—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 20,1971
4
On Preserving Farm Land
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Clifford
M. Hardin made the following comments
before the Environmental Seminar, Depart
ment of Agriculture, in January;
“America contains 1.9 billion of
land in the contigous 48 states alone. There
is sufficient land, if people use it wiseiy, to
meet the Nation’s foreseeable needs for
food, new towns, industry, transport, for
estry, wildlife, recreation, and aesthetic en
joyment all elements of a more satisfying
total environment.
“A crucial question is, of course, will
we use our land wisely?”
“Unfortunately, in many instances we
are not. example, urbanization has been
reaching out, chaotically and almost ran
domly in many cases, swallowing half a
million acres of cropland each year. The
Council on Environmental Quality describes
the misuse ot land as the most out-of-hand
and irreversible of environmental problems.
“Currently, more than a fifth of all
the farms in the 48 contiguous States are
withiri Standard Metropolitan Statistical
Areas, where the most intensive urbaniza
tion is taking place. These farms account
for more than one-fourth of the value of all
agricultural products sold.
“We must decide what is in the best
public interest with respect to these farms.
If they should be retained, we need to do'
some caretul planning, reevaluate tax and
zoning arrangements, and determine the
best ways to blend the rural and urban en
vironments/’
Hardin’s comments reflect growing con-
On Controlling
In a recent newsletter to Garden Spot
Young Farmers, Don Robinson, vo-ag
teacher, underlined the importance of mak
ing certain that the correct number of seed ,
is applied.,
\The item quotes, an agribusinessman
as saying that farmers who use great care
in selecting' the proper seed, lime, fertilizer "
and weed control measure's often get much'
lower yields than expected simply because
their- plant population was 2,000 to 5,000 ,
plants per acre lower than they had thought.--
The agribusinessman states', “The bad
part about it is that 8 out of 10 growers'do -
not have the foggiest idea of their popula,-
tion and assume what they set out to plant
is automatically there at harvest,”
The biggest cause of poor populations
were listed aff follows;- not planting 15 per
cent more seed than plants wanted, in har :
vest toallow for loss to pests, birds and poor
cultivation; assuming without checking that
the instruction book directions will give the
right plant population; assuming that a
bushel of seed will plant a certain amount
of ground; calibrating the planter on the
hard asphalt road and planting in soft soil;
planting at speeds of 5 to 8 miles per hour;
using the same plate for five different varie
ties of corn.
All these points might appear to be
minor. But they all represent some of the
little things that make the difference-be
tween an average and a good corn crop.
The article points out how important ac
curate planting rates can be. Missing by -,
1,000 seeds can cost the farmer $lO per
acre. Some simple arithmetic shows what
loss of 2,000 to 5,000 plants per acre can cost
the farmer.
On the other hand, farmers should “be
LANCASTER FARMING
Lancaster County’s Own Farm Weekly
P. O. Box 266 - Lititz, Pa. 17543
Office: 22 E. Mam St., Lititz, Pa. 17543
Phone: Lancaster 394-3047 or Lititz 626-2191 '
Robert G. Campbell, Advertising Director
Zane Wilson, Managing Editor
Subscription price- $2 per year in Lancaster
County; $3 elsewhere
Established November 4,1955
Published eveiy Saturday by Lancaster
Farming, Lititz, Pa.
Second Class Postage paid at Lititz, Pa
17543.
Member of Newspaper Farm Editors Assn
Pa. Newspaper Publishers Association and
National Newspaper Association
cern at the national, state and local levels
about trends toward urbanization of some
of the country’s best farmland.
In the past, towns and cities tended to
grow best in the betterfarming areas, since
towns tended to be shopping and business
centers for the surrounding farming com
munity. When there were relatively few
people and more than enough land for as
far into the future as anyone cared to look,
the steady urbanization of prime farm land
concerned few persons.
