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School of Agriculture
Patterson Bldg, icots
University Park, Po.
B ilti lll{ll| ll
VOL. 15 NO. 41
But Overall Damage Believed Light So Far
Southern Blight Spreads in County
The Southern Corn Blight is
now scattered throughout Lan
caster County, but only a few
fields appear severely damaged
at this point.
Hwt was the assessment late
this week by the Lancaster Coun
ty extension service.
Jay Irwin, associate county
agent, said he toured some fields
this, week with Don Robinson,
vo-ag teacher, in the New Hol
land area and “about every field
checked had it ”
Max ■Smith, county agent le
ported the blight is “quite wide
spiead” and “the feeling is that
it’s spreading into all paits of
the county ” He noted that the
dry and coolei weather earUei '
this wce>; seemed to be slowing
Mg£fst£>v&n Lass Is
Pa. Poultry Queen
Miss Eetsy Jayne Ellsworth,
Myerstow-n RD3, Lebanon Coun
ty, is the 'ew Pennsylvania Poul
try Queer
The :~-year-o:cr tnond was
chosen -.'em among eight con
testants a: the Dutch Days fes
tivities jfsc week at Hershey.
The queen is 5’6” tall
and weigns 127 pounds
A coed a: Mansfield State Col
lege marring in home econ-
omics, she is a giaduate of
Cedar O-est High School.
She s- a membei of the
National Honor Society and won
the ■Count / 4-H Scholaiship She
has appeared on the College
Dean’s A member of the
Omacron Gamma Pi Sorority,
she has been active in 4-H Club
work in Lebanon County for
nine yeara
Among other hobbies and
achievements, she lists youth
feUowsh c work in her church.
Farm Prices
Decline 3%
Price* 'lie tamers dropped thiee
per cent it August, the sharpest
chop m'O.fi' 20 yeais, according
to the (J-STA
The lf£D A. farm puce index
in Augu-; -.ias 276 pei cent of
the if) 10 base peiiod com
pared witn 236 pei cent in July
The la*« leached a five-yeai
high >of r. £, 6 m Febiuaiy
The n>rp reporting board at
tiibutetl i\e drop in August to
lower prices for hogs, cattle, and
potatoes -nth higher puces for
milk, let + ~ce and wheat partially
offeettug the decline.
the spread of the disease, how
ever.
But Smith said, “We’re still
reminding faimers to make
silage from it in the early or full
dent stage." The idea is to get
the crop harvested before the
blight has a chance to do much
damage
In commenting on the blight,
Arnold Lueck, associate county
agent, said, “It’s scattered
throughout the county, but the
infection is ceitainly not uni
fo;m ”
Just how much damage is be
ing caused, Lueck said, really
can’t be detei mined until the
coin can be examined in bins
Lueck indicated that while
tsome coin vaueties have been
found to hai e the disease more
Betsy Jayne Ellsworth
New Pa. Poultry Queen
She sings in the college chuich
choir and enjoys horseback tid
ing, cooking and sewing.
Repiesenting the Lebanon
Valley Poultry Association, Miss
Ellsworth succeeds Miss Becky
Jo Futz as state poultry queen
Runnei-up in the contest was
Miss Anne Schneck, Slatington,
repiesenting the Southeastern
Pennsylvania Poultry Associa
tion
Representing Laneastei Coun
ty in the contest was Miss Nan
ette Stauffei of Ephrata, spon
soied by the Laneastei County
Poultiy Association.
Contest judges weie Miss
Mane Gipe, home economist foi
Potomac Electuc Co, chairman.
Mis Scott Tagg, Hatfield, 1955-
56 Pennsylvania Poultry Queen,
and John Hart, Hershey Estates.
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 5,1970
than other varieties, there’s no
exact relationship between
disease and variety. A variety
that is hit hard in one field
won’t show any damage in an
other field, he said.
Lueck said he believes this
discrepancy may largely be ex
plained by wind cunents which
have been highly irregular m
Uansportmg the fungus and by
fai m management practices.
Lueck said he has found the
woist blight damage in fields
vvheie the com crop has been
undei stress for various reasons
such as damage by rootwoim,
too thick a stand, pool weed con
trol oi pooi soil
The highly enatic nature ot
the disease was indicated by
liwin. “In the center of one
field one variety looked like a
blow torch hit it and another
variety on either side was hit
but didn’t show much damage.”
And the farmer reported that
some parts of the variety that
was hit was damaged much more
in some parts of the field than in
other parts.
Despite the severe damage in
some fields, the county officials
believe that the oveiall damage
Lancaster Co. DHIA Board Approves
Fee Increase for New Test System
The Lancaster County DHIA
board Monday night approved a
link-up with the new Penn State
University milk testing system
and an inciease in member fees
of eight cents per cow, effective
April 1, 1971, to pay the costs
The piesent DHIA rate for a
40-cow herd is $25 pei month
foi twice a day; $22 for single
test, and $l4 50 for owner
samplei.
