4—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, February 13, 1965 From Where We Stand... In Conservation, A Penny Saved May Be Many Pennies Lost! President Johnson is stressing econ omy in government. We are certainly in favor of economy in government. However, we feel that “turning the lights off” on the Agricultural Conser vation Program is a little like trying to save money on your electric bill by cutting the main lead-in wire to your house. We are, in general, opposed to government handouts and subsidiza tions to a few select individuals or groups. Conservation, however, is every body’s business. It is supported through taxes, and the benefits go to every citizen in the country and to citizens yetrunbom. The- proposed federal budget plans to slash funds available for soil and water conservation programs on private ly-owned lands, beginning July 1, 1965. fit is estimated that this cut-back will be inn excess of 100 million dollars. In addition, the Budget Bureau has proposed establishment of a revolving fund through which Soil and Water Conservation Districts, farmers, ranch ersj and other landowners would pay $2O million to the federal government .during the next fiscal year for technical assistance provided by the federal Soil Conservation Service. From a businessman’s point of view this does not sound unreasonable, does it ? But are landowners going to be will ing to pay for what they used to get free, especially when you realize that the majority were not taking advantage of those services even when they carried no price tag? In addition to the 20 percent re commended cutback in SCS technical assistance, the Budget Bureau has call ed for a 40 percent reduction in the cost-sharing aid available through the Agricultural Conservation Program. If these proposals are adopted by Congress it will represent a real reversal of a national policy that has persisted for thirty years. The bulk of the pro ductive land in the country is privately owned more than 70 percent of the total. It is ours to use, but not to abuse! Every ton of soil we lose, every 100 gal lons of water we waste are precious re sources stolen from future generations. Although we have recognized this fact and pursued a corrective course for thirty years, we are only just beginning to scrape the surface of public know ledge and opinion. As evidenced here in our own coun ty in the resolution drafted this week by the Lancaster County Soil and Water Conservation Distnct directors, two thirds of our agricultural land is un protected by conservation practices in spite of their best efforts since 1939' If one takes this literally to mean that two-thirds of our farmers now fail to follow normal conservation practices when the benefits are so readily visible The Reader Speaks... pion.Furth.Mdf«am „ ■ Amencon Show For 65 Former Editor says “Hello ’ learned to know and respect College Park. Md while I lived in Lancaster Pennsylvania’s world cham- Editor, Lancaster Farming County pion All-American Dairy Show Lititz, Penna. Lancaster Fanning continues promises to be an even bet- Dea *‘ Sir in the fine tradition of serv- * er event in its second ap- This was the first time in 15 ing the best a gri cu it ur al coun- peaiance next September 13-17, years that I missed going to jy m { be world State Agnculture Secretary Pe^u S y lvan i a Farm Sincerely yours, Leland H Bull said following Show That made my copy .of Jack Owen a recent meeting of the show Lancaster Farming even more fnmrmttPP welcome than it usually is. I TT _ certainly did enjoy reading the 'Coffee-drinkers in the U.S. Intercollegiate judging, a absorb around 9 per cent of herdsman award and appro names of so many people I the m jik-equmdent produced pnate recognition for class - - by t b e uS. dairy industry, sponsors and other show sup- Lancaster Farming and 4 per cent of the total porters have been proposed, Lancaster County’s Own Farm volume of sugar consumed. he said. They will come up Weekly for final action by the com- P. o. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. Robert G. Campbell, Adver- mittee on January 26. Offices: tising Director As at the first show last 22 E. Main St. Lititz, Pa Phone - Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 623-219’ Don Timmons, Editor around us and the funds have been available, then this is indeed shocking. It indicates that a tremendous job of educating the farmers and other land owners on the benefits, in fact the necessities, of conservation principles is a must. In this light we would regard the Budget Bureau’s barren proposal as very untimely. Certainly the overhead of government agricultural programs is too high. Certainly it should not cost more to market and subsidize our agri cultural commodities than their aggre gate market value. There are areas of government expenditure and inefficiency that demand the pruning-shear treat ment. But conservation is not one of these. A brief, handwritten note to your legislators Congressman Dague, Sena tors Scott and Clark will help let them know how their constituents feel. They need your support on this major issue, and they need it Now. 0’ 0-0 Till'Jhen, Please Wipe Your Feet Spring showed some visible signs this week in Lancaster County not the least of these were the small, and large, muddy footprints across the kitchen floor, and perhaps on the living room rug. But cheer up, Mom! The scientists and the carpet manufacturers are on the track of a fantastic solution to that perennial problem. One of these days you may not even be able to notice that mud on your best carpet. It seems the carpet makers have asked the USDA’s soil scientists for help in determining the general soil colors in different geographic regions of the United States with the idea of in corporating these colors in their carpet patterns' How’s that for an original idea? We wouldn’t recommend throwing out your old rugs just yet though; this may be years in the making. But with the thousands of soil types there axe in this country, can you ima gine how complicated it will become for the world’s most mobile people if such an idea captured -the carpet market? For example, a man gets transferred by his company from Texas to New Eng land. Before he accepts the transfer he and his wife have to sit down with the soil survey maps for that part of New England to see if the mud there will match their rugs' After all you wouldn’t want to put a Beaumont-dark gray car pet where a Podzolic-brown one