But now, as giant cities stretching for
hundreds of miles are beginning to become
reality in many parts of the nation, both ur
ban and rural residents are becoming con
cerned. Farmers are concerned that urbani
zation will force them off the farm and
* urbanites see that they have a real interest
in preserving their food supply. Urbanites
also want some open countryside for an oc
casional change of scenery.
The form that this concern about pre
serving the land will take in coming years
' will be vitally important to farmers.
Proposals so far include: changing the
real estate structure to tax land on use in
stead of market value (tax farm land as
farm land and not as a potential industrial
or residential site) and to set, aside farm
zones where residential and commercial
building would be prohibited.
These are the types of ideas being dis
cussed' by both urban and rural leaders at
the national, state and local levels as a
means of making it possible for urban and
rural areas to prosper side by side.
Plant Numbers
very careful this year about not getting
too many plants per acre.
v One of the warnings to local farmers
in connection with last year’s yellow blight
and Southern blight .was i that the blights,
.thrived in "thickly-populated, corn fields?
This'stems in part TromF the : fact,that' sun
light cannot readily get into thickly populate
. e’dstands, which they-remain moist a rela
, tively large proportion of the time; the
vbkght thrives in moist conditions. Another
' may be that corn in thickly populated
jSfands has to compete harder for survival
and thfe stress makes the plant more sus
ceptible to the blight.
Whatever the reasons, the point has
been strongly made that-exceptionally thick
stands of corn are more prone to the blight
v and fanners who are concerned about the
blight in 1971 should keep this in mind.
Planting too much seed may be as costly as
not planting enough.
Also, today’s farmer must be constantly
aware that the profitable crop is the high
•yielding crop.
_ This is true because of the high and
growing basic costs of production. No mat
ter how much corn the farmer grows on a
piece of ground, he’s likely to have a cer
tain minimum cost that includes fertilizer,
seed, equipment, land, taxes and so forth.
. It takes a minimum production level,
which is constantly rising, to reach this
break-even point. It’s only the production
beyond this break-even level that rewards
the farmer for his own time and effort.
The point is that it costs very little more
to have a highly successful crop than it
costs to have a break-even or losing crop.
And the difference between the break
even crop and the good crop is the attention
' io detail such things as making sure that
, fertilizer is applied efficiently, based on soil
tests, and that the weeds and insects aren’t
- competing'with the crop for survival. And
"taking the necessary steps before planting
time to insure that the proper number of
seed gets jplanted.
• „ It shofild be noted that there is no pre
cise way to tell a particular farmer how
many seed to plant per acre.
The important thing is that the indivi
dual farmer determine as precisely as he
can the plant population he should have to
get maximum production from his own land
, and his o\\ n farm practices then be very
careful at planting time to see that he gets
the needed plant population.
To Market Cattle On Grade poison bait stations will reduce
The man who continues to the population. To’ eliminate
:eed finished cattle hoping for a rats will be .one step toward
ugher market price is, in most more profitable farming opera
tes, the loser. At the present turns.
time there could be many-head _
or cattle with enough finish to'- To ® fi ^ o “Utloll
grade Choice that are being held * . „ , „
on feed for a higher market The words pollution and“en
pnce.- At the recent cattle feed- are words of the
mg meeting, it was pointed out S ' S J V
that only four per centof today’s the ma ”L° f «“
cattle are fed to the prime grade, caus f: . ™ ’
and this is all that the market fhoqld also interested m try
will absorb. To hold finished cat- ln “ to understand these causes
tie is to increase the cost of and 111 to ™ rrect them ‘
gain and to get a lower return I m sure that most farmers are
foi all inputs. aware of the pollution of tooth
air and water and will try to re
duce the amount of each. Also,
To Eliminate Rodents
Spring is approaching and-rats other folks should becomd inter
and mice.will be migrating to the ested in these problems and try
fields for the summer. All to understand and help with the
property owners are urged to solution. The spring months
eradicate the maximum number are approaching when jnany
of these pests in order to prevent tons of livestock waste will be
them "foim multiplying during applied to the fields for fertilizer
the season. In some severe purposes. This is a part 1 of the
cases a thorough fumigation job livestock farming operation and
may be needed by a commercial we' solicit the understanding of
exterminator. In other cases a. non-farm residents in tolerating
clean-up program along with these temporary conditions.
