—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 9, 1965
4
From Where We Stand...
Federal Assistance For
Low-Income Farmers?
Should the federal government
make monetary contributions to the
sub-poverty-level farmer with the aim
of keeping him on the farm? A national
farm leader stated this week that a
revamping of ■ the Agricultural Conser
vation Program (ACP) should have this
goal in mind. He suggests it would be
an important step in slowing the an
nual migration of farmers to the cities,
and would be an integral part of Presi
dent Johnson’s anti-poverty program in
rural areas.
This suggestion is about on a par
for common sense with most of the Ad
ministration’s approaches to the poverty
question. It would put a premium on
inefficiency and indolence, and for that
reason might stand a good chance of
being incorporated into the official anti
poverty line.
This farm leader would further re
vamp the distribution of conservation
funds so that any of the larger, more
efficient farm units would suffer an out
right penalty. And to further confuse the
problem of who should be blessed and
who penalized, he would leave the de
finition of a “family-farm” to the discre
tion of each county Agricultural Stabili
zation and Conservation Service office!
A definition over which economists and
politicians have argued for years, and
one that still has to be redefined by
each user.
In a recent Economic Research
Service bulletin which examined the
economic picture of the family farm,
that unit was defined as one in which
the operator is a risk-taking manager
who, with his family, does more than
half of the farm work For a working
definition, this study classifies a family
farm as one hiring less than 1.5 man
years of labor.
It goes on to show that in 1949
family farms accounted for 95 percent
of all farms and supplied 66 percent of
total farm sales in the U. S In 1964 it is
estimated that family farms still com
prise about 96 percent of all farms in
number, but now they account for about
73 percent of total farm sales
In fact, since 1949 it appears that
farm numbers in all categories have
declined, with the exception of family
farms in the $lO 000, or more, total
sales sector In 1964, there were about
1 million farms in this $lO,OOO, or more,
expanding category, and they accounted
for about 81 percent of all farm sales.
These progressive family farms are the
• Water Study
(Continued fiom Page 1)
gnes the State Water and Re
souices Boaid the power to
regulate the use of all suiface
and sub suiface watei in the
State (2) gives bioad povveis
to the Water and Resouice-,
Boaid, to allocate water, (3)
leaves useis of watei at the
disci etionaiy power of the
Watei and Resouices Boaid
rathei than with the piotection
of the law, (4) contains no
specific piovisions for busi-
Lancaster Farming
Lancaster County’s Own Farm
Weekly
P. 0 Box 266 - Lititz, Pa.
17543
Offices:
22 E Mam St
Litilz, Pa 17543
Phone - Lancaster
394-3047 or
Lititz 626 2191
Don Timmons, Editor
Robert G Campbell, Adver
tising Dnector
Established November 4,
1955 Published eveiy Satur-
Lancaster-Faiming, Lit
itz, Pa.
» TMW < fcif ffijiist.. » -
real guts of our American agriculture,
and the evidence suggests they will con
tinue to be.
Meanwhile, the so-called poverty
farms that are really the subject under
discussion (less than $2500 gross sales)
declined in number by 1.2 million be
tween 1949 and 1959, and by nearly
another half million from 1959 to 1964.
So you see the problem, agriculturally
speaking, is adjusting by itself this
is not to say these people should not
be helped through retraining programs,
or whatever; but they should, certainly
not be encouraged by the federal gov
ernment or anyone else to remain in an
agricultural technology that has long
since outgrown them!
What Do YOU Think?
★ ★ ★
Drought- Drops Dairies
The effects of three to four years
of drought conditions in some areas of
Pennsylvania is reflected in the drop in
the state’s dairy cow and herd num
bers, and to some extent in total milk
production.
Pennsylvania still ranks fifth in
the nation in milk production, but since
1960 we have lost 10.8 percent of our
cow population. The other top four
states also lost cows during that time,
but not nearly to that extent. Also,
these other states have shown a rise in
total milk production since 1960; Penn
sylvania lost some in 1964, and is pre
sently running about 1 percent behind
last year.
