—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. February 25. 1967
4
From Where We Stand...
Improve Form Meetings
When any area has as many farm
meetings as Lancaster County does in
a year's time, some are bound to be less
than satisfactory.
Wc arc not singling out any parti
cular group or organization for criti
cism, but we’ve been concerned in re
cent weeks over the poor “quality” of
content and presentation at several
farmer meetings.
It used to be that, with field work
out of the way, farmers had a lot of time
on their hands over the long winter,
and could even afford the luxury of
wasting a little of it. This is consider
ably less true today as farmers have
increased the size of poultry and live
stock operations, and have otherwise
taken some of the seasonality out of
their work schedules The demand on
a farmer’s time these days is terrific,
and it is impoitant to his business suc
cess that he make the best use of that
time.
Educational meetings sponsored by
the extension service, by farm groups,
and by private firms are important in
helping the farmer keep up to-date in
this changing world. But when he ad
justs his busy schedule to include a
meeting from which he feels he will
gam valuable information, and then
goes away from that meeting empty
handed, he has, in a sense, been cheated
of his most precious commodity
TIME.
We have helped with the planning
and presentation of enough meetings
to know that it is considerably easier to
criticize others than to do the job well
oneself So our point in this editorial is
not criticism alone, but a plea to the
planners and sponsors of farmer meet
ings to examine this subject in advance.
First of all, they might ask them
selves two questions: “What is the pur
pose of the proposed meeting?” and
“is it a necessary meeting?”
A meeting may have one of several
functions —1) to inform, 2) to enter
tain, 3) to instruct; or, 4i to socialize It
could conceivably combine any two of
these functions, but, by all means, it
should make known to the interested
public beforehand just what its purpose
is This can generally be accomplished
with an appropriate title and a brief
description of the meeting’s content,
circulated in advance Equally as impor
tant, the content of the meeting should
stick with the announced theme and
Letter To The Editor .
(Note: The following let
ter was i eceived this week
from Ken Martin who went
to Honduras, Central Ameri
ca, about a year ago to h£lp
establish a credit union un
der the auspices of the Men
nonite Voluntary Service.
The son of Mr. and Mrs.
Aaron Martin of Denver El,
Ken may be best remem
bered around the county for
his outstanding efforts in the
Future Farmers of America,
which climaxcFl with his be
ing named State FFA presi
dent in 1.064.)
No Snow Shovels
In C»A. ? Martin
Reports
Dj i' Ti if-i’di,
Cii eclin'fi liom Guiii'M the
s'i unpin:; capi'al of the C nib
bean Gn. raja is one ol Ih.eo
jclanJa wln'h comprise the Buy
J-linJ, oh the noithein coc-t
of Honduras, it is totaled
about thrty miles fiom the
m (inland
The island is appioximately
nine miles long and two and
purpose, not merely use the title as a
point of departure.
HUMOR another pet peeve! How
many highly-touted speakers have you
heard introduced with “Mr. So-and-So
will now tell you how to make a million
dollars raising tail-less cats for mousers
in rocking chair factories”, and Mr. So
and-So gets up and runs through a rou
tine of stale jokes pilfered from old
Reader’s Digest magazines for the next
forty-five minutes? And you leave the
meeting no closer to knowing how to
make the million dollars than when you
went in.
Don’t misunderstand: we deeply ap
preciate good humor. It can be used to
great advantage by a speaker to illus
trate important points, and to lighten an
otherwise serious subject. But it should
reinforce the subject discussed, not de
tract from it; also, a speaker has, to
know his audience to know what brand
of humor they will enjoy and what
brand will simply offend them.
LENGTH another common meet
ing culprit. We’re thinking, in this case,
of length of speeches and length of total
meeting. While there have been many
good speakers in the county this, past
season, we have also had our share of
long-winded ones who took an hour or
more to deliver 15-minute talks, simply
because they hadn’t properly organized
either their material or themselves.
The mam factor accounting for ex
cess meeting length is probably trying
to crowd too much into the event. Some
organizational annual meetings seem to
be guilty of this Of course ? that’s strict
ly the business of that particular or
ganization Its members are aware of
the condition since they generally at
tend the function each year The pur
pose of such a meeting is often social
as well as to transact annual business
matters. But, even so, we’ve seen few of
these affairs which couldn’t have been
improved by a bit more careful culling
on the part of the organizers.