E»tl9r«unJ~Scnp)ur«; 7:21-27}
21 23-32. ' * -
The famous British strongman,
Mr.' Sandow of London, was once
interviewed'in his palatial gym
nasium. He told a .reporter; “Peo
ple come to me with a blank
check in their, hands and say, T
fee you like, if
nil will produce
me a strong,
althy, young
idy,’ and I say
.cellent!’ —but
;n it turns out
I am to go
to the gymna
im and swing
ambbelis and do
exercises on the
Rev. Althouse floor, while they
go away and eat and drink and
smoke too much and keep late
hours. Regretfully I tell them, Tt
can’t be done.’ ”
Knowing and doing
Isn’t this what many physicians
discover? People will come to
them, willing to pay any amount
of money to be rid of this or that
ailment. Yet, when the doctor
prescribes a special diet or a list
of things they must avoid, they
pay their money and go away do
ing as they please. Some even,
come back later and demand, to
know why they-are not getting
any better!
People often,came to Jesus'
seeking his advice and help,-yet,
some of them, upon receiving
What they asked for, decided they
really didn’t want it anyway.
That’s the way it was with the~
rich young man whose “posses
sions were great.” He wanted to
know what to do, but when he
knew, he did not do it.
This is often true of people in
their relationship with God. We
come to him with our problems
and he tells us what to do, but,
when we find out the truth, wo
NOW IS
THE TIME...
By Max Smith
Lancaster County Age^j
icide we really don’t want to do
, We may pray every day asking
lim to change opr lives and then
it up from, our knees and.go
»out the day’s work resisting all
iportunities to change. -Then,
icn nothing happens, wejmajr
incredulous “What! You mean
;er all this, praying and .going
church, you’re not goipgftb do
iat I \ if-. -
J, 4 mi
it real ”b%Jle«ers”;;-'-- .
There fs adremfendouS g»p fee*
reei i profession and practice It'
so mitch' easier to' prbfe’ss-our
leliefs-” for,. It, seldom costs u*
.inch to say w’ord£, to'jriaEe.the ,
right gestures. Most of us "suffer
nothing by professing the Chris*
fian faith. In fact, there ace many,
communities where not being a
church member,, is a -
advantage.. - ’ . - -
■Practicing- Christianity,' oh- the
other band, is a different matter. '
Contrary to pi’ofessing Christian
beliefs; .practicing them may .cost -
us something! {ln fact, one of my
maxims is that if my practice
of Christianity is.costing me
nothing or little, there must he
something wrong with my Chris
tianity!) This is why the Apostle
James challenges us to be, not
just “hearers of the word,” hut
“doers,”
Which of the two?
Jesus’s words in Matthew 21:28*
32 must have angered many of
his listeners for he is suggesting
that they are not “real believers.”
They are like the son who says
“yes” to his father but doesn’t
do what he is supposed to do.
They profess their obedience, but
do not practice it. They know the
truth, but they do not do it.
On the other hand,- he is say
ing, the tax collectors, prostitutes, ,
and other disreputable people
who are responding to him are
like the son who says “no,”'but
then does wh'at he is asked to do.
Though they da not seem to be
religious, they are the ones who
really pleaseilod.
.Who are the professing sons
today? And who are the son* who
really practice what-God asks-of
them?
(lased on outlines copyrighted by lb*
Division of Christian Education, National
Council of 4ht GKurcNes '-dt'Chrlst In fh*
USA. Released by Community Tress
Service.}
ATTEND THE
CHURCH OF YOUR
CHOICE SUNDAY