The trend toward fewer but larger
herds with higher producing cows has
been evident since about 1950, but we
wonder if local dairymen realize how
many herds have actually evaporated
from the milk production scene in that
fifteen year period 25,400 herds! That
means that just under 50 percent of the
dairy herds in existence in Pennsylvania
in 1950 are no more.
Larger herds and higher individual
per cow production have more than
taken up that slack, but when you think
of the loss in terms of herds, it is startl
ing.
Much of this decline has been at
tributed to the persistent drought with
its accompanying high feeding costs It
will be a slow process for many Penn
sylvania dairy farmers to climb back up
that steep road to recovery and rebuild
depleted herds Most of those that went
out will probably never come back into
dairying, but in the long run this may
make more room for expansion for the
survivors
ness, industiy and agucultuie,
including imgation, and (5)
it’s designed to use the police
poweis of the Commonwealth
to cucumvent the constitution
al question of npauan law
watei lights
“A iccently leleased memo
by the Depaitment of Forests
..nd Wateis stated that H B
1676 was diafted in its ptesent
foim for three leasons ‘(1) it
would enable the Board to deal
with critical water pioblems as
they appeal (2) oveiall, state
wide legulation and conti ol of
all waters would impose an im
mediate administrative and
legulatory burden which would
be vntually impossible to
meet, (3) by using the police
powers of the Commonwealth,
the Act avoids various ques
tions of constitutionality in
volving npanan law water
i ights ’
“Most of the parties affected
such as puvate useis and even
soil conservation mteiests have
never been asked to state then
views Legislation as compre
hensive as the ‘Water Pi elec
tion Act’ needs to be studied
thoioughly by a House Com
mittee befoie any fuithei ac
tion,” the PFA lettei conclud
ed „ v
' ‘ » it,* 4 t - . . , .»
Topdress Alfalfa
To Maintain Stand
Wh l ch would you rathei
do 9 P-Ow up that old alta If a
stand or cut hay fiom it foi
anoloei yeai or more 9
Di Allan Bande'l, extension
so I specialist at the Univer
sity of Maryland says, “Re
seal ch has proven that alfal
fa stands, when fertilized ade
quately. can be maintained
f Ol 11 yeai sor longer ” Plots
at .the Plant Research Farm
have averaged better than 4
tons of alfalfa hay per acie
per year under adequate fer
tilization piacitices for 11
years
Alfalfa stands can- be profit
ably topdu eased at any time
of the year when labor and
equipment are available and
the soil is fit to be driven
ovei Established alfalfa
stands seldom need nitrogen
toipdressmg When recom
mended amounts of plant
food' have been used, yields
have been equally good for
fall and spung application's
of feitibzei. Bandel says
These needs aie best deter
mined by a soil test
An annual application of 40
pounds of phosphorus and
120 pounds of potash as not
- (Continued on Page 13)
m a i H H $ * ST i, !» J
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\^^PEAKS
UIMMtICMI Uftllttn
Sunday ScKml I
Humbly Wise
Lesson for October 10,1965
Background Serif lure: Exodus 2 16-22,
Alf 20 18
D*v*tion«l Hooding: Proverbs 22 17-2 S
Come men are famous for great
discoveries, otheis for genius
in art, warfare, business or what
not. Jethro (he had no second
name but Reuel) is famous by
being a father-in-law. Of course
that is not the wnole story. He
is remembered
not for having a
son-in-law, but
because that son
in-law was to be
come one of the
greatest men of.
all time
daughter Zippo-j
Dr. Foreman rah (Hebrew for|
Birdie) was the wife of the re
nowned Moses, the Moses every-]
body has heard about. The first'
time Moses saw his futme wife
was at a well in the wilderness,!
where Zipporah and her six sis
ters were trying to haul water for
their sheep-herder father Jethro.
Other shepherds were being rude
■to the girls and Moses drove
them off. (A big man, he must
been.) So Moses, then a fugi
tive from an Egyptian chain
gang or worse, first became a
boarder in Jethro’s tents, and
then his son-in-law. Moses, we
know, went on to high fame;
Jethro stayed a sheep-herder to
the end of his dajs.