The general meeting season will
soon make way for the rush of spring
time chores, and the farmer will probab
ly forget the good and the bad meet
ings he attended during the winter.
But there will be another season, come
next winter, and, hopefully, those who
put on farmer educational meetings will
continue to strive for improvement in
quality, not quantity. Probably the only
one who will truly benefit from the up
grading of meetings will be the farmer
but isn’t that the whole point, after
all?
one'half miles wide To the get about 170 inches of ram
south of the island lie four- fall a yeai, the majority be
teen small cays (low island or tween Octobei and February,
leef) The town of Guanaja There is no electricity in town
is centeied around two of other than that piovided by
these cays which aie about a small generators which some
half male fiom the main is- mei chants have for then
land Appi oximately 2400 of stores Oui sheets are nairow
Guanaja’s 4,000 people live in three to five-foot boardwalks
this town It’s interesting to watch a
The islandeis aie of Eng- stranger walk around town at
hsh descent and speak English night, oi, even moieso a lady
although ‘hey aie goveined by in high heels Very seldom
Spanish Honduras Most of the anyone goes ovei boaid, some
people heie aie bi-lingual times a dog or an intoxicated
Yeais ago the islands were man
undei British mle and the old- .Ralph Nafziger and I aie
ei folks still love to talk about serving 2S-month teims undei
the Eutish wai ships and Eng- Mennomte Voluntary Seivice,
lish pnates that would stop Salunga We aie living on the
heie Seveial things have been second flooi of a home ovuiecl
dug fiom the island so pei- by an old widow whom
Imps I should go tieasinc we quickie stalled (o mil
hunting Columbus landed on ‘Gummy’ On the fuel ».<>,
the noith <ndc ol (he island (he alcaldi (raayoi) hm or
and it is said that Rohei 1 Lou p cei p m n 0( s ,j )e j] (hr-
is Slccemcn cot his inepua- an advantage 01 diudvai race
lion I’om Gi.anaia to wute Qui kitchen is equipped wdh
‘Tieasuie Island’ a fvi'o bmnei ke> osene slove
Lile in a sea town suie dif and keiosene lefngeiaioi We
leis iiom tiiai in the ‘Gaiden aie quite pioucl ol some of
Spot ’ The ma]only oi file the Honduun dishes we pio
houses aie bmlt on stilts and duce
stand above the watei Being 0m diet sme 1S dlffe , e nt
ught at sea level, it gets tei- flom “ H om’s Pennsylvania
i ibly hat, but we have a sea
breeze almost everj night. We *■ (Continued on Page 8)' ‘
Little and Much
Lesson for February 26, 1967
Background Scripture *
Dovolionol flooding f* i be* - '
Manv of iis delight ourselves
in thinking of all the wondeilul
things we would do if our cir
cumstances in life were different.
If we had some outstanding pro
fession, how hard wewouldwork.
If we were rich, how generous
we would be. if
we had more
time, how r help
ful we would be
to others.
It is a cove
nient frame o f
mind, for while
we occupy our
selves with
thoughts of what
Key. Althimse we would do,
we are freed fiom thinking about
what we can do. As Dag Ham
marskjold has put it ' The great
commandment is so much easier
than the ordinary even day one —
and can all too easily shut our
hearts to the latter.
When Great Task Comes
It is also \erv deceptive, for if
we do not do what we can do
now, we are not likely to do well
w hen the great task comes There
is a close relationship between
the great and the small tasks.
' Pie w'ho is faithful in a verv little
is faithful also an much, said
Jesus
Gilbert Stuait, an English
architect, has received recogni
tion for two piojects One ol these
w'as a great cathedral. The other
w ; as a new' telephone booth Both
of them, it is said, bear the marks
of true genius. Perhaps we find
this difficult to understand. We
would expect a man of genius to
use his full capacities in designing
something so important as a
cathedial But why snould he
have imested so much talent in
the design ol something sc
prosaic as a telephone booth?
Now Is The Time ...
