6—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 1, 1966 1 < A f . * * ye V * MULCHING STRAWBERRIES is one of the fall season'chores. Fred Funk is shown feeding salt hay through the “bale buster” which spreads the mulch over the six-acre berry crop. Strawberries, as every other crop on the Funk farm, are planted on the contour. L. F. Photo • Amos Funk (Continued from Page 1) Andy said, they harvested an average of four pounds of tom'atoes from each of the seven-foot vines. This year an average of six 'pounds is ex pected, and they won’t be satisfied until they reach eight, pounds per vine. The first picking of tomatoes was in late October, and the plants will continue to yield u'ntil about the third week itn January; then they will make way for the next crop. The Funks attribute their in creased yield this y*ar to the use of liquid fertilizer. This is fed through seepage hoses, also used for water. A mulch of peanut hulls helps retain the moisture, a vital ingredi ent in hothouse tomato pro duction. Tomatoes are picked every Monday and Thursday, and are sold mostly at retail prices. In another house, leaf let tuce grows like a green car pet. Six different plantings •ii * .• R .r, safe..#*' were m'ade this year, with plants spaced nine inches apart. This is 'not quite as thick a planting as recom mended hy some, Andy said, but he feels they get bigger and better plants this way. It takes eight weeks to make a lettuce crop under these conditions, and as each crop is hamested, bedding plants are started. These consist of petunias, snap dragons, man- Dairymen everywhere are getting and more with Ful-O-Pep Dairy Feed NEW HOLLAND S. H. Hiestond & Co., Inc. H. M. Stauffer & Sons, Ine. Salunga Witmer WXXXXX\\\XXXXXXXXXXX\>^XXXX\\XXXXXX\XXXXXXXX! m QUARRYVILLE See what Ful-O-Pep Cottle-izer Dairy Feeds con do far YOUR milk production! Passmore Supply Co. Cochranville, Fa. Harold H. Good Terre Hill J. C. Walker & Son, Inc. Gap, Penna. gold*, asters, and tomato plants, with total production amounting to 20,000 packs, each containing one dozen plants. The "lettuce house" will be seeded partially f<sl* bedding plants early in Jan uary, with production going full steam by early in Feb ruary, Transplants will fill all three houses. Most of the bedding plants Will be sold at the tarm; the rest will be marketed through regular wholesale and retail channels. Rudy Giove, sales m'anager at Funk’s, helps to -decide what will be produced •and where it will be sold. Most of the products sold away from the farm are re tailed through farmers’ mar kets at Lancaster and Lees port, and at Root’s Auction. Production of fall and win ter vegetables is strictly a sideline, Amos said; it helps provide more year-round ac tivity and sales. Funks -raise all their own plants, includ ing 9000 tom'atoes for staked field plants. The Funks also produce their own seed for many of the varieties they raise. Cel ery, for example; they have found that by selecting the most desirable plants right from the trenches they can continue to upgrade the qual ity of their celery. It is a tedious job to produce celery seed. After being selected, the plants are potted and put into the greenhouse this is done 'between now and Feb ruary. It takes until next July or August to produce the seed for the next year’s crop. Seed used in 19 67 will be produced in 1966. Seed is also saved for the yearly five acres of whlite COCHRANVILLE STEVENS sweet corn the Funks ‘grow, Amos 'said he has been, sav ing seed ifrom this variety since 1939. Each year, when some new, high-powered hy brid comes on the m'arket, he runs comparison tests with his own variety. He has yet to find a new one that will mature as early as his. “And that extra two weeks’ jump on the market is worth a lot,’' he said. For the past six to eight years he has been following the same 'procedure with, sugar peas. The first year he selected seed from about 25 plants which seemed resis tant to “yellowing,’’ a con dition which chionically af fects sugar pea vines. The following year, he selected seed from the six most prom ising plants of the second generation. Thus selecting from the best to get the best is an ever-continuing process. The Punk farm wasn’t al ways noted for its vegetables and plants. Originally, i Amos’ father and grandfather oper ated it as a dairy. In the ear ly 1930’5, -they gradually started raising asparagus, and eventually quit dairying alto gether. Amos worked for his father 'until 1950, when he bought the 82-acre home farm himseM. It Was entire ly in vegetable production by that time. Another Bft acres was added in the Marticvilla area to raise black raspberry plants in relative isolation; vegetable crops were .'added later. Then in 1960, he rent ed another 71 acres near the home farm for red raspberry production. In 196'5, lie bought 'that acreage also. The Funk farms noir total 242 (Continued on Pago 7) more milk butterfat ELIZABETHTOWN SALUNGA Grubb Supply Co. Elizabethtown Kirkwood Feed & Groin Kirkwood Stevens Feed Mill, Inc. Stevens, Penna.
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