2 New Turfgrasses Developed at Penn State
Seed is now available for two common diseases affecting ~ The new ryegrass is recom
new turfgrasses developed at Kentucky Bluegrass—stripe mended for establishing quality
Pennsylvania State University, smut, rust, and leaf spot. Penn- turf grass that will persist under
The one is Pennstar Kentucky star has been under study at heavy traffic. This includes seed
Bluegrass, which turf scientists Penn State and at other leading mixtures 'or planting athletic
believe may be one of the brat all- universities since 1950. fields, gold courses, cemeteries,
round turfgrass varieties public grounds and parks, sod
available in the United States. farms, and home lawns.
The other is Pennfine Peren
nial Ryegrass, the most fine
leafed perennial ryegrass on the
market and difficult to tell from
Kentucky Bluegrass.
Both varieties are available
from commercial seed com
panies. They were developed and
released by the
Experiment Station at Penn
State.
Field trials at Penn State found
Pennstar Kentucky Bluegrass
highly resistant to all three of the
This new Kentucky Bluegrass
has survived extended drought.
Pennstar required only the
moderate management typical of
most bluegrasses. It is adapted to
a wide variety of growing con
ditions and does well from
California to the East Coast. It
needs only moderate to low
fertility.
Both Pennstar Kentucky
Bluegrass and Pennfine
Perennial Ryegrass were
developed by Dr. Joseph M.
Duich, professor of turf grass
science. Aiding with the
breeding, development and in
troduction of Pennfine were Dr.
Herbert Cole Jr, professor of
plant pathology, and Dr. A.
Thomas Perkins, former
assistant professor in agronomy.
Two DES Violations Are
The U.S. Department of
Agriculture recently reported
finding diethylstilbestrol (DES)
in two animal liver samples since
a mandatory certification
program for the growth
promoting hormone went into
effect January 8. Samples of
muscle tissue from both animals
were negative for DES.
One liver sample, containing
3.3 parts per billion of DES was
from a lamb grown by Brant
George of Kanosh, Utah, and
slaughtered January 27 in Ogden,
Utah. The other liver sample,
containing 4.15 parts per billion of
DES, was from a steer produced
by Pamel Green, of Layton,
Utah, and slaughtered February
1 in Gooding, Idaho.
The certification program
gives a producer three options.
He may certify that the animals
were not fed DES or were with
drawn from DES seven days
prior to slaughter. Alternatively,
the grower may have the animals
held at the slaughter plant seven
days prior to slaughter, or he
may have the animals
amHßiQiis
PT-7, PT-10, SP-320
WINDROWERS
Before you buy-compare the simplicity HESSTON
Equipment.
MILLER'S REPAIRS
R. D. 1, Bird-in-Hand, Pa. Phone 717-656-7926
Gibbons Road
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 11,1972
Pennfine Perennial Ryegrass
is described as having “ryegrass
toughness with bluegrass
beauty.” Turf experts rate it
outstanding for mowability,
texture, disease resistance, and
compatibility with Kentucky
Bluegrass.
slaughtered and retained pending
the outcome of testing for DES.
In both cases, the producers
had certified that the animals
were taken off feed containing
DES seven days before
slaughter.
Each incident has been
reported to the Food and Drug
Administration for possible legal
action against the producers. The
Farm Labor
The majority of farms that rely
heavily on seasonal labor hire
their workers directly rather
than through contractors, ac
cording to a report issued
recently by the U.S. Department
of Agriculture.
USDA’s Economic Research
Service recently studied the
methods used to'obtain seasonal
workers, the number of seasonal
workers per farm, and hours of
such labor per farm by type of
farm and production region.
The study looked into the two
practices of hiring seasonal
Reported
FDA has jurisdiction over ad
ditives to animal feed.
A preliminary investigation of
the sheep incident indicates DES
was still in the feed during the
period when the sheep should
have been withdrawn from DES.
If so, officials observed that
illegal feeding practices and a
false certificate are both in
volved. They said the steer in
cident is still under investigation.
Study Made
labor—direct hiring and con
tracting. Under direct hiring, the
farmer does the firing, super
vising, and paying of his workers.
Contract labor is provided by
labor contractors, crew leaders,
and custom machine operators to
plant, cultivate, harvest, and
haul crops.
The percentage of farmers
hiring any labor varies from 58
per cent of the Nation’s livestock
farmers to 84 per cent of the fruit
and nut growers.
The heavy labor users—
producers of vegetables, fruits,
tobacco, and “other field crops”
(potatoes, sugarcane, broom
corn, and sugar beets) hired most
of their workers directly.
In contrast, cash gram and
livestock farmers, who hired
seasonal labor, obtained labor by
contracting for custom services.
Combine crews comprised the
bulk of the contract workers on
cash grain farms.
Most of the farmers in the
Northern and Southern Plains,
Mountain and Lake State Regions
used contract labor.
In the Southeast, except for the
fruit and vegetable farmers,
much of the seasonal labor was
employed directly by the farm
operator.
Size of farm also affected
hiring practices: Less than a
third of the vegetable farms with
under $5,000 in sales used con
tract workers, in contrast to 50
per cent of the largest farms. Use
of contract labor also increased
with size of tobacco farms.
However, on cash grain and
livestock farms, importance of
contracting decreased as size and
sales increased.
A copy of “Direct and Contract
Hiring of Seasonal Farm Labor,”
SB 478, is available free on
postcard (please include zipcode)
or telephone (388-7255) request
from the Office of Information,
U.S. Department of Agriculture,
ashnington, D.C. 20250.
FREE
Subscribers to Lancaster V:
Farming will receive one x
& advertisement Free each £
month in our Mail Box
Market Subscribers using $:
the Mail Box Market will be $:
:$ governed by the following S;
:S rules: :$
Limit your advertisement S
to 25 words; All ad- $
•S vertisements must be in our $
hands by Thursday noon or j:
same will be held over for
ft-next week’s paper; No
:$ business advertisements
accepted
31