—Lancaster Farming. Saturday. September 19.1970 4 USDA Projects The USDA last week issued an estimate of a m\ per cent national loss as a result of the torn blight. It wasn't exactly good news, unless it’s considered in the light of some earlv estimates of 25 to 50 per cent loss. Our sources 10ca11.% had projected a fne to 10 per cent loss, with the stipulation that .t's difficult or impossible to tell for sure. It was noted that additional losses arc still oossiblc. e\en after the gram is stored. Altogether, it has been and. to a large Corn —Plug ALL the Losses Fifteen per cent of Delaware's 15 mil lion-plus bushel corn crop will be left in the •ield “due to poor machine adjustment or operator carelessness," accoidmg to Thom as H Williams, extension agricultural en gineer at the Unnersity of Delaware. By following a few simple steps farm ers can keep field losses to less than five oer cent and add as much as S 6 per acre to ;heir profits. Williams says Think of it' All this panic about a si\ per cent loss ot the corn crop to blight, while farmers regularly dribble 15 per cent o\er the fields during harvest. Doesn’t make sense does it 9 It doesn’t make sense, but farmers ought to do some serious thinking about it during harvest. For instance, the individual farmer .vho loses 15 per cent during harvest could more than make up his six per cent corn blight loss by reducing his harvesting loss to the five per cent level. Stopping Machine Loss The majority of corn lost to improperly adjusted machines, Williams points out. oc curs in the gathering and snapping areas He says the rearvvaid movement of the gathering chains and snapping roll spirals mould be about the same as the forward speed of the picker Snapping roll cleaiance =hould be -mall r-nough to grip the stalk firmk, but the -talk should not be bioken when the eai .5 remo\od Too much cleaiance will in -iease the shattering, and dining too ta s t or dm mg otf the iow will also increase osses Williams =a\s studies ind’caW that the maximum \ield is obtained when coin is haitested at 25 pei cent moistuie content Snapping and gathering 10-ses inciea-e rapidlj when t h e moistuie content fall's be on 20 pei cent A combine opeiatoi can tell hnw his machine is opeiating b\ watching the tail .ngs and giain augem If damaged corn and pieces of cob appeal the cjlmder speed -s too fast and the clearance too small The machine is properlj adjusted when whole cobs with no kernels attached are coming off the straw walkers Once the machine has been adjusted, check it in the field for hanesting effi ciency. Williams sa>s 17 kernels per square foot left m the field represents a one bushel per acre loss' And with the LANCASTER FARMING Lancaster Countv’s Own Faim Weeklv P 0 Box 266 Lititz Pa 17543 Office 22 E Main St Lititz Pa 17543 Phone LancaMei 394 3047 o' Lititz 626 2191 RobeitG Campbell AdveiUsing Director Zane Wilson Managing Editoi Subscnption pi’ce S 2 pei \eai in Lane, ster County S3eLewheie Established \o' embei 4,1955 Published evei v Satui daj by Lancarcr Fai . . Second Postage pa-d -it Lititz ?<■ 175^3 Membei of \e\\=p>pei F Eciitois A=;r Pa Newspctpei Publphn - A "-Delation TfatlOWa! TCewspaper A RWI ?ttw mmm 6% Blight Toll extent still is. a highly uncertain situation. But our observation and local sources ha\e confirmed from the start that while some individual farmers have been hit rather hard by the blight, the overall loss has not been great m this part of Pennsylvania. With a little luck and some cooperation from Mother Nature, farmers in the next few weeks will harvest the golden crop and the farmer will have survived another bout with the elements. corn price outlook very favorable this year, a small loss may soon become very costly The point for the farmer, of course. :s much broader than simply cutting harvest ing losses. Many Other Losses The point is that farmers are constant ly making little mistakes with their corn crop mistakes which result in losses far exceeding the six per cent currentlj esti mated as the Southern Corn Blight toll. Drought. e\en a small drought, takes more than six per cent of the crop. Planting the row s too close or too thick within the row can cost much more than six per cent Similar losses or worse can alto be had from not planting enough seed. Improper or inadequate fertilization can be i ery costh. Poor germination from inferior seed can cost much more than six per cent The production difference between laneties far exceeds six per cent. Poor weed control can easily cause \ leld losses of two or three times the six per cent. Since Lancaster Farming ran an article on August 22 on the corn rootworm, the word has came back from se\cral sources that the corn rootworm probably will cause considerably more corn yield losses in Lan caster County this year than the blight Ye;, until recently, mam local farmeis ap parently were not even aware of the 100:- woim in their field? or of the extensive crop losses it can cause The Farmer's Control The farmer must lemember that e can e\eit considerable control o\er most ol these factors which cut into his yields Pie can control his plant population the quahtv of hi? seed, his weed contiol anc. corn lootwoim Some farmers have e\en made considerable pi ogress m lot mine a paitnership with natuie tlnough the use irrigation and other techniques which en dow n the seventy of ad\erse weather cunc tions Corn blight ’ That too will be conti oiler'' It ? a matter of