Serving The Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas VoL2INa7 « •H QC .3 reft l £ s CS ,« OD « v ,Jh eft V V eft ft 'O o 8 cc « ,4 £ o X Ifl .1 Scenes from last year’s Farm Show depict the anticipation, pageantry, and joy of winning. Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Jan. 3,1976 $3.00 Per Yea •84,000 prize money waiting HARRISBURG—The 1978 Bicentennial Farm Show open its doon to the public at 8 ajn. January 5, as livestock: and dairy shows get underway in the two arenas, and four days of vocational demonstration contests start in the main show building auditorium. See complete schedules of meetings and events elsewhere in this issue. By the dose of the show January 9 at 4 p.m., thousands of head of livestock and poultry will be judged and winners honored. A perennial highlight of the judging is selection of the grand champion junior steer in the large arena Jan. 8 at 1:45 pjn. This year something commemorative will be added. Not only is this the 60th annual Farm Show, but it is the 50th anniversary of the 4-H steer show. In 1926, Frands Murren of Hanover R 4, exhibited the grand champion steer at the first 4-H show. Mnrren has since spent a lifetime in promoting livestock and youth livestock activities. His dedication will be recognized when he will present the h*ni>w to the exhibitor of the 1978 junior steer champion. Joining | Continued on PateTOJ FFA degree to be awarded ' By MELISSA PIPER LANCASTER Young men and women from all over Pennsylvania will be gathering in Harrisburg this week for the annual FFA Mid-Winter Convