4—Lancaster Farming. Saturday, July 19,1969 From Where We That Tractor Is A Killer Agriculture is the nation's third most hazardous industry. And so with National Farm Safety Week starting tomorrow through next Saturday. July 26. we again call your attention to the fact. President Nixon in proclaiming the period noted that agriculture has made great strides in production, but ranks right behind mining and construction in number of fatal accidents in its work force. While all the causes of farm accidents are too numerous to mention, the one of the most common involves tractors. Guy Gienger. power, machinery and safety specialist for the Cooperative Exten sion Service. University of Maryland, says, “more than half of all farm accidents in volve tractors. “And of these." Mr. Gienger continues, “over fifty per cent occur when the tractor is being used for a purpose other than for V\hat it was intended." Mr. Gienger. who is also Secretary of the Maryland Farm and Home Safety Com mittee. goes on to say. "Tractors in this country are made for only one person . . . the operator, and places to hang on are getting scarcer and scarcer. So have one person operate the tractor, and let the rest of the people walk . . . and live. - ’ One of the most common causes of trac tor accidents, he continues, is people falling off the tractor. Most of these people have no business on the tractor in the first place. Commenting on preventative measures, he adds, "If people would only realize how important it is to have cabs and roll bars on their tractors, fatalities would be greatly reduced.’’ And a University of Nebraska survey also shows this to be true. They say if you tip over a tractor you have only a slightly better than a 50-50 chance to survive if the tractor is without roll-over protection. In fact, results so far in the study indicate that in farm tractor upsets, the operator has a 42 per cent chance of being killed. During the past two years, ag agents investigated 83 farm accidents and found that 35 people including two passengers died. Of the remaining 46. only 3 persons es caped without some degree of injury. Two of the drivers who escaped injury were driving tractors equipped with cabs. None of the nine drivers of tractors equip ped with roll bars, cabs, or loaders that kept them from rolling completely over were killed, however, seven did have some type of injury such as a bruised elbow and broken ribs. This makes the roll bar or cab look like an essential piece of eqquipment in our opinion. Apparently, if their tractors had been so equipped, none of the 35 fatalities need have died. Some significant fact in the report show: Farm News This Week New Variety Of Wheat Tried On Lititz Farm Page 1 Co. Livestock Men To Attend PSU Field Day Page 1 Varied Reactions Expressed At Harrisburg Milk Hearing Page 10 LANCASTER FARMING Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly P. O. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. 17543 Office: 22 E. Main St., Lititz, Pa. 17543 Phone: Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 626-2191 Everett R. Newswanger, Editor Robert G, Campbell, Advertising Director Subscription price; $2 per year in Lancaster County; S 3 elsewhere Established November 4,1955 Published every Saturday by Lancaster Farming, Lititz, Pa. Second Class Postage paid at Lititz, Pa. 17543. ' Member of Newspaper Farm Editors Assn. Stand ... C A disproportinate share of the vic tims were less than 20 years old. • Causes most often mentioned were: fa) inexperienced operator, (b) driving too fast, especially among the under-20 drivers, and (c) operating tractors on an incline. • Three-fourths of the accidents hap pened somewhere besides in the field, most of them on public and private roadways. • Tricycle type tractors were involv ed in about two-thirds of the accidents. • In nearly two-thirds of the accidents the tractor turned upside down. And though our teenage sons will not want to believe it. pop is a better tractor driver and less likely to have a farm trac tor accident than they are. Specific figures on age groups, which show under 20 to be the most dangerous age-, also show that 30 to 49 is the safest age. So what should we do? We should man age tor safety to PREVENT tractor acci dents. • Stay clear of ditches, embankments, holes. • Don't permit others to ride. Keep children off and aw ay. Make sure everyone is clear before moving. • Slow when turning, crossing slopes and on rough, slippery or muddy ground and roads. • Watch for, avoid obstacles. • Stay off hills and slopes too steep for safe operation. • Do not overload. Engage clutch slow ly. • When stopped, take tractor out of gear. Set brakes firmly. • Watch where you are going, es peciallly at row ends, on roads, around trees, etc. • Be fit and ready to drive safely to day. Be sure other drivers also are fit and experienced in particular job. • Set wheels wide as practical for job. • Operate tractor smoothly—no jerky turns, starts, stops. • Hitch only to drawbar set low or to specified hitch points. • Disengage PTO before unclogging, cleaning or adjusting machines. • Stop, look before entering or cross ing roads. Obey traffic rules and signal your turns. Use SMV emblems. • Equip your tractor(s) with a pro tective frame or crush-resistant cab and safety belts. They might save your life if the tractor upsets. Remember—! That tractor that makes you love her more every time she shows her pow er in the plow or on the power-take off is a potential killer. Treat her with the proper care and respect she is due. The life you save may be your son's— or your daughter’s. It may be your own. At least that’s the way it looks from where we stand. Across The Fence Row An antique can be