is de finitely demanded. If this approach to interior colors was accepted, where would it ever end? We might have bathtub-ring colored bathrooms; cobweb-colored walls; fly speck ceilings. We might never have to houseclean again! But until that happy (?) day, let’s all use extra care in helping Mom keep Spring out of the house. Wipe your feet and remove your overshoes before en tering the house! Established November 4. September, the 1965 event 1955. Published every Satur- Wlll be cosponsored by the day by Lancaster-Farmmg, Lit- state Department of Agricul ' a , . ,tm e. its Farm Show Commis- Second Class Postage paid at Lititz, Pa. and at additional tContinued on Page 15) ' . V* - ’ •• ’* ' r Tradition Vs. Duty Lesson for February 14, 1965 Background Scriptures Matthew 11 and 15. Devotional Reading: Matthew 5,11-20. WHICH 'IS MORE important, character or custom? This is not a rocking-chair question. It meets serious minded Chris* tians more often than you might expect. Some of the time there’s iting with a fork and telling the truth can be both done at the same time. One is cus tom, one is char acter. Custom is what everybody does without thinking much about it. Charac- Dr. Foreman ter can’t be seen • with the naked eye as custom can. - Customs are observed by people in droves and swarms. Doing what “everybody else” does calls for no special inner strength; being different from the crowd, refusing to conform, sometimes takes a hard head and a stout heart. The crowd is often right; but right or wrong, sometimes only a brave man can go against it. Character includes willingness to be differ ent when “different” means right. Breaking custom A custom-breaker is looked down on more than a lawbreaker. Indeed it is easier to break a law, and more popular too, than to break a custom. Look at any highway, some busy time of day. Half the people out there are driving faster than the law allows. Nobody writes in to complain about that. But if some driver decides to stick with the speed limit signs, the other drivers, all -law-breakers, will honk at the man mightily. The highway pub lic doesn’t like law-observance when it interferes with their cus tom of breaking the speed laws. To take another example, in the old south there was no need of a law to keep white people and Negroes from eating together. But they always ate separately. Even if a man ran a restaurant, he would serve white and colored Now Is The Time . . . To Inoculate Legumes Local farmers who are planning to make a spring broadcasting of alfalfa or red clover seed in small grain should get the proper inoculant along with the seed. This will pro vide the nitrogen-fixing bacteria on the roots of the legume that will help provide the nitrogen for the plants These seedmgs should be made during late February or early March if they are to be broadcasted on top of the ground To Get 1965 Agronomy Guide This Extension publication covers the growing of nearly all major crops; it is pub lished annually at Penn State and is the recommendations of a number of leading MAX SMITH crop authorities All farmers are uiged to request a copy if they do not already have one To Follow Soil Test Recommendations We aie pleased with the number of local farmers and gardeners that are depending upon a complete soil test as a guide in purchasing their lime and fertilizer needs; this is one of the best methods of learning what a particular soil needs for any given crop. We urge local farmers to follow the recommendations in order to get maximum and econom ical crop returns. Americans spent about $17.4 billion for travel in* 1963.' f'r -v ;'■’ *' A via different droomi.-thbugb th« stew may have been made In the same potSWhen white people be* gan to eat with'Negroes,~ even ’ one white person with one Negro I the white person and the col* i ored one no less would be looked on with ridicule if nothing worse. So all through life, from the small boy who wouldn’t be caught dead in some kind of clothes that none of the other fellows wear, down to the old man who requests a funeral just like everybody else’s, ‘‘custom doth make cowards of us all.” Why be different? There’s no point in being differ ent just for the fun of it. There should be some reason for it. The Bible helps us here. The Hebrews were God’s own people, and the prophets drummed it into them or tried to that if they were really the people of God they would have to act and think and worship and work and play dif ferently from their heathen neighbors. The New Testament tells how Jesus was rebuked for eating with “untouchables” and because his friends did not al* ways observe all the ancient tra ditions, All down the ages it has been the same story. The early Christians seemed like cranks to the Romans because they would not burn a pinch of incense on a little altar. Everybody else did it; fifty million Romans couldn’t be wrong; what ails these peevish people? Our current crisis One problem that is rocking America as these lines are' being is the race question. It is a painful problem, and specially for the Christian. Are you, read ing these lines, a white person? Then take time this week to ask yourself, what is the way God wants me to treat How would Jesus treat them if he were here? Or are you, reading this column, a Negro? Then give some thought to the question! Is what I think about white people, the way a Christian should think about them? Do I dare go out and put my Christian ideas to work in my relations with white peo ple? White man and Negro, if we are honest with ourselves we have to admit that when custom con flicts with conscience or with Christian character, it’s hard to do the very thing we know .is right. But is it Christlike to be “sons and daughters of the Most High” only when it is easy? (Based on outlines copyrighted hr the Dmsion of Christian Education, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U. S A. Released by Community Press hen ice.) To Be Careful With Fertilizer Purchases This time of the year many farmeis face the purchase of many grades and pounds of fertilizer, there are many on the market and most of them will do a good job. We urge farmers to be careful in buy ing to be sure they get the most for their money and also, be certain they are buying from a reputable concern. The purchase of liquid fertilizer should be done carefully be cause in some instances the cost per pound of actual plant food- is -very high? -
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers