—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 29, 1963
4
From Where We Stand...
Why Not Try Raising Hogs
Why don’t Lancaster County farm
ers raise more pigs?
According to the latest census fi
gures available, the county produced
approximately 70,000 hogs for slaughter
in one year. Three county slaughter
houses took more than 50,000 head last
year and had to go out of county and
out of state to fill their needs.
All three of the packers contacted
told us they would buy local hogs at
prices of $1 per CWT over the midwest
price if they could get them, but the
fact is, local hogs are just not available
in enough quantity to supply the de
mand.
The local butchers have to com
pete against the national and large re
gional packers for the supply of local
hogs, and they just won’t go around.
A spokesman for the! Lancaster
Livestock Exchange said this week that
the Lancaster stockyards'had sales for
three times as many slaughter hogs as
they had on hand on Monday. Packers
were in the alleys practically begging
commission men to, “save some for me.”
Some people have said that local
hogs will not compete with shipped
hogs from the midwest, but local
terers indicate that this is not so. In
fact, they indicate that they prefer lo
cal hogs whenever they can get them,
and right now, it appears that the pack
ers are not nearly so interested in grade
as they are in numbers. This is not to
say that grade is not important, but
there is a market for most grades at
this time of year.
Pennsylvania farmers, an|d Lan
caster County farmers in particular, are
in a favorable position during the sum
mer months. Mortality on shipped hogs
during hot weather is so high that
many packers are willing to pay a pre
mium for local stock. For this reason,
it is doubly important to aim marketing
at the summer months. Doubly impor
tant since summer is normally a time of
light marketings and greater demand
We realize that the hog situation
can change rapidly, and we remember
all too well the disasterous $l2 hog
market of a few years back, (We weie
hurt in that along with a lot of others')
but right now hog prices are relatively
good, demand is very strong and local
farrowings are not high.
Lancaster County stands to lose
some of its market to outside suppliers
if the demand is not met with local hogs.
If butchers learn they can get a steady
supply of good quality hogs locally, and
get in the habit of buying locally, the
market stands to get better.
In our opinion, Lancaster County
farmers ought to raise more hogs.
At least that’s how it looks from
where we stand.
Expensive Privilege
We are willing to pay for some
privileges, but when the privilege bene
fits no one and costs everyone, we be
gin to object.
We refer to the privilege some
farmers demand of letting their topsoil
gush down the waterways and into the
streams.
We are all for freedom for the
Animals Need Shade
Farm animals enjoy getting
out of the hot sun, too, says
Thomas King, extension live
stock specialist at Penn State
He suggests artificial shade if
no natural shade is available
in the pastures It’s simple
set four poles in the ground,
use a fiamewoik of light poles
for the icof and cover with
straw or corn sto\ er held in
L
Pioace by wn?.„ „
farmer to do with his farm as he sees
fit, but when he refuses Lo use proven
practices to keep his topsoil where it
belongs, we begin to lose patience.
Both township and state highways
officials have said time and time again
their job is more than cut in half where
good soil conservation practices are
used, but still some farmers continue
to plow up whole hillsides and run the
rows up and down the slopes.
This week and last a crew of five
men with heavy equipment from the
state 'highways department labored to
clear soil out of a stream in north
western Lancaster County.
The cost to the farmers upstream
can not be figured in dollars and cents,
since there is no way to measure ac
curately how much production poten
tial was lost through soil runoff, but the
cost in tax dollars came to nearly four
thousand for this one job alone.
To us, this seems like a pretty
expensive privilege especially since
no one benefits.
At least that’s how it looks from
where we stand.
★ ★ ★ ★
Water Safety
From toddler to four score and ten,
people have more fun with water than
almost anything else.
Summer is upon us and as hot
weather settles on the land millions of
Americans will be rediscovering the
pleasures of water. It is the time for
swimming, boating, water skiing, and
all the rest. But tragedy can strike with
appalling swiftness when basic safety
rules which should be observed on or
around the water are forgotten in the
excitement and confusion that often ac
companies having a good time.
If you are a swimmer for example,
don’t swim at unfamiliar or untended
beaches where tides and currents may
cause dangerous undertow, don’t swim
alone, don’t try spur-of-the moment
swimming stunts and endurance trials
that are beyond your skills.
If you’re a water skier don’t forget
to wear some approved flotation equip
ment. Every member of a group of
people around the water will not be a
swimmer, but every swimmer should
know the basic techniques of rescue and
artificial respiration.
With millions of pleasure boats now
on the nation’s waterways, and more
coming every year, there are essential
requirements which their “captains”
must meet. Unless every operator of a
pleasure boat assumes J;he responsibility
that is his for the safety of his passen
gers and proper handling of his boat, it
is inevitable that there will be severe
restrictions and regulations which will
take much of the fun and relaxation out
of a most rewarding sport. Proper equip
ment, including fire extinguishers, life
preserver for each passenger, lights,
horn or whistle, anchor and line, bilge
pump and so forth, are the beginning of
safety afloat.
Just a reminder water safety
boils down to common sense. Let’s use
it and be around for another summer
of fun in and on the water.
Lancaster Farming
Lancaster County’s Own Farm
Weekly
P.O Box 1524 iSsiabljshed November 4.
Lancaster, Penna. 1955 ' Publ ished every Satur-
P. O. Box 266 - LiUtz, Pa. lay by Lancaster-Farmlng, Lit-
Itz, Pa.
Offices;
i'i E. Mam St
Lititz, Pa.
Phone - Lancaster
EXpress 4-3047 or
1 Lititz MA 6-2191
Jack Owen, Editor
Robert G. Campbell,
Advertising Director
Entered as 2nd class matter
at Lititz Pa. under Act of Mar.
