VOL. 16 NO. 4
Another Good Pennsylvania Corn Crop Forecast in 1971
Good, sound cultural practices
based around a seed variety
which pel formed well in 1971
That’s the key to the 1971
coin crop in Pennsylvania,
Penn State Umveisity officials
told more than 100 farmers and
coin industrymen at a special
meeting at the Farm and Home
Center Wednesday night
“We think that based on the
best information we have, the
com yields should follow about
the same pattern as this year,”
said Joe H McGahen, extension
agronomist
What did really happen this
year? "We had a record yield
of corn. On state (research)
Rootworm May Be Worse Than Blight
“The' northern corn rootworm
is potentially the greatest prob
lem m corn,” Dr Robert Tetra
ult, Penn State University Ex-
told local
- the ? ,Farm and
meeting Wed
nesday mghf. - -
r
The corn, rootworm, along
4-KB Council Ploys Sonta
The Lancaster County 4-H
County Council Thursday col
lected cooxies and toys for dis
tribution dining the holiday sea
son
The ccoKies will go to the
Brethren Home at Neffsville
Marlin Bollingei is dehvenng
the cookies.
Tim Breneisen and Miss Joan
Lucas, a&rstant extension home
economist are dehvenng the
toys to tr.e YMCA on Noith
Duke Street, Lancaster.
The Council also announced
plans to visit a children’s home
during the Eastei season to en
tertain with a skit and egg hunt.
But Farmers Still Must Use Safe Practices, Dr. Forney Warns
"Crash Program' May Stop Hog Cholera, Pa. Official Says
Largely oecause of pi ogress
this summer in Virginia and
Noitb Carolina, the hog cholera
outlook now is the best that
it has been for many yeais. Dr.
Homer S Forney, Harrisburg,
chief ci the miscellaneous
diseases onision of the Buieau
of Animal Industiy, said this
week
The progress in Vuginia and
North Carolina against the
dreaded swine disease now
makes the U S goal of wiping
out hog cholera m the U S by
1972 seem feasible, Di Forney
said.
Eecent repoits show that only
one or two counties aie still
quarantined in Virginia and
plots we had 150 bushels to the
acre aveiage,” McGahen said
McGahen also estimated that
the overall loss in Pennsylvania
in 1970 from t’~e corn blight was
not moie than two to five pei
cent
Arnold Lueck, associate Lan
caster County agricultural agent,
who spoke briefly in mtroduc
mg the Penn State officials
said Pennsylvania was the lead
mg corn producing state in 1970
outside the Corn Belt, pnmai ily
because the state’s crop “wasn’t
huit badly” by the blight Penn
sylvama moved up fiom the
fifteenth ranking state in 1968,
to fourteenth in 1969 and
with some other soil insects, with an insecticide before plant
pose a potentially greater prob- mg, he said
lem than the blight in large part '
because growers are unaware of
them, Tetrahlt said,
ln outlining the 'from"-"
insects “he said losses of” 10 to
20 per cent are not uncommon
from insects on Pennsylvania
farms This compaies to an
estimated overall loss from
blight in the state this year of
only two to five per cent.
