—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. April 2.3.1970
4
The Farm
You do not have to go bejond the loc
al area to realize how the role ol the
farmer has been icvolutioiii/ed. Today the
number of persons operating lamilv owned
farms here is less than a generation ago but
today's Lancaster area farmer is one em
ploying the latest methods and theories
as well as the most modern farm equip
ment available.
America the United States is the
most revolutionary nation on earth; and,
paradoxically. U. S. citizens who have lived
in the midst of revolution all their lues are
largely unaware of the fact. All eyes turn
toward recent social and racial upheavals
and view those as the stuff of revolution
.vhile the real rev olution has been occurring
elsewhere on our farms.
In a re\ealmg documentary, entitled
"The Re\olution In American Agriculture.”
National Geographic magazine has done a
magnificent job of presenting in words and
pictures the story of a millennium without
parallel in human history. In brief, we ha\ e
reached a millennium m food production
call it revolution or what you will. The phy
sical proportions of what has happened
.vere well summarized in a statement by
Secretary of Agriculture Clifford M. Hardin
,\hen he said "Through the decades be
fore the Civil War, the American farmer
produced food and fiber enough to feed and
clothe himself and three other persons
century later, when we entered World War
11, new machines and techniques had help
ed inch the figure to himself and 11, today' it
has leaped to himself and 42. The super
abundance from our fields comes from a
dwindling number of farmers working few
er and fewer farms.”
Farming Leads Way
National Georgraphic sent a team of
photographers and writers around the coun
try to discover how all this has come about
Their findings, together with the implica
tions for our country and the world, are al
most more than the mind can grasp. To be
gin with, the successful farmer of today
operates one of the most sophisticated en
terprises ever undertaken by man The
modern farm calls for a wider range of
managerial decisions and skills than does
the average family-owned factory or busi
ness in the city It is no exaggeration to sav
that the myriad technological and scientific
developments that have so dramatically
altered life in the city hav e really had their
ultimate utilization in agriculture.
One crop tomatoes explains the
mystery of how so few feed so many. A
single grower with a 523.000, 6 5-ton har
vester operated by a driver and 14 women
passengers can pick and sort 15 tons of to
matoes an houi
There IS
Gun control extremists seem to think
guns rather than people are the instigators
of crime
If such a theory were followed to its
logical conclusion, the list of potential leth
al accessories of modern civilization which
should be removed from citizen ownership
hecomes endless automobiles, bathtubs,
kitchen knives, hammers, hatchets and
probably the ancient bow and arrow
The Virginia State Legislature is consid-
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancastei County’s Own Faim Weekly
P 0 Box 266 Lititz, Pa 17543
Office 22 E Mam St Lititz, Pa 17543
Phone Lancastei 394 3047 oi Lititz 626 2191
Robeit G Campbell, Adveitismg Dueetor
Zane Wilson, M maging Fditoi
Subscription price S 2 pei year in Lancaster
County S3elsewheie
Established No\embei 4,1955
Published ecery Saturda\ bv Lancaster
Farming, Lititz, Pa
Second Cla--s Postage paid at Lititz Pa.
17543
Member of Newspaper Faim Editoi s Assn
Pa Newspapci Publishei s Association and
National Newspaper Association
Revolution
Eggs arc another illustration. Out in
California, a single egg factory near Los
Angeles shelters two million Leghorn chick
ens that gobble 250 tons of feed a day. When
egg production falls below a certain com
puter-calculated output, the chickens go in
to soup or potpies. Still another example
described by the Geographic is a vast cattle
feedlot near Greeley, Colorado, where 100.-
000 steers are fattened in a marvel of auto
mation and computers.
Somewhat surprisingly the complexity
and size of modern farming operations ha\ e
not abolished the family farm. Family
farming accounts for 64 per cent of total
farm marketing and 95 per cent of all farms
are family owned. An official of the Ameri
can Farm Bureau Federation says that.
“The big corporation has to pay its farm
managers and labor before it can count its
profit. But the mdiudual owner pays him
self with the difference between the farm's
income and expenses; instead of hiring
labor, he takes the hours of sweat out of his
own hide And as long as we consumers re
ward him with enough to pro\ ide the stand
ard of living he aspires to, he'll hold his ow n
against the big corporations.”
Another section of the Geographic docu
mentary is deioted to the biological and
chemical developments that help in the
monumental struggle to control pests and Jerusalem and in all Judea
insects an area m which there is wide id Samaria and to the end of
public misunderstanding. Se\enty-five mil- earth” (1 8). Up to the time
lion acres of crops each year are lost to in- tbe persecution, however, his
sects, weeds and plant d.seases. As far as
farm chemicals aie concerned, an official was it then that would
of the Agricultural Research Service notes, ,ve them out into Judea, Sam
“lt is in the public interest to minimize con- ia, and beyond? The answer:
tamination of our surroundings. But the /secution 1
farmer is not the big offender. Much of the . Tbe . dls< :JPles were soon to
problem is associated with industrialization “BREAKS” Periencl. 0 FiS they Earned
and urbanization. that the will of God cannot be
The future of agriculture is virtually un- Lesson for April 26 1970 defeated by the violent opppsi
limited. National Georgraphic paints a! ' | tion of men. Persecution wodld
breathtaking picture of things to come, de- „ * „so^.- Acs6.w.a, jL asVhaS be?n unable^
scribing a time in which there may be agn- 10 24 . 33 . stop Jesus. God can use even the
cultural plots several miles long, worked clem Labme, the great Na- evil intentions of men to fulfill
by equipment running on tracks or pa\ ed tional League baseball pitcher, his purposes for the Church and
runways. Cattle pens may resemble high- has discovered what can be done the Kingdom,
rise apartments in the 21st Century. A with adversity: “I busted my in- Secondly, they learned that
modern farmhouse may have a bubble- i°
, , . . , . ~ jng to eaten a pass in a senu-pro boa s power ana purpose, lie
topped control tower humming with a com- football game. I got a bad crook was able to carry them further
puter, weather reports and a farm-price - m my finger. I than they otherwise would have
ticker tape. Remote-controlled machinery found out after- been willing to go. Specifically,
may do much of the work But, compared wards that it in this case, it meant carrying
with the farming operation of much of the belped , my . < ; urv ® * be g ° ap<d - mto , Samaria, some
rpcf pf u, p wnr l r l IT C aon culture alrearlv ball and smker ” thlng that was hardl y an attrac *
rest otthe worm, u b agriculture already He turned an tlve ploS p ec t f or Jewish Chnst
is in the future. injury into an as- ians. The reason, of course, was
Yes, we are a nation of revolution the set, something the ancient bitterness between
seeds of which have flourished in the soil of Christians have Jews and Samaritans.