By Max Smith, Lancaster County Agent
To Eliminate Cattle Lice
Efficiency of production and gain re
quires some attention to animal comfoit Ani
mals that are heavily infested with lice are
not comfortable and will not make the best
use of feed At this time of the year special
attention should be given to be certain ani
mals are not loaded with lice Either sprays
dusts, or nibbing cables may be used to
eradicate the pest Two treatments at 14 to
16 day intei vals are required when adminis
tering hand tieatment
To broadcast Legumes
Forage producers who are planum? to
establish a new stand of alialfa or clover in
existing winter gram by way of the bioad- SMITH
oast method should be plan- The range will be from 25 to
nxng to make this seeding by 60 pounds of actual nitrogen
the fust 10 days in March Re- per acie with the smaller
sealch and e ;pei lence both le- amounts in wheat to be under
veal that , eiy spung seedmgs seeded to legumes When veg
aie moie rccssful than later etative giowth begins in the
allemip'ts on hioadcasting - , ~ ,
if the .. sine method of , ng th ° mUog ' ell should he
hand sc- k to be used a PP lied
then 1h /ci must wait a
i il Ihe giound
a. enuiomenl
• Wheat
1' W .
i ! it c
PO Cn\ 2P.G - LUU.7, Pa 1754.?
3 Oi lua 21 i: Mul s,
wiie.it and D , i.un/, u iv.n
Phono Lim 047 or
' 0 tonsicisi i.itita 1.21.-2111
i 1 anovl the P nn Timmon- i .utor
I .i Mi mt. rs K ol| oi tf. i_ai.ii.bi 11, Advertising
..ii nut u- Duei tor
Hi pel acie Will Subscription price $2 per tear la
Lantastei OoiiiUj $3 elsewhere
to 1 eillllty and Established November 4, 1955.
, . , Published everj Saturday by
)l a legume seed- ■> Lancaster Farming, LiUtz, p*, •
• ric in trie 5 wriekf/ ; ***
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Test of Small Tasks
Isn't this whut Jesus meant? 1
Faithful dlscipleship is required
in the small tasks as well as in
the great ones, if you do second
rate work in the telephone booth
sized Jobs, you are not likely to
do any differently with those of
more importance. "If you have
not been faithful in the unright
eous mammon,’’ asks Jesus,"who
will entrust to you the true riches?”
(Lake 16:11 HSV) (!od tests us
in the small tasks; if we perform
them faithfully, he may entrust
to us something greater.
We must also keep in mind
that what seems impoitant in out
judgment may not be so im
portant in God’s scale of values,
or vice-versa. So said Jesus:
" . . . what is exalted among men
is an abomination ui the sight
of God." The important task of
\our lifetime, as God sees it, may
be the seemingly small task that
is before you now, not some
imaginary great thing in thflj
futuie, J
God’s Competitor "*****!
Probably there 5s no portion
of our lues in which this is more
true than in our stewardship o£
God’s gifts, particularly of
money. We may comfort our-<
selves with the thought of hovf
charitable we would be if we were
wealthy, yet miss completely what
we could do with what we already
ha\e Why should God give u*
more i f we manage so poorly
what we have? i
To many people, the steward*
ship of monev is one of the un*
important areas of Christian dis*
cipleship Yet if we take seriously
the teachings of Jesus, it cannot
be a small thing to God. The way
we handle our money says muclj
about the rest of our discipleship*
for money is often one of God’s
greatest competitors. "You can*
not serve God and mammon, 1 *
he warned. I
There are many telephon#
booth-sized areas in our lives that
need cathedral-sized efforts. Thai
great tasks may seem more ro*
mantic, more exciting, morQ
rewarding. Yet, as Fenelon put
it. "It is, however, only by fidelity
in little things that a true ant|
constant love to God can be dis-i
tmguished from a passing ferv¥#
of spirit.” 1
(tesed an auHlnfts cejoyrlfhted by tfia Otvtstan t
af Christian Education, Natianal Caunci) af th# I
Churches af Christ m the U, S, A. Rd««»ad by t
Community Press Service) ____ J
Go To Church
Sunday
IAHCASIEK FARMING
Lancaster county's Own Par'na
Wielcly
1 i e aftei
1