10
—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 3, 1972
Milk marketing in Pennsylvania is a
subject being hotly debated these days.
And there’s no cooling off in sight.
Harry Kapleau, chairman of the Penn
sylvania Milk Marketing Board is repor
tedly working very hard to be fair to
everybody "Everybody" includes milk
producers, dairies and consumers. Each
group has its own special interests. Ob
viously, in being fair to everybody, it'll be
difficult to please everybody. It might even
be impossible to please anybody Kapleau
and the Board have a difficult job ahead of
them, and we wish them luck and success
in the months ahead
There are many questions, many sides to
each question, and it’s difficult at times to
Editor's Note: The Guest Editorial for
this week was prepared by Nick Ferrant,
Jr, crop specialist with Agway, Inc.
Soybeans
Get a Good Stand
Every crop has its most critical period,
and for soybeans, it’s getting a good
emergence If we get a good stand, we have
an excellent chance for a good crop
The soybean is a warm weather crop and
should not be planted until the soil is good
and warm Planting in a cold soil means a
slow germination, giving soil disease
organisms plenty of time to invade and rot
the seed Seed treatment will help some,
but not enough Most growers are aware of
the need for seed treatment this year,
though, but for other disease reasons.
Probably most soybean stands are lost
due to a crusting soil than any other
reason If beans are planted too early, an
early ram, followed by a drying period,
allows a crust to form before germination
The bean plant must pull its head up with it
when it germinates, and a hard crust
results in broken necks and poor
emergence The sharp grower will be
watching carefully, and if a crust forms,
move in at once with a rotary hoe or spike
tooth harrow One days delay could lose a
good part of the stand
Later planted beans can crust, but the
chances are less, since they emerge in four
to five days But if a crust does form, move
in a break it fast
Reduced stands can be caused by other
factors too If your seed has a low ger
mination and you did not increase seeding
rate, you are in trouble In many fields seed
corn magget or seed corn beetle can do
The statistics say that the federal
government is now a larger dispenser of
fringe benefits than private industry In
1970, fringe benefits in private industries
amounted to 26 6 percent of basic wages
and salaries while the figure for the federal
government was 27 8 percent. This con
trasted with the last survey made by the
U S Labor Department in 1968, when
private employer expenditures came to
Milk-Part I
Guest Editorial
Double Burden
tell which group is on which side of which
question. For example, the Board approved
a reduction in milk prices for the Pitt
sburgh market. This action is being con
tested by, of all people, a consumer group.
Quite frankly, we don’t know what to
expect. But in this column we hope to take
a look, now and then, at developments in
the milk marketing situation. We will try to
present opinions and facts from all sides.
As developments occur, we will try to
appraise their effect upon the dairy in
dustry in general, and Lancaster County
dairying in particular.
To that end, we welcome comments from
all concerned.
Nick Ferrant Jr
Crop Specialist
Agway, Inc.
damage, but seed treatment will control
most of them Some growers plant too
deep, and the bean just can not struggle
the long distance to the surface. Plant at
one-and-one-half inches in normal soils
and no more than two inches in dry soils.
On many farms, a poor stand is often
caused by the farmer not planting enough
seed We think a good planting rate is
140,000 to 150,000 seeds per acre. If you
change row spacing, change size of seed, or
your planter is not calibrated correctly,
wrong seeding rates can occur.
The name of the game is profit, and it's
no profit with no plants. So plan on the
population you want, and get it, by being
attentive to all details.
25 1 percent and the federal government’s
were 24 3 percent.
The image of government as a
progressive employer compared to private
enterprise should be tempered by the fact
that private enterprise carries a double
burden. It must pay for its own fringe
benefits as well as put up the taxes that go
to support the fringe benefits of those who
work for government. It is hardly a fair
comparison.
now is
THE TIME . .
Max Smith
County Agr. Agent
Telephone 394-6851
To Be Alert for Armyworms
We have had a few reports of
armyworms feeding on corp
grown under the no-till methods.
This was experienced last year
on fields that had considerable
mulch or cover. The most severly
infested fields were the ones with
winter rye being killed by a
herbicide, then planted to com.
These worms will appear sud
denly and may consume several
acres in a few days; they may be
more severe near woodlands. The
control requires a cover spray
with Sevin or Dylox as soon as
worms are found; one spraying is
usually sufficient to remove the
problem Growers are urged to
be on the alert for these worms in
corn fields with heavy mulch or
vegetative cover.