described as a fugi tive from a junkyard with a price on its head. The first Scotchman to use free air at a service station blew out four tires. Local Weather Forecast (From the U. S. Weather Bureau at the Harrisburg State Airport) The five-day forecast for the period Sat urday through next Wednesday calls for temperatures to average near normal with daytime highs in the mid 80’s and over-night lows in the upper 60’s. Warm at the beginn ing of the-period and turning cooler Sunday through Wednesday. Rain may rota] one-half to three-fourth inch as showers and thunder showers over the week end and the beginning of the week. from Esau the birthright that legally belonged to him as eldest son. What kind of brother would do that? Answer: the kind of brother that Jacob was! He waa well-named, for Jacob meant "he supplants, - ’ (he takes away that which belongs to another). 'lllat was Jacob all right! The suppfanter Again - in Genesis 27 we find Jacob the Supplanter at work on his brother Esau. The "blessing” w Inch he wants from his father so desperately was more than just some "nice words” from the 1 dving Isaac. The ancients be* , ~ . L _ , n ,,. lieved that a man’s dying words lacka [T? s™*™ 9;; c ; ' , 2 s h 5, 46J7: were capable of exercising real Dtvottonoi Keeping p'ecre *s 11 i-12. power over the events he would "Thathoys justno good!” ctrhisTat£ Pite his °-rr e « 7M - cTuliS^dolS Hitler, John and gutced by his motor, Jacob Dillinger, A 1 begins a three hundred-mile trek rnnmip and back to Haran (from which God others whose bad called his grandfather names are found Abraham). The trip would be upon historv’s l° n f? and treacherous and he "dishonor roll.” would carry with him an, ad- These same ditional load! a burdened con* • words have also science. The neighbors .probably Rev. Althou«e beerl spoken of said: "Good riddance!” some of ±ose who have been R etrantrp rhnicas judged by history as "great men.” GOfl S Strange CnOICSS Winston Churchill is a good ex- Many years later Jacob re* amnle. It was said of him more turned home, now a different than a few times as an adolescent, man. Furthermore, God has He was dismissed from several chosen this man to bear me schools, we are told, and seemed promise of the covenant which he to have a knack for getting into had first made with Abraham, “close scrapes.” Why, we may wonder, did God , choose this Supplanter? Abraham Productive channels had been a man of faith; Isaac "II 0101!" Lesson for July 20,1969 Yet, this same troublesome was obedient to God’s will; but youth became one of the world’s why Jacob? greatest statesmen and political \Ve can never completely know leaders. What happened? In all the answer to such a question, probability, the best explanation We do know that when God is that his intelligence and bound- chooses a man, it is not because less found worthy and the man is worthy as he is, but productive channels. Who knows because he has the potentiality what he might have become to become a useful servant of under different circumstances? God. Thus God has often made You might regard Churchill what seem to us to be "strange as an exception to the rule, but, ■ choices’’ in picking his servants, in reality, there have been many Perhaps this is also true of great men who have begun in some of these people upon whom much the same way. For ex- we pronounce those words, "He’s ample, people probably said of just no good!” If we were to sei‘ young Jacob, "That boy’s just in them the potentiality for good no good?’’ They had plenty of as well as the tendency toward reason to say it, for Jacob was evil, perhaps there would be fat the kind of boy who craftily fewer men lost to society and the turned every situation to his own kingdom, advantage, regardless of what it . rm<rhf met r.tihprc '.Based on outline* copyrighted by the Division ? r’csvsx.e.Sc OK -ma Christian Education, National Council of thn In Genesis 25 we find him churches ©i Christ in the u* s« a* Released by using ms brother’s near-starva* Community Press Service.) tion for his own profit, exacting For Full Market Reports Read Lancaster Farming To Use Band Seeder not have access to them- they Alfalfa growers who are going will eat these leaves in place -of to make an August seeding other good forage following a should keep in mind that the use storm or whenever they can °et of the hand seeding method has to them. Producers are urged” to given excellent results. The idea inspect their pastures after wind of placing a band of fertilizer storms, when wild cherry trees directly under the seed and then are known to be present, pressing the soil, seed, and fertil- xo Prepare Silos iser firmly should give the best T he corn crop is ™rowin« ran- Alfalfa s , h n ou . k ! be id ly in most aieas. Many ”acres seeded by the same method later 0 f corn W ill g 0 into the silog thig in the month. fall to feed the large livestock To Beware Of Wild and dairy population. The prop- Cherry Leaves er care of the silo is important to From questions received it provide an air-tight structure, seems there is some confusion Many concrete silos need to be about the danger of poisoning “pointed” at the masonry joints from livestock eating wild cherry in order to prevent leaks. Some leaves, The fresh, green leaves may need a coating of wax or chat may be pulled from k low other water-proof material to branch an the tree are not toxic; prevent pitting and loss of the however, whd cherry leaves (ihat smooth interior surface. Special are wilting, willed, or dead are care of, the> interior of the silo poisonous dad aiunals should will prolong its useful years. NOW IS THE TIME... By Max Smith Lancaster County Agent
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers