—Lancastcr Farming. Saturday. May 30.1970
4
Doing the Neighbors Work
The stoiw ol Elias Grofl of Holt wood
RJ>2. thf farmer who was stricken with ill
ness ,u planting tune ami the neighbors who
came to plant his fields lor him, is not an
unusual storx tor this area.
That it is not unusual here says much
about the kind of farm community and the
kind of farm people we ha\c.
At a time when people elsewhere ha\e
gotten in a terrible hurry to get what?
and at a time when society seems to be
becoming \ery impersonal and uncaring,
the closeness within the local farm com
munity and the obvious concern of farm
ers for each other and the willingness to
sacrifice to help each other is truly refresh
-ng.
Bigness Not Enough
The nation prides its mobility and its
oigness and its growth. While all these have
.he capacity to benefit people, the Sixties, if
lothing else. pro\ed they’re not enough.
People still must have a role they can be
ie\e in and work for.
It is easy to see, when we find out about
Jrugs, riots and cop-outs, that many have
ost their way. While society can sustain
a certain proportion of those who won’t do
heir share and who actually try to destroy
he work of others, it is obvious that maxi
num prosperity can be achie\ ed only when
everyone puts his hand to the plow.
We suspect that despite all the talk
about Vietnam and civil rights and other is
sues of the day, the real reason that many
people today are protesting either in the
form of taking drugs, noting or copping
out is that they don’t really think they
nave a place in the scheme of things And
thinking that this world of bigness, mobili
ty and change isn’t for them, they 7 find ways
uf protesting
Farmers Believe
Farmers who believe in what they’re
doing, raising food, and who believe in their
obligation to do the job each year a little
better than the year before, know where
they stand Despite the pressures and com
petition, which is probably more severe
*han in most other parts of the economy,
'armers keep on doing their iob better
Farmers-The Inflation Fighters
Need some answers to complaints
-bout ' high ' meat prices 9
Here are some facts and figures that
might help you. Overall food costs increas
ed 30 per cent between 1951 and 1970 The
cost of living index rose 38 per cent in tie
same period
Wages in the U S rose fiom an aver
age of 557 80 a week or SI 45 an hour in 1951
to Sl3l 60 a week or S 3 29 an houi in 1970, an
increase of 227 per cent
In 1951 a family of five spent 5 5 per
cent of disposable income tor 690 pounds
of meat In 1970, the family of fue spends
4 5 per cent of disposable income foi 915
pounds of meat.
In 1951, Americans spent 23 per cent of
annual income tor all food In 1970, Ameri
cans spending about 16 4 per cent for food.
In England, it’s 26 per cent, West Ger-
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancastei County’s Own Farm Weekly
P 0 Box 266 Lititz, Pa 17543
Office 22 E Mam St, Lititz, Pa 17543
Phone Lancastei 394 3047 oi Lititz 626 2191
Robert G Campbell Adveilising Director
Zane Wilson Managing Editoi
Sjbscnption puce s2peryeai m Lancaster
County S 3 elsewhere
E=taohshed Novembei 4, 1955
Published every Satin clay by Lancastei
Fanning, Lititz Pa
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz Pa
17543
Membei of Newspapei Faim Editois Assn
Pa Newspaper Pubhsheis Association and
National Newspaper Association
And in this pari of Pennsylvania, they
do it without losing sight of the basic human
values. They recognue their own uilncr
abihty to the forces of nature and help
others who are \ iclims of disease and in
jury.
And how important that helping hand
can be! With today's high costs of farm
operation and h\ing, imagine the plight of
the farmer who must miss a year of pro
duction. To the farmer who helps a neigh
bor in distress to build a new roof over his
head after a fire or to plant the crops during
an illness, the cost may be a day or two of
labor; but to the farmer who has been help
ed, it can mean the difference between suc
cess and failure, or at least the difference
between a minor setback and major hard
ship.
Spiritual Impact
But perhaps more important than the
economics of it is the emotional and spirit
ual impact of e\ erj one in the farm com
munity knowing that all won’t be lost if
nature takes its toll that the neighbors
will pitch m and help to restore nature's
damage.
What a lift that must be to a farmer!
What a feeling of strength and security it
must give! Imagine the feeling of being
all alone to face nature's wrath if such help
were not available Many of today’s pro
testors indicate they ha\ e just such a feel
ing of aloneness.
The farmeis who live in Elias Groff's
corner of the w orld may not have such sup
posed benefits of society as ready mobility.
which in many parts has degenerated into
rootlessness and irresponsibility. These
farmers may not have huge operations
with which to compete against giants in
other fields.
But many of these farms have been
passed down for generations dating back
to the very founding of the country. And
the men and women who work these farms
still know that no man is an island, that in
union there is strength and that the good
life is built and maintained by hard work.
And when a neighbor needs help, the\
know what to do They do the neighbor's
work ahead of their own'
many, 28 per cent, France, 31 per cent; Ja
pan, 40 per cent, and Russia, 50 per cent
We repeat what should be ail too ob-
vious
While meat and other food costs are
going up in this country, these increases
have lagged far behind increases in most
other segments of the economy
Farmers have long been leaders in ab
sorbing substantial cost increases without
passing these mci eases along to the con
sumer But even farmers can't hold the
line foreier in an inflationary economy.
Also, much or probably most of the
increase in food costs are not coming from
the farmer’s end of the operation, but from
distribution, packaging, transportation and
other costs involved in the huge ooerat'wi
between the farmer and the consumer. It’s
in this middle area that wage increase;
which have far outpaced other areas of cost
increase in the economy come to bear on
food.