8. 1879
Praise The Lord
Lesson for June 30, 1963
BibU Material: Z Chronicles 16*
Psalms 146; 147; 150.
Devotional Reading: Psalm 148:l~6a.
THERE used to be a children’s
game, that went like this: the
first child would say, “I love my
love with an A because she’s At
tractive,” and the next would say,
“I love my love with a B because
she’s Beautiful” . . . and so on
down the alpha
bet. Grown people
can play at the
same game. But
it becomes sen
ous when you are
grown up. There’s
a curious thing
about love.
though; at the
moment you feel
Dr, Foreman most enthusiastic
and grateful about one you love,
you aren’t thinking up reasons. If
you are really in love, you don’t
need reasons. Yet there are rea
sons, or ought to be. To love with
out thinking of reasons is good:
to love against all reason and
common sense, is bad.
Praise the Lord, because...
It is so in religion. When you
are in the mood to praise God, you
are not figuring out reasons for
doing so. You just praise Him out
of a full and overflowing heart.
But there are the best of reasons
"for praising the God we love. The
unknown poet who wrote the 146th
Psalm does not put in the word
“because” anywhere. He begins
the psalm with “Praise the-Lord!”
and he ends it in the same words.
[“Hallelujah” means literally
“Praise the Lord.”] Between
these two shouts of praise, how
ever, he says a number of things'
about God, and they all add up to
reasons why we ought to do this.
We should never praise him from
a feeling of duty. That would be
like a man who would kiss his
wife every morning at 7:30 sharp
because his memorandum book
had in it the line: 7:30 P.M. Kiss
Wife. But praise is not senseless,
tt is emotional but emotion-with
a-reason. In the high moments of
worship we are not doping out
reasons why; but in quiet mo-
Now Is The Time . . .
To Mulch Gardens and Shrubbery
Strong wind in hot weather causes rapid
evaporation of any moisture near the surface
of the ground. This loss of moisture may la
reduced by applying from 2 to 4 inches of
mulch around shrubbery and between the
rows and plants in the garden Various ma
terials such as peat moss, sawdust, ground
corn cobs, or lawn clippings may be used.
Mulching is the best way to conserve mois
ture in the ground and around, plant roots.
One of the later cuttings of alfalfa
should be allowed to reach the 75%'t0 SO%
blossom stage if the stand is to hold up for
a number of years; this may be either the
fourth cutting. The other cuttings may be
to early blossom stage.
MAX M. SMITH
second, third, or
made in the bud
To Plow Down Nitrogen
When a short season 'corn 'Farmers who have the water
crop is to follow a hay or small supply and equipment to irri
gram harvest it is important gate their crops are urged to
to plow down either a co>m/piete
fertilizer such as 10-10-10. or fPPIy the water in time to
plow down from 75 to 100 make tke rather
pounds of actual nitrogen per ? han wa |‘ untll 13 to
acre. This will help decompose lrri in an effort to try and
the sod crop and furnish avail- J ar f, the Jl° p - From one *° two
able nitrogen to grow the crop J f kes 9:%ater - should be ap
quickly. When plowing during ? ll6d ever y 10 da ? s wken soak '
the hot, summer months it is rains do nofc * falL A s'»e
ad\ised to roll or cultipack the cial (circular on irrigation is
field immediately in order to- - av,ai^a ‘ )^e
conserve all possible moisture.
m'ents when" s we ‘have time”lto
think, we can think of reasons’in
plenty, and we know we were not
carried, away by mere sheer emo
when we sang our Halle
tafc „
Thrsource of all good
God is the source of all good:
this is the belief of all Christians <
and Jews, and certainly is the
teaching of the Bible. (Why this
is so, the reader may figure out
for himself.) This means that God
does not simply discover good,—
that is, goodness, beauty and
truth in any of their manifold
forms—God does not “latch on”
to what He discovers and claim
the credit Himself. He is the Or
iginator, the Planner, the Crea
tor, the Rewarder, of what is
good. Consider the matters for i
which the Psalmist wishes God !
to be remembered and thanked. |
First of all is Creation itself; then
he mentions God’s faithfulness,
and His nistice, and His providen
tial care for the “forgotten man,”
the hungry and the oppressed.
When a prisoner is set free; when ,
the blind are enabled to see; when
the mourner is comforted; when
a man becomes a righteous char
acter; when the helpless are
cared for (widows, orphans ae- 1
traveling strangers were the most j
forlorn people in the world of that 1 ';
day); when a wicked man like
Hitler for example is brought to
rum; this calls for praise to the
Lord who reigns forever.
Two questions
The skeptic has a question to
ask at tlus point,—two m fact.
One is this: Hasn’t the Psalmist
let his imagination run away with
him? If he knew what kind of
world this is, he would realize that
widows and orphans are not al
ways helped, justice is not always
done, most blind people stay
blind. And as for the world, the
skies, earth and seas “and all
that is in them,” are we to believe
that God created disease germs
and parasites, are we obliged to
believe that God personally makes
volcanoes kill thousands of help
less people? If God is the source
of all good, must He not also take
the blame for all the evil?
These questions can ’'be an
swered together, though this calls
for much discussion. To be sure,
the Christian will say, as his
Jewish brother will: to be sure,
it is seldom —some would say
never, that God directly does
these things. In virtually all cases
He works through persons. And
that is the answer to the first
question; if good is not done, it
is not that God has ft "ntten It
is we who have fade 1 let Him
work through us for go.ni
(Based on outlines copyrighted by
the Division of Christian Education,
National Council of the Churches of
Christ in the XT. S A Released by
Community Press Service.)
BY MAX SMITH
To Permit Alfalfa To Mature
To Irrigate Crops
3f r „