—Loncuatcr Farming. Saturday, September 5.1970
4
Plant Genetics
By now, many or moat local farmers
know that tin* Southern Corn Blight appears
to have centered primarily in a few vane
tios of corn with common characteristics
that apparently make them particularly
prone to the blight.
In the future, it now appears almost
certain that work in the seed corn industry
will be toward replacing these susceptible
varieties as fast as possible with resistant
varieties.
While being concerned about adopting
a resistant variety, particularly if they
have corn with the blight this year, farmers
should not be hasty to condemn seed firms
vhich have the non-resistant varieties.
It should be remembered that almost
no one in this area had ever heard of South
ern Leaf Blight until a few weeks ago. It is
a new blight strain. It caught e\ervone by
surprise.
On Overcoming the Blight
Farmers in the next several weeks
should stay \ ery alert to the economic im
ohcations of the Southern Corn Blight.
If any one farm crop could be called a
aasic or staple crop, it is corn. At this point,
:he fall-out from the changed corn situation
as a result of the corn blight has, or soon
a ill, hit just about every type of tarm oper
. tion.
While the overall impact, we believe.
Was been detrimental to farming, it should
not be assumed that all farmers are sharing
equally in the loss or even that all farmers
are suffering As usual when there is a
shortage of a product, the farmer who is
lucky enough to have a bumper crop or a
large quantity of the product m storage will
actually benefit, perhaps substantially
The price of corn is very high for this
time of year and the indications are that
the prices will stay higher than usual for
some time to come, barring unexpected
good news about the amount of crop loss
T 'rom the blight.
Impact Is Une\en
The impact of the higher corn prices
.vill be faiorable for farmers who ha\e
corn to sell or who ha\e enough on hand
chat they don't ha\e to buy it The farmers
Aith corn will reap the benefit of the higher
prices directly through sales of corn or
through a competitu e ad\ antage mer
raimers who hate to buy the highei-pnced
corn.
Suffering directly from the new high
corn prices will be all those farmeis. prob
ably the majority of farmers, who hate to
ouy corn dnectly or indirectly in feed
Because com is such a basic element
m feed, the expected corn shortage has
Drought on concern about an oterall na
tional feed shoitage This has dragged up
the price of neaily all the giams that go
into feeds
Awareness of this new feed situation
a ill be \itally impoitant for those farmeis
—such as broiler and egg, swine and beef
producers who buy large quantities of
feed For most such producers, commercial
feed is the primary cost of production Any
substantial increase in feed costs is im
mediately reflected in m erall operating
cost increases.
Such operating cost increases mean the
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster 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
Robert G Campbell. Adveitising Dnector
Zane Wilson Managing Editoi
Subscnption mice S 2 per jeai in Lancaster
Countv S 3 elsewheie
Established Novembei 4, 1955
Pub'ishcd eveiv Satindav bv Lancaster
Famine Lititz Pa
Secora Class Postage paid at Lititz P?
17543
Membei of V'wsiv'pei Faim Editois Ass"
Pa Newspapet Pubhshcis Association ard
National Newspaper Association
-A New Look
The work of the various seed firms in
breeding more vigorous hybrid corn var
ieties over the past many years have helped
make the large present-day corn yields
possible. Along the way, many desirable
plant characteristics have been bred into
the corn and undesirable traits, as well as
diseases, crossed out.
When something new like the present
blight comes along it can catch the corn
breeders temporarily by surprise, but now
they’re already working hard to breed this
new threat to corn out of existence. They
will succeed.
Meantime, the corn breeders need our
patience and encouragement.
Ultimately, the blight may help to
make us all a little more aware of the im
portance of plant genetics in determining
the success of our farm operations.
farmer can no longer make the same profit
on last year's prices. If prices don't go uo
accordingly, the producer's profits could
be squeezed severeh.
Will prices of farm products go up?
Generally, probablv yes But it is highly
uncertain if the price increases will off-set
cost increases.
The impact in this direction may be
very irregular. With some products, prices
may go up faster than costs, while in other
areas costs maj go up faster. It is impor
tant that the individual farmer be alert to
how the situation develops in relation to
his own operation so as to be better pre
pared to make the right moves to maximize
profits or minimize losses.
(It should be noted that proposals hav e
been made by the railroads to increase
freight rates Some local farm authorities
have indicated such increases could exert
considerable additional upward pressure on
feed prices.)
Just How Serious?
The big unanswered question for etery
one is just how serious the corn blight really
Most repoits indicate a national loss
not exceeding 5 to 10 per cent. While this
would amount to a huge amount of corn —
neatly a quarter to a half billion bushels
—it would nut be an insurmountable loss.
As Max Smith, Lancaster County agricul
tural agent, told some farmers this week.
" A lot of farmers lose more than that each
year (from \anous diseases, insects and
poor management practices) and neter
e\ en know it ”
County extension officials also said they
believe the county crop suffered much
areater losses during the past drought than
is indicated so far from the blight.
It was noted, however, that additional
blight losses could occur this month, partic
ularly to the later maturing corn and par
ticularly if the weather is rainy and humid.
Farmers hate been adtised to keep a close
watch on their corn crop and, if the blight
seems to be doing major damage to try to
hanest it for corn silage at the earliest
possible time.
Some Good Crops
More than 25 per cent of the Lancaster
County corn crop is harvested as silage and
the silage harvest is already underway.
Many farmers apparently will be able to
complete the silage harvest with little or
no blight loss. (See Max Smith’s column for
advice on using silage preservative.)