Furthermore, many food cost increases
stem from items the shopper didn’t e\en
buy a few years ago There’s a growing
trend toward service features in food.
The farmer desenes \ery little of the
blame for rising food costs Wheie basic
food costs ha\e incieased at all, the in
creases ha\e usually been at a rate far be
low increases in almost every other area of
the economy
So farmers shouldn't be on the defen
sive about their role in the economy In
fact, it’s vitally important to them that the
true story is told and told well.
To Be Careful With Weed Sprays
The control of weeds is getting
maximum attention at this time
of the year However, most her
bicides will injuie other vegeta
tion beside weeds if improperly
used Both the drift fiom the
chemical at (he time of spraying
and the vapors for several days
following the application may be
haimful Weed spraying should
not be done when temperatures
aie aboxe 90 degrees, this extia
heat makes the herbicide more
potent The use of weed spray
contameis on water hoses for
piessuie is to be discouraged;
the amount applied may be ex
cesswe and the pressure will in
ciease the dangei of dnft of the
spiay particles.
To Inspect Wild Cherry Trees
All luestock produceis who
pie utilizing pasture for their
animals and have wild cheny
tiees in the pasture area aie
cautioned that wilting or wilted
wild cheny leaves are poisonous
In this sense, we all do “be
lieve in the same God.” Yet Paul
helps us to see that in another
sense this is not true. He is the
same God, but our understanding
of what he is like may he so
different that it may seem he
is another god altogether.
For example, I may feel I
pretty well know my next-door
neighbor. I know what he looks
like, we talk together from time
to time, and I can observe some
of the things that he does. Yet,
through he is the same man, he
may appear to be an altogether
different man to his wife and
children who know much more
feclcsraifiid Scripture; Hebrews 1.1 through of What he is really like.
DevetietMl Keying; 1 John 5.1-5. £od. We d» BO*
say that those of other religious
“We all believe in the same persuasions do not know any-
God, don’t we?” thing of God, but that what they
How often we have heard that know of him is not enough, ia
question or one similar to it, ° ur estimation, to make life as
Do we “all believe in the same full and rich as we knowit caa
God,” and, if so, what is distinc- be. Because of Jesus Christ, we
ti\e about the gospel of Jesus know him, not as a next-door
Christ? neighbor, but as a Father,
The same god This is also what the writer
You may recall °f Hebrews meant when he spoke
that there were of the “ better promise” which
times when the * s available through Jesus Christ.
Apostle Paul The old covenant, the old rela
spoke to the gen- tionship between God and his
tiles, not about people, was not false or evil, he
Jesus Christ, to indicates, but it did not bring
begin with, but ITian as c *° se to God as the new
about the ’truth covenant in Jesus Christ. There
Rev, Althouse they had learned was value in the old but an
from their religions. He did not even greater value in the new.
denounce their religions as false, In their hearts
but acknowledged that they were The old covenant was external
seeking the same God as he. and limited. The laws of Israel
“What therefore you worship as covered certain specific situa
unknown, this I proclaim to you” tions, but the people of Israel
(Acts 17 23). Paul was referring were constantly coming upon new
to a stone on Athens’ Mars’ Hill situations, new circumstances,
which was dedicated “To an un- Therefore they frequently need
known God.” ed someone or something to in-
THE BETTER PROMISE
Lesson of May 31,1970
The people who listened to terpret the law to the new situa*
Paul on Mars’ Hill did not have tion. They obeyed the law, but
to be Jews or Christians in order often their motives were hardly
to have perceived a God who commendable, for the law was
created the world and is at work something foreign and hostile to
in it .Men of different religions 7 them. It was a “thing,” not a
had come to that conclusion. Be- “person.” As J. Harry Cotton has
hind the w'orld which they could Put it, “No code can create an
see, they knew their was some honest man. _No man is really
Power or powers that both ere- honest until integrity is written
ated and sustanied the world. m his mind.”
Paul goes on to say however, That is why the “new cove*
that: “The God who has made nant ”. was really the “better
the woild and everything in it, promise”:
being Lord of heaven and eaith, This is the covenant that I
does not live in shrines made by will make with house of Israel
nan’ (17 24). In other words, after those days, says the Lord:
ho is saying, your religion has 1 will put my laws into then:
taught you some truth about God, minds, and write them on their
but there is a greater truth hearts . . (Hebrews 8:10b).
aiout God that I have come to (l , sW ou „, n , s c . pyrTg hi«l by A. ofvi.ro.
reveal to you. Q?h.eSO people of Christian Education* National Council tht
know there is a God (indeed, churth.s •( Christ m A. u. s. A. KdKsM ky
many of them believed in many Comnluni, r fr«ss«m<»)
gods), but they do not know " ''
fully what this God is like.
What kind of god?
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Agent
to most livestock. After wind
storms the aiea should be in
spected and all cherry limbs re
moved. Livestock will crave the
wilted leaves and consume them
m place of lush pasture. Woodlot
pastures and wooded areas must
be watched closely if wild cherry
trees are present.
To Use Tobacco Pesticides
Recent questions have been
icceived about the control of
soil insects and weeds for tobacco
ground We aie suggesting the
use of Diazmon for cutworm con
t»ol and should be sprayed o\er
the ground and worked into the
top 2 to 3 inches- from 5 to 10
days before the tobacco is plant
ed, To pi event weed growth m
tobacco the use of diphenamid
(Enide 50W) sprayed over the
field either before or after plant
ing (pi ioi to planting preferred)
will do a pretty good job of
stopping most weeds Atrazine or
2,4-D should not be used.