Besides corn lootwoim, which
has built up to serious levels
must faster than Penn State
officials had originally expected,
lessei insect pests include seed
coin maggots, centipedes and
slugs
Besides the use of vanous
chemicals, coin lootwoim can
be contioiled with crop rotation
since the insect feeds only on
com However, the lootwoim
will again be a senous pest
within a yeai if there aie neaiby
infested fields Two to thiee
yeais of protection from crop
rotation is about the most that
can be expected, he said
A 10 to 20 per cent crop loss
from insects can also be expect
ed if corn seed is not treated
North Carolina still has only a
few pioblem spots, Di Forney
said
The two states are of particu
lar importance to local swine
pioduceis because of their prox
Farm Calendar
Saturday, December Id
Fulton Grange Youth Cpm-Jmrt
tee, Chustmas Caroling
Tuesday, December 22
7 30 p m —Ephiata Adult Fai m
ers Feeding Course, Class
Numbei 3, Agucullure Do ~
pailment, Ephiata High-'
School
Friday, December 25
Merry Christmas'
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 19,1970
eleventh in 1970 Lancastei
County alone had 150,000 acres
ot com this yeai
In stating that coin piospects
foi next yeai should be about
the same as this year, the ex
tension officials weie, theie
fore, making an optimistic foie
Cust “We just don’t shaie the
scam philosophy foi next yeai,”
McGahen said
Dr Don Petersen Penn State
extension plant pathologist, said,
“We view the blight situation
for next year as about the same
as this yeai ”
Yellow Blight Woist
Petersen also stated. “The yel-
i innty and because the two aie
among the major souices of
feedei pigs for this aiea
The reduction of the swine
disease in Virginia and North
Carolina stemmed fiom a“crash
piogiam by a special task force’
/of 172 poisons including 160
’veterinarians and livestock in
spectois fiom 40 states Duimg
the piogram, some 12,000 head
■ ol hogs with choleia oi exposed
to it weie destioyed
The of the clash
piogiam in Virginia and North
,_Caiphna is shown b.\ the fact
-'that in the foui month peuod
beloio the piogiam these two
states alone accounted foi o'’ei
60 pei cent of all hog choleia
From All of Our Staff
To All of You
low leaf blight was by far the
most impoitant in Pennsyh ania”
in 1970 This was tuie despite
all the national attention and
damage the new Southern leaf
blight caused elsewheie, Peter
sen emphasised
The yellow leaf blight fust
leceived major attention in Lan
castei County in 1969 The Penn
State officials pi edict it will
still be an impoitant problem in
1971
Petersen says yellow leaf
blight piimanly stems fiom
overwintering in local coinfields
To help fight yellow leaf blight,
he uiged desti action of debris,
either by plowing it under oi
discing it If disced, addition of
about 40 pounds of nitrogen will
help, he said If debus is left
unattended, “you aie ovenun
tenng the oigamsm on your
fields,” he said
But based on Penn State is-
Memj
C/trisbnas
cases icported in the US Di
Foiney explained.
The U S still has some per
sonnel in Vngmia and North
Carolina to finish the clean up
woik that was started Indica
tions aie that similar ciash pio
giams will be instituted any
where m the U S that hog
choleia becomes a seuous piob
lem
If the task foice procedme i=
followed, Di Foiney says he
thinks the goal of making the
U S Gee of choleia by 1972
seems leahstic at the piesent
time ”
Besides a few clean-up aieas
in Virginia and North Carolina
Di Foiney said his reports
$2.00 Per Year
seaich, Peteisen sa*d he dis
agiees with some authorities
that the Southern blight will
overwintei The Penn State ro
seaich shows it will not over
winter But it “has a great
capacity foi traveling long dis
tances’’ from the south wher®
it will oveiwintei, he added.
Plant Early for Success
The key to a successful crop
in 1971, both Petersen and Mo
Gahen stressed, is to plant
early They believe both the
yellow and Southern blight will
hit corn fields again in 1971 But
if the crop is planted early, they
think the crop will again mature
before major damage can result.
When should corn be planted
in 1971’ Wait until the last
fiost, then count back 14 days
and that’s when the corn should
have been planted, McGahen
joked. While this method is
technically impossible, the point
to be emphasized is that the
earlier the crop is planted the
better, according to McGahen.
Avoid’Stress on Corn
The 'Penn State men also e»>
plained why some farmers who
had serious blight problems also
had serious stalk rot problems.
McGahen said, “Anything,
such as blight, which puts stress
on a plant increases the inci*
dence of stalk rot Poor culti
vation, pool application of in*
sectieides, loot worms, all cause
stiess, increasing the problems
of stalk rot ”
Petersen added, “A lot of the
stalk lot in the past year stem*
med fi om lea- Plight ”
For Best Results in ’7l
McGahen and Peteisen sum*
mauzed, the following recom
mendations to help farmers get
through the 1971 season with <a
minimum of losses fiom blight:
—Plant eaily
—Destroy debus
—Rotate crops This may be
particularly helpful where yeU
(Continued on Page 8)
show New Yoik had one case re
cently and theie aie a handful
oi other states with recent cases.
Pennsylvania has not had a case
since July and Maryland was
lecently put back into the eradi
cation status
Nationwide, theie has been •
(Continued on Page il)
Notice
Because mail will not be dte.
livered Saturday, December Z 6,
subsciibers will not receive
next week’s Lancaster Farming
until Monday, December 28.