To Cultivate Carefully
In many crops the modern
method of weed control includes
the use of a herbicide and little, if
any, cultivation, however, when
the cultivator is used growers are
urged to respect the roots of the
crop and not get too close to
them. The shearing of roots of
any crops will surely do more
harm than good. When
cultivating it is best to dig around
several plants by hand to become
aware of the root zone and then
set the cultivator to stay out of
that area. In flower and
vegetable gardens with hand
cultivation it is also very im
portant to stay away from the
root zone. Plant roots have a very
important function and should
not be cut off or disturbed during
the growing season.
KEEPING
THE HOUR
Lesson for June 5,1972
■ackgreund Scripture Psalms 63 1-8
Acts 10 1 8, 30 33
Develienel Reeding Psalms 63 1 8
Every evening at nine o’clock
hundreds, perhaps thousands of
people throughout the United
States and even beyond 30m to
gether observing at least five
minutes of silent prayer and
meditation They are people, for
the most part, who
are either seeking
healing or help
for themselves or
for others There
is nothing sacred
about nine o’clock
in the evening
except that it is
I*”
those who participate
A devout man
Whenever someone comes to
me for counseling help, I usually
suggest that they “observe the
nine o’clock hour” for spiritual
help and power Frequently peo
ple will return saying how much
they have been aided through this
simple observance Healing, help,
guidance, comfort have come to
those who have joined with us
There is nothing miraculous
about this observance The heal
ing and help results are the nor
mal consequences of a directed
life of devotion Too many peo
ple never pray except when they
are in the midst of an emergency.
To Prepare Grain Bini
Small grain harvest is ap
proaching and we notice that the
barley fields are well headed and
will soon be changing color;
winter wheat will soon follow.
Growers that are going to harvest
their crop and store as grain
should now be cleaning out their
grain bins and spraying with an
insecticide; old grain should be
removed before the new crop is
stored. Numerous grain insects
may be harboring in the
framework of the grain bins and
should be eliminated before the
new crop arrives. All bin surfaces
should be sprayed with either
Malathion or Methoxychlor. A
thorough cleaning of the bins
should precede the spraying of
the insecticide. Stored grain
insects reduce the feed value of
the grain and may cause extra
heating and spoilage.
To Spray Those Rose Bushes
Roses are one of the most
common shrubs in this part of the
country and need constant at
tention during the growing
season if they are to be kept in
sect and disease free. The first
blooms are now appearing and
with the liberal amount of
moisture during the past month,
we should experience some
beautiful roses this spring.
Weekly spraying with a fungicide
such as Folpet or Maneb, and
with an insecticide such as
Malathion or Sevin,- will help
keep the flower vases full of
perfect roses If the rose bushes
were not fertilized earlier this
spring, it is not too late to give
them a complete rose fertilizer.
Weekly watering during periods
of dry leather will also keep the
new blooms developing and
result in more healthy bushes.
Lancaster is known as the “Red
Rose County” and we should
experience magnificent blooms
this year.
There is nothing wrong with
praying then—Jesus himself pray
ed in the garden and on the
cross But his prayers there were
not for the purpose of establish
ing a new relationship with God,
but of building upon a relation
ship that was already firmly es
tablished.
The same principle applies to
his followers If we want to be
able to pray effectively in a cri
ses, we need to establish a strong
life of prayer before the crises
comes “Keeping” some hour of
prayer each day may provide
just the pipeline we need to re
ceive God’s power when we need
it most. This, apparently, was the
strength of Cornelius, the centur
ion in Acts 10 He was “a devout
man who . . . prayed constantly
to God” (10.2)
About the ninth hour
It was in the keeping of the
ninth hour of prayer one day that
Cornelius received an experience
that both deeply affected his own
life and the life of the early
church as well A vision came to
him that eventually was to bring
Simon Peter, the great Apostle,
into his life. In observing a regu
lar life of daily devotion he re
ceived revelation from God.
In George Bernard Shaw’s play
about Joan of Arc, the Dauphin
(heir to the throne) is disturbed
because the heavenly voices come
to a poor peasant girl instead of
the royalty of France “They do
come,” says Joan, “but you do
not hear them because you are
not listening ” So, many of us
would both hear and see more of
God’s revelation if we kept some
daily hour of prayer and listened
for his voice