what she conjured up out of 610* moonlight and spider webs. Why doesn’t God do like that? is our complaint. He doesn’t do like that because He is real and not a make-believe fairy. He doesn’t-do like that because He wants chil dren, not dolls; sons and dajugh-, ters, not robots. He doesn’t do like that because He wanted a uni verse in which He would have helpers. On the hills of Galjlee- Jesus fed the great multitude with bread. No one then knew how He, 1 did it; but they knew-how thaty bread got from Jesus, to. the hun-A gry crowds; the disciples carried it. Jesus did what they could not do; He did not do,-what they c.ould do. God is like that. AH over the world the battle goes , on, good against evil, comfort against pain, health against disease, truth against falsehood, wisdomagainst folly. It’s God’s fight; are yod in it? (Baud on ontltnea copyrighted by the Dlrlilon of Christian EdieslloA National Connell of tha Churches si Christ In this TI.S.A. Released hi! Community line Service.) To Protect Machinery To Plan For Erosion Control
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers