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Vol. 19 No. 25
Arbaugh won the annual
Lancaster County 4-H conservation
project contest held Tuesday night at
. the Farm and Home Center. For his
Getting Started in the
Wine Grape Business
" Cotag-wine-grapes become
Lancaster County's biggest
cash crop? Some say -yes,
and some say maybe. But
nobody says “Yes” with
more enthusiasm than
Howard Miller, Strasburg
RDI.
Miller- is so enthused, in
■ fact, that he’s just completed
planting vines on 10 acres of
' recently purchased land on a
' hillside within sight of the
Susquehanna. “There are
5 }O,OM acres of grapes in Erie
County,” Miller said. “Here
in Lancaster County we
could have five to ten times
rthat much acreage. I think
FARM
TRENDS
Clean and Green Goes to Senate
The Pennsylvania State House of Representatives
voted Tuesday to pass House Bill 1056, the so-callepi
clean and green law designed to provide tax relief for
Commonwealth farmers. The bill’s final version calls
for a 10-year tax rollback, a 10-acre or $2OOO
minimum gross to qualify for an agricultural use
classification, and a 10-acre per. year splitoff
provision. The bill was hammered out in over a year of
debate. Environmentalists and the Pennsylvania
Grange still oppose the 10-acre per year splitoff
provision, claiming that it will cripple the intent of the
bill. If the Senate acts quickly on the bill, it could
become law by mid-June, since there is reportedly no
present possibility of a veto by Governor Shapp.
Pennsylvania could become
as important to the wine
industry as the Nappa Valley
in Califonda.”
While he is new to
viticulture, the science of
growing grapes. Miller is no
stranger to the grape in
dustry. Two years ago,
Miller left his job as an
advertising manager at
Armstrong Cork Co. to
become marketing manager
for Keystone Foods, a grape
growers cooperative
headquarters in the Erie
County town of North East.
Six months ago, the Miller
family moved back to
(Continued on Page 7]
project, shown here, he compared the
growth rates of corn planted in dil
ferent soil types. (See Story on Page
17.)
by Dick
Wanner
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, May 4, 1974
Lancaster County, partly to
start an advertising
business, and partly to start
a vineyard." He also
publishes the Southeast
Grape Letter for vineyar
dists. More information on
the newsletter can be had by
writing to Miller at Box 373,
Bunker Hill Road, R.D.I,
Strasburg, 17579.
Two weeks ago, Miller
downed coveralls and
climbed onto the seat of a
rented planter. While a
helper, Charles Hess,
handed roots to him, Miller
planted a grape vine every
seven feet. If everything
goes according to plan.
Miller will harvest his frist
.crop in 1976. And it’s-quite
possible that the" vines he
planted will still be bearing
fruit as the nation observes
its 200th anniversary.
Three hybrid grape
varieties were included in
the root stocks which Miller
bought from a New York
nursery. There are Chan
cellor, de Chaunac and
Chelois, all of which, Miller
feels, can make • a good
marketable red wine. About
a third of his acreage went
into each variety.
Miller shied away from the
native labrusca grape
varieties, like Concord,
because they do not make a
very fine wine. Most of Erie
County’s vineyards are
planted to Concord, which
are sold as table grapes or
for grape juice. Although
they have shortcomings as
I Continued on Page 24)
Dairy Health Project
Seeks Farmer Funds
A new approach to solving
Pennsylvania’s annual $42
million dairy herd helath
problem was unveiled
Wednesday afternoon in
Harrisburg; Under a plan
proposed by a dairy herd
health task force, individual
dairymen and their
associations will be asked to
contribute funds directly to
an interdisciplinary
research team at Penn State.
The task force is seeking
$lB,OOO from dairymen this
year to help pay for the
estimated $45,000 project
cost.
The task force is chaired
by A. F. Kish, of
Elizabethtown College, and
includes among its members
R. J. Flipse, assistant dean
of Penn State’s College of
Agriculture. Kish told a
small group representing
various dairy organizations,
extension, farm publications
and. individual farmers that
the task force arose out of
need to find a better way to
solve herd health problems.
“Herd health is a costly
In This Issue
FARM CALENDAR 10
Markets 2-4
Sale Register 38
Farmers Almanac 6
Classified Ads 41
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 26
Home on the Range 32
Organic Living 12
Thoughts in Passing 34
4-H Calendar 15
Farm Women Calendar 31
With a capable assist from
Clarence Hess, left, Howard Miller
tries his hand at planting grape vines.
Miller, who operates a local ad-
problem,” he told the group,
“and no one discipline can
hope to find the best solution.
Penn State has been working
on dairy herd health, but
they’ve been doing the job
without adequate funding.
They are presently working
with 15 healthy herds, but
they want to do more work
with unhealthy herds. That’s
where our task force enters
the picture.
“We can’t get any more
money from the state or
Pennfieldßuys
Nutrena Plant
Robert Graybill, president
of Pennfield Corporation,
announced today, Saturday,
the purchase of the
manufacturing facility and
feed business of Nutrena
Feeds Division of Cargill,
Inc. The Nutrena plant and
business, located in
Palmyra, Pa., was sold to
Pennfield for an undisclosed
sum in an agreement bet
ween Graybill and David O.
Wentzell, Minneapolis, vice
president and general
manager of Nutrena.
Graybill said the local
acquisition enables Penn
field to increase production
in order to better serve their
existing customers, and at
the same time expand their
feed availability to more
vertising agency, is one of Lancaster
County’s newest wine grape growers,
and hopes to harvest his first crop in
1976.
$2.00 Per Year
federal governments for the
kind of research we feel is
most needed. So we’re ap
proaching the feed and
fertilizer dealers, phar
maceutical manufacturers,
veterinary groups, seed and
limestone dealers and in
dividual dairy farmers. We
figure this is at least a three
year project, and each year
will cost $45,000.
“So far,” Kish said, “the
I Continued on Page 25]
producers in the regional
market area. He said it also
gives Pennfield the op
portunity to merchandise
products through more
dealers.
Included in the purchase is
Cargill’s Controlled-Release
Liquid Supplement which
will be provided for Penn
field’s dairy and beef cattle
customers. Nutrena, ac
cording to WentzeU, will also
continue to market the
Contolled-Release Liquid
Supplement under its ex
clusive patent rights.
Graybill, in his statement,
said that he expects the
Nutrena purchase would
enable Pennfield to serve
farthers in this area in a
better, smoother and more
efficient manner.