At eight cents per cow, the
new rate effective next year will
add $3 20 per month to the
typical 40 cow held test rate,
officials explained.
The DHIA testers themselves
will pay the mailing costs in
sending the samples to Penn
State for testing, it was decided
The mailing cost was estimated
at around two cents per cow
The DHIA milk samples in the
past have been processed locally
by the individual testei s using a
Babcock testing unit, an acid
solution system Each of 15 Lan
castei County testeis had a
Babcock unit
Under the new system, the
Beef Western-Style
About 210 Red Rose 4-H Baby
Beef and Lamb Club membeis
and parents attended the annual
beef barbecue this week at the
Penryn picnic woods.
The mam dish was beef bar
becued western-style m a pit.
at this point in Lancaster Coun
ty is not critical. A loss figuie
of 5 to 10 per cent is suggested,
although it is emphasized no one
really knows what the figure is
or will be.
The figure could change sig
nificantly between now and com
pletion of harvest, it is emphasiz
ed, depending in large pait on
the weathei A rainy, humid
Septembei would encourage ra-
3 Pork Promotion Signs
Put Up in Lancaster Co.
Three billboards promoting
poik have been erected in Lan
caster County as part of the
statewide pork promotion cam
paign
The billboards are located on
Route 222 oust outside Ephrata
going towai d Reading, on Route
23 going towai d New Holland,
and on Route 30 near Paradise
In a meeting this week, the
Pennsylvania Pork Producers
Association allocated $6,000 to
the promotion of pork in the
foim of billboards, instore pro
motion material and place mats
for restaurants
testing will be done by Penn
State using a new process and
equipment known as a Milk-O-
Tester Only 10 Milk-O-Testers,
which cost about $lB,OOO each,
will be needed for the entne
state, it has been reported.
In discussing the new DHIA
rate increase to send the samples
to Penn State, local DHIA mem
bers reported that actual cost
will be about 12 cents per
sample, 10 cents to the Umvei
sity for the test and two cents
cost to send the sample.
But in passing along the cost
to producers, the DHIA board
chose a per cow, rather than per
sample, system
Some discussion was given to
having the testeis pay a higher
proportion of the increase on
the grounds that the new sys
tem will enable testers to do
their job in a shorter time But
the final decision was to hold
the cost inciease to the testeis
to two cents
In othei action, it was repoit
ed the stale DHIA boaid has
adopted a policy change to allow
membeis to withhold, on le
quest, then names from publica
tion m DHIA lists in local news
papeis and the DHIA yearly
summaiy booklet Foims toi le
questing the withholding will be
available fiom local testeis
The forms were made avail
able, it was indicated, for use by
individuals who might have
$2.00 Per Year
pid growth of the blight and
its toll could rise sharply, while
a dry month with cool night#,
officials believe, could keep the
disease from getting much worse
than it is now.
Smith is much more concerned
about the late corn than about
corn which is now nearly mature.
Besides the question of weather,
Smith sard the blight could slow
down the maturing of this com
so that fiost catches it
Even a 5 to 10 per cent loss
would amount to a lot of com
countywide liwm pointed out
that in 1969, the county reported
104,600 acies of corn in gram
foim and another 33,900 acres
of silage
Eaiher this year, Lueck pro
jected an eight cent increase in
plantings This would bring the
coin acreage in the county to
around the 150,000 level this
ycai—out oi about 400,000 aciea
in the county.
But Invin indicated that the
county can absorb a 3 to 10 per
cent crop loss There were much
greater losses during past droug
ht yeais, he said
Smith told some farmers this
week that most producers fre
(Continued on Page 12)
strong convictions against pub
lication but it was reported that
movement in and out of the pub
lication list will be discouraged
by limiting a change in status
to the beginning of the test
year A farmer who changes his
mind about non-publication
could also fill out a card to be
reinstated
During the meeting, Robert
Hess, local representative on the
state DHIA board, said the state
board membership will he in
creased from 15 to 18 members.
One of the new members will be
fi om Chester County, Hess said.
Farm Calendar
Tuesday, September 8
8 pm—Ephiata Adult Farmers
Officeis’ Meeting, Ephrata
High School
Wednesday, September 9
130 pm —Farm Women So>
ciety 14, home of Mrs. John
Gioff.
Friday, September 11
7pm —Pa Egg Marketing Asso
ciation, Sheiaton-Conestoga
Inn, Route 222, Lancaster
ASC election day
Saturday, September 12
Faim Women’s Society 1 “All
Foods Sale” at Nichols Store,
Ephrata.
National Plowing Contest, Green
ville, Ohio.