Obscure men
Zipporah so far as we know
never did Moses any good,
though she did bear him two
sons who weie never heard df
again. But Jethro did Moses a
lot of good with sensible advice
at a critical time. Jethro is one
of that large but never ■famous
company of obscure men who
have been close fuends of others
who were by far their supenois
Most piesidenls of the United
Stales have had intimate friends
who could never have been elec
ted president, but who on occa I
Now Is The Time . . .
To Make Forage Tests
Livestock pioducers, and especially
dairyman, are urged to adopt the piactice
of doing foiage testing each fall and winter
in order to make better use of the feed dol
lar Many heicis will go into winter feeding
in the neai futuie when the quality of the
foiage should deteimme the amount and
kind of gram ration to be fed We know of
no better way to deteimme this gram ration
than to have the hay and silage tested now
and request a gram feeding recommendation
Foiage test caitons are available at oui Ex
tension Office.
To Eliminate Rodents
Colder weather will start The migiation
of rats and mice fiom the fields into the farm buildings. If
they can find suitable places to nest and live they will take
over and start icproduction We urge all property owners to
clean up their piemises and destroy all harboring places, junk
pdes should be eliminated and stone walls and foundations
should be pointed with masonry in order to prevent being in
habited These practices, along with the use of some poison
bait stations, should keep the rodent population to a minimum.
To Make Final Alfalfa Cutting To Seed Wheat
iSmce most areas of the
county have had a killing
frost and since we have had
cool weather for 'a number of
days tms past week it is ad
vised to proceed with the
making of the final crop of al
falfa of the season The low
er temperatui es should have
stopped growth and restored
loot/food supplies The eiop
may be used as green chop,
hay O! silage Do not harvest
the gaowth from seedings
made thus past August.
A’! varieties 'of winter
wi’ie’at may now be seeded
without danger of Hessian Fly
infestation The newer varie
ties such as Redcoat and Dual
have been safe to seed for
the past several weeks since
they are fly resistant.' On
eaiker seeded cropis 1 ' 1 * that
make desirable growth, latei
this fall, it is' suggested 5 that
toe area be 'grazed this fall
and again early next spring.
This forage from winter
grams will 'help stretch the
Winter hay and silage sup
ples,
jmjj is **s ,
•lon could offer humble advice
which turned out to be good.
(Sometimes the advice la bad.
but that’s another story.)
God guides . . . but how?
Christians talk a good deal
about the guidance of God, about
Providence and divine care and
protection. How God guides men
we do not always know; that he
guides men we can be sure. We
get a hint of the “how” in this
story. How did Jethro and Moses
get together? Neither of them
planned it. Moses was just the
only available man. If he hadn’t
married Zipporah, he would have
married one of her sisters and in
any case would have had Jethro
for a father-in-law. Yet because
of this close relationship, Jethro
was able, in later years, to offer
Moses advice which saved him,
it would seem, from something
like a nervous breakdown.
Old sheepherder’s advice
A'‘
What was this wonderful ad*
vice which the old sheep-herder
offered Moses? Nothing very
wonderful, actually. The point is,
it was just common sense, only
Moses, hke some other great
men, had a mind that moved in
the stratosphere and ordinary
down-to-earth matters did not al
ways occur to him. He was trying
(Jethro discovered) to decide all
the arguments and quarrels of
thousands of people all by him
self, and he was of course in
danger of becoming a nervous
wreck, Jethro suggested that
Moses set up a system of graded
courts to hear cases of ordinary
difficulty or importance and save
himself to be a kind of Court of
Appeals where cases of the great
est importance could be tried.
A perfectly simple solution of
the difficulty, Moses would pre
serve his strength (and he would
need it for the long years ahead
in the “great and terrible wil
derness”) and the people’s needs
for justice would be more
promptly met. The plan worked,
too, worked so well that more
than thirty-five years later, as we
read in Deut, 1, Moses failed is
give Jethro the credit for 8, To
suggest wisdom to a mttf .so
painlessly that he thinks his
own idea is a kind of magic.
Jethro had it.
His
dosed on outlines copyrighted f>y (ft*
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MAX SMITH