And happilv, reports indicate that the
wet season has produced some outstanding
corn crops on record-high acreage plant
ings, indicating that perhaps in Lancaster
County, at least most farmers should still
be optimistic, de=mue negative repors
about the blight and trte legitimate concern
about it.
Nationallv, the teoeial government has
more than enough gram in storage to make
up a 5 to 10 per cent loss. A loss of this
level apparently would mean highei gram
(Continued on Page 10)
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By ltk«x Smith
Lancaster County Agent
To Practice Safety one seems to be more severe
In Corn Hanesting and is causing moie rapid drying
•Corn is one of the major farm of the plant, and in some cases
v rops and has grown in impor- the rotting of part of the ear.
tame in the past decade In all At the present time there is no
cases mechanical equipment evidence of any hazard to an
plays a very important part in imals from corn infested with
this process and all growers are either disease If weather con
urgd to stiess safety to all work- ditions favor (wet and humid)
trs The corn picker has injur- the additional development of
e<i more people than any other the Southern Leaf Blight to the
piece of corn equipment in le- point where a large percentage
cent years In most cases it was of the ear is rotten, then there
because of the operatoi not fol- may be some question as to its
low.rg the safety directions of keeping qualities Livestock
Ihe manufactuier by cleaning or authorities have suggested that
making some adjustment with- .. . ,
out slopping the machine Use the use of some ha ° e
aJI safety suggstions at all times t ive > such as Kylage or Sodium
and urge all farm workeis to be Meta-bisulphite will help the
fermentation processes, keep
irjrt: j!
To Ensile Infcted Corn
It seems that the local corn
:rop is infected with both the
Ye-To*’ Leaf Blight and the
Soatnern Leaf Blight the latter
THE PEACEMAKER
lesson for September 6,1970
Background Scripture; Gen«s*s 2 6j Mat*
thew 5 9, James 4 1 3
Devotional Reading. Romans 12 14 21.
WANTED: Peacemakers like
Isaac.
REWARD: Blessed are the peace
makers for they shall he called
the sons of God.
If God were in the habit of
cla r ted advertisements
in this nev spaper,
the one above
might well be a
mong them. The
world ceitainly
needs peacemak
ers like Isaac to
day.
What’s so spe
cial about Isaac?
« Let's review
Rev. Althouse )a t we know
about him. He v.as the son of
Abraham and the father of Jacob
and Esau. A famine was using
in the land and God mstiuctcd
him to live in the valley of Ge
bar. The people who lived there,
the Philhstincs, welcomed him at
first, but when Isaac became
quite prosperous, they forced
him to leave.
Another well! The eosf of honor
So Isaac moved out into a more
barren area and dug a well. As f ll committed to their “uncondi
soon as the well was dug, the ~ onal sulrender ” excluded both
Phillistines decided it was on Ger many and Russia from the
their property. So Isaac dug ? eac , e at Versailles and a
another well and this one was tre , aty ' vas Slgned that lasted
also claimed by others. But Isaac only *T;? nty ? ears when Hitler
moved on and dug another well uset * “J 1S un treaty as the
and no one bothered him about , m l ans , 1°. rally a bitter Germany
this one. behind him. George Kennan, for-
The situation I’ve just de- mer amba ssador to Russia, tell*
scribed had all the makings of us: “ A stable Postwar arrange
a war. Isaac’s Philhstme neigh- ment •• • had b een rendered im
bors were jealous and envious of P° ssible before the war ever
his prosperity. They became c ? n , le to an end .•• by the prm
greedy, coveting something for cip , e of unconditional sunend
which they had not labored. And cr ' T ,
this is still the source of so much Isaac, however, dug three wells
hostility and tension in the world and gave up the first two because
today, the seeds from which are be , dld not feel tbe y were worth
spawned great and bloody con- “Sbtmg over Thai’s what made
flicts. bun a peacemaker.
ISUaC WaS a peacemaker. He (Based on outlines copyrighted by lb#
worked miracles in human re* 2 ms '°, n chrjstion Education, National
lationships. What was his secret? sT'a! 1 Prlw
He was no diplomatic genius, so s,,v,c * 1
down mold development in the
silo, and i educe the danger of
poisonous gases These mater
ials have been recommended for
grass silage in the past.
diplomacy is rot the answer. He
had no gicat army, so no one was
afraid of his military might.
What then made him a man of
peace?
Saving “face”, losing peace
The key, I believe, is in the
fact that, unlike most men, Isaac
was not handicapped by an-in
flexible pride. He was not a
coward and would not back down
upon his pi maples. Had the Phil
listmes tried to take away his
right to worship God they would
have learned that quickly enough.
But he was a man who could
compromise on non-essentials. Hp
would fight, but what he fought
for had to be woith fighting for.
He would not fight for the sake
of his piide.
How many wars have begun
and continued simply because na
tions have taken stands on tri
vial matteis and then felt com
pelled to light for the sake of
“saving face ’? A case in point
is the jear 1917, the most costly
year in the Fust World War.
After both sides had lost some
900,000 casualties in the carnage
of the Battle of the Somme, Ger
many and the Central Powers
put out peace feelers for a nego
tiated peace. Bntam and France,
however, weie committed to a
policy of * unconditional surren
der” and, instead of responding
to the Geiman peace eflorts, a
green light was gnen to British
Geneial Haig for the Flanders
campaign. In fhe months, Haig
sacuficed 400,000 British troops
in an inflexible plan that at best
gained an ad\ ance of 9,000 yards.
By then, a negotiated peace was
impossible!