Vol. 19 No. 36
. Built in Fort Zeller is a prime
example of Rhine architecture, and
one of the few left standing. in
America. It is being preserved on the
Conserving History and Land
By Dick Wanner
“When I was growing up
on a farm, I never wanted
to own a farm, and I never
wanted to be a farmer. It
was too much work,”
Eugene Hoffman told
Lancaster Fanning when we
visited his farm on Tuesday.
Now he not only finds
himself a farmer, but deeply
committed to conserving the
land on his farm, its unique
history, and farming itself
as a way of life.
Hoffman, his wife Sylvia
and their three boys, 13-year
old Eugene Jr., 12-year-old
William and Franklin, who is
nine, live on a 150-acre
Lebanon County farm near
Newmanstown. A few
In This Issue
Farm Calendar - 10
Markets 2-4
Sale Register 39
Fanners Almanac 6
Classified Ads 20
Editorials 10
Homestead Notes 26
Home on the Range 29
Organic Living 35
Farm Women Calendar 34
4-H Calendar 14
Buck Tractor Pull 9
PFA Ladies Day 28
Growing Degree Days 16
Lebanon County farm of Eugene
Hoffman, who is married to a
descendant of the original builder,
Henrich Hoffman.
hundred feet from the front
door of ther farmhouse is
Fort Zeller, Pennsylvania’s
oldest existing fort built to
protect settlers during In
dian wars. Sylvia Hoffman is
a descendant of the Fort’s
original builder, Henrich
Zeller, Palatinate German
Equestrienne and Sports Fan
Wylie Baker likes sports
and outdoor activities;
however, for the past few
years her main interest has
been riding and showing
horses.
Wylie, who is 18, lives with
her sister Sue and her
parents Mr. and Mrs. John
U. Baker, Jr. at 731 Stoney
Battery Road in Lancaster.
Wylie has been active in 4-
H for alomost six years. She
was a member of the Boots
and Saddles 4-H Horse and
Pony Club and is presently
vice-president of the Silver
Spurs Horse and Pony Club.
Wylie has also helped
younger club members by
serving as a teen leader.
The Baker girls have two
Lancaster Farming,.Saturday, July 20, 1974
who arrived in America in
1710.
A tour of the fort is a must
for any first-time visitor to
the Hoffman farm. The
unusual roofline is one of the
first features Hoffman points
out. It is typical of early 18th
[Continued On Page 15]
Wylie Baker
horses of their own and
board three for other
families. Wylie helps out
with the feeding and
grooming along with doing
part-time bookkeeping for
her father’s trucking
business.
While in 4-H, Wylie has
attended many horse shows
and usually competes in the
three gaited class. Local
shows she has attended
include Quentin, Lancaster
County and Devon, along
with the Penn National Show
in Harrisburg.
Along with her horse
riding abilities, Wylie
interested in sports,
especially basketball. This
fall she will be a freshman at
Some Price Complaints , But . . .
Bumper Wheat
Crop Harvested
With the wheat harvest
virtually complete in the
five-county Lancaster
Fanning area, all indicators
point to a bumper crop, with
yields going as high as 65
bushels and averaging in the
50-bushel per acre range.
Prices, we learned on Friday
morning, have varied all
over the board, from $2 a
bushel up to $3.85, at a time
when the Chicago Board of
Trade pegs the new wheat
crop at about $4.50.
As we went to press, July
wheat was selling on the CBT
for $4.50. Grain dealers are
afraid of that price and
they’re afraid of the volatile
market, we were told by
William McFetridge of
Rosenthal & Co., a com
modity brokerage firm in
Allentown. He feels dealers
may be loathe to buy wheat
unless they can get it at a
good discount from the CBT
price.
“About half my customers
are selling their crop as feed
wheat at $2 a bushel,” we
were told by George Un
derwood, a Cecil County,
Maryland, custom operator
who does a lot of business
with Pennsylvania Farmers
close to the Maryland line.
“You can’t even grow
wheat for $2 anymore,”
Underwood complained.
“The area I work has
traditionally been known as
a number 2 garlic wheat
region. But this year, the
farmers are getting hit
worse than they’ve ever
been. I’ve never seen
East Stroudsburg College
where she is planning to
major in secondary physical
education. >
While in High school,
Wylie” played on the
basketball team and even
tried her hand at shot put on
the track team.
“My basketball coaches
thought I might like shot put
but I found out I wasn’t that
good at it,’’ she explained.
“But it was a lot of fun
trying something different.”
Wylie explained that she
would like to work with older
teen-agers in physical
education after she finishes
college.
“I’m interested in working
dockage like this.”
Fortunately, it appears
that most of the local wheat
crop is going for more
reasonable prices. L. M.
SnaVely, a Lancaster County
flour miller from Lititz, said
his price range has been
from $3.80 to $4.10 a bushel.
He had some unkind words to
say about dockage for garlic
wheat. “I think there are a
lot of times when the buyers
hit the farmers too hard.” he
said. “They stir around till
they find a spot with a lot of
garlic and then they pay the
farmer less than he should
be getting.”
Garlic hasn’t apparently
been too much of a problem
in Lancaster County, ac
cording to associate county
agent Arnold Lueck. Lueck
added that he feels the small
Irrigation Pays
Tobacco Grower
The “wish-a, wisb-a, wish-a” sound of sprinkler irrigation
is just like the ringing of a cash register for tobacco farmers,
according to John Yocum, director of Penn State’s Northeast
Research Center near Landisville. “It definitely pays to
irrigate,” Yocum said Monday. “In a dry year, you could
probably save enough crop to pay for half the expense of
irrigation equipment. We don’t irrigate here at the research
farm, but some of our neighbors do and they’ve had excellent
results.’.’
Yocum added that there are some regulations on using
water from streams. One is that a farm must adjoin any body
to water which is used for irrigation. Local extension offices
[Continued On Page 24]
Wylie helps out with the grooming and feeding oi
each horse on the farm. The family boards three other
horses which also require attention.
$2,00 Per Year
grain crop generally is in
excellent shape this year.
“I’ve had reports on barley
yields going as high as 100
bushels to the acre. The crop
came out of the winter in
excellent shape. It was
pushed along by a cool, wet
spring, we had fewer rain
storms which meant less
lodging than in some years,
and the crop just matured
beautifully. We had good
color, good weight, few in
sect and disease problems
and more quality than I’ve
seen in a few years.”
Lueck added that both
wheat and barley were
combined about a week late
this year because of wet
weather in late June, but
that didn’t seem to matter
much.
One trend he feels is more
[Continued on Me 8]
By Dick Wanner