time The only question .5 whether enough progress can be made 'n the next few months to achieve control n 1971 or whether it will be 1972 or 1973. Based on reports we've seen so far. those who are selling out the 1971 corn crop for fear of the blight are probably premature We think chances are good that losses from the blight next year will be less than this y ear It’s something to watch closely in the future More Good Years Last year, it was the Yellow Leaf Bligrx and many farmers got plagued with it aga.n this year But the yellow variety was o\er shadowed by the new southern strain. What will it be next year? We predict next year will be like tns? year tor the corn producers who contro... rather than are controlled by, the factors that go into making a high yielding cor-i crop For most of these conscientious fa:”" crs next sear should follow this \cai being another good year,! F i For the few make it th.- year lean yeais are an occupational ha zard, but the good faimeis, the succes'fux farmeis cion t keep repeating their mslakes. NOW IS THE TIME... By Max Smith Lancaster County Agent To Apply Lime Snr'.l grain seedings that will .0 into gra?s-iegume mixtuies next season should have the Lme worked into the topsoil tn.s fall In many cases the soil needs lime and to bioadcast it on top of the winter g’am this a nter or next spimg is not the oest way ro apply it Lime -eeds time to sweeten the soil .f me .egumes are to stait as intended Corn-stalk giound tr.a: is to be plowed this fall or a inter and then seeded to ■eganies ea-ly next spnng snojid have the lime mixed in to tne topsoil either before cio amg or a. me time of plovv \g Don: expect lime on top o: the grouna to do the most good It appeals tna: we may be To Beware Of Frosted Crops facing some problems by grow- K’Hing f-osie maj be expected mg continuous corn; both the -■ me next :e a weeks and some (Continued from Page 4) li m GOOD” Lesson for September 20,1970 ther’s last blessing. Now he was Background Sct’etur*' Genesis 28 through a fugitive: aIOUC, broke, hungry, Pcvofo-ii Reodmg jch-i i 43 si. tired and possibly deeply trou bled Last night he had slept in “That boy’s just no good!” the comfort of his father’s house. That seerrs to be a favoute tonight he had only a stone for 2 line for some adults, docsnt it? pillow. It has probably been said mil- yet,’ perhaps that is what he lions of times since history be- needed—a stone pillow for his gan. It has been said of some of head. Without that there might the world s most infamous ty- have been no dream, and without ~,nts and villians the dream Jacob might never id otheis whose have become Israel, the father of imes are found the Twelve Tron, he “conned” him m to snirfdenng the birth- The strange choice 1 right that belonged to Esau as Why did God pick Jacob? the first-born. Didn’t he know that the supplant- Ihe supplanter What kind of brother would ham, a man of faith, and Isaad, do that? The kind of brother who was an ooechent man. But Jacob was' He was well-named, why Jacob’ lor Jacob meant “he supplants,” We can ne\er completely an he takes the place of another, svver such a question Yet wfe That was Jacob all right. know that when God chooses « Nor was ibis the last time he man it is not because the man ij* supplanted his brother Esau. In worthy as he is, but because he Genesis 27 we see him once has the potentiality to become again, stopping at nothing to get someone useful to God. God hajß wnat he wants. The “blessing” he often made strange choices iti •wants from his father was more people Jesus did the same thing than just some “nice words” when he chose iwelve to be his from a dying man. The ancients disciples Vet, oy the grace of believed that a man’s dying God these cnoices have often words were capable of exercising changed the voild. . real power over the events he . j. would foretell. These WOldS 'were Division of"Cft>.t'!an Education! NaTiorS* thought SO powerful in them- Council of the Caches of Christ in »«• solves that they would hold iYu^ ? Con,nlJn " y fr T even if mistakenly bestow ed on I the wrong son. No wonder we are ATTPKin TUS f told: “No/Esau hated 'Jacob.,” ‘ 1., *1 1 _ [ •»Fearing for his life and en J CHURCH OF YOUR ! couraged by his mother, Jacob CHOICE SUNDAYS I began a 350-mile journey back to vnvivs t 1 1 Hw—intte -toad Jcom. wtuchh-God-,^ ci ops need special attention in Older to prevent the poisoning of livestock Sorghum or the sorghum-sudan hybrids should not be used after a killing frost unless the ciop stands for a week, or unless the crop is made into silage and allowed to feiment fo. 30 days. New growth from these plants after a killing frost may be too high in piussic acid for using in the fiesh condition Careful man agement is reeded. Clover or alfalfa plants should not be grazed by Lvestotk when cover ed with frost permit the frost to melt and the plants to dry before ginzmg To Grow Winter Barley had called his grandfather Abra ham. The tnp -would be long and treacherous and he was carrying an extra load: a burdened con science. The neighbors probably said: “Good riddance; that boy’s just no good.’’ A stone for a piEFow We can imagine how weary and foot sore Jacob must have been as he sank to the ground that night. Quite a turn of events had just taken place. A few days earlier he had been “on top of the world/’ having gained his brother’s birthright'and his fa- cr was “ju't ro good ”? We cart undeistand n s choice of Abra-