individual opportunity and have produced been i onlf 8 for Tb ? feebng bet^ een tbeSe
, , . i j i i over 1,900 years, peoples was so intense that Jew
che greatest progress mankind has known. Rev . A lthous e From the very ish tiavelers from Galilee made
beginning of the church it has a long detour to avoid passing
been evident that the important thiough Samaria The original
thing is not so much in getting bitterness between them can be
the “breaks of the game,” but in traced to actual historical fact
making the bieaks work for you ois, but sheer prejudice kept the
instead of against you. wounds fiom healing.
, This is illustrated for us in The opportunities in adversity
Acts 8, the story of the first per- The persecution that overtook
secution of the Church. It broke the church did not seem like a
out with great violence the same blessing to the early disciples,
day that Stephen was martyred. Yet, in time, they were probably
His death was probably the able to look back and realize
spark that ignited it. Saul and that God had taken the violence
Tne Virginia proposal has been endors- his co-woikers seemed to oper- of sinful men and managed to
ed by the National Rifle Association It rep- a te on the principle; when in wring a blessing from it. The
resents the type of action that should be tak- doubt » us ® violence. The reh- peisecution was a “bad break,”
en in any measure having to do with fire- Sious authorities did not know but God +aught the Church how
arms control. It covers riots to the extent j es^s tried iZn™! th ”if ke % <bad break ’ work for
that rioting and inciting to not, now a mis- ment,' threats, intimidation—but* n ° m mstead of against
demeanor, would become a felony if a fire- none of this had kept the dis- He can teach us that lesson
arm is used It would include carrying CJ P les from their witness. Fin- too, if we let him.
pointing or brandishing a firearm “or anv tbe authorities resorted to
object confusingly similar m appearance to 33 they had d ° ne *' air,s " a '" M« n a“on OP Nq®onoi
a firearm" during a crime, regardless of The * o rid has not changed U 5 * ~' l eas
whether it is a misdemeanor or felony. much, has it? Many people still
> The wojunding of a victim with a gun £ ? em 10 °P crate on that pmei
dunng a crime would automatically bring Ne: when m doubt, use violence.
a orison sentence of 10 to 90 vears ' Most wars bcgln becausc men are
api ison sentence or mto years. committed to this idea. Racial
The proposed Virginia law recognize' and economic strife are other
the fundamental fact that most gun contro 1 Consequences. Yet, again ,and
legislation overlooks. There are two kinds a Eam, history has demonstrated
of citizens those who obey the law and * ba * vlcdence n °f only’fails to
those who break it. achieve its objectives, but often
mi , , , bring the very oposite result. -
throwing both the criminal and the What God con use 1 :
law-abiding citizen into the same kettle is _ On the day of<^ls ( Asfcteasiditi
a travesty of justice. < Jesus had said to his disciples;'
Difference
is a
enng a bill to impose separate mandatory
prison sentences on persons carrying fire
arms during commission of crimes. A spon
sor of the proposed Virginia law notes.
“Only the illegal user of firearms would
have anything to fear ”
Controlling Pests
To Plow Down Cover Crops
The giowth of cover crops
has been very fast m recent
weeks and most of them have
enough giowth to turn under.
This woik should be done be
fore the top growth of the cover
ci op sets excessive In some
yeais the weather is veiy favor
able for iapid growth but not
suitable foi plowing or discing
Applications of a nitrogen fer
tilize! on the covei ciop befoie
plowing w.ll help decompose
the gieen material moie rap
idly
To Inspect Pastures
The disposal of tiash into
pastuie fields in the imal aieas
is far too common. I’m suie that
all local officials are aware of
this senous solid waste disposal
practice Lnestock pioducers
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
who are planning to turn their
animals to pasture for the first
time of the season aie urged
to go over the area carefully
and remove all waste materials;
some of it may be poisonous or
injuuous to livestock.
To Operate Machinery Safely
Weather conditions have de
layed many plans for the stait
of field woik for the growing
season When the soil becomes
diy enough to work, there will
be dangei of too much haste and
speed with most machinery.
This has often been the cause of
seiious faim accidents Also,
many pieces of machinery, such
a, the giain dull of corn plant
ei, may not plant accuiately at
excessive speeds Farmers aie
uiged to take time to do the
woik caiefully and accurately.
. you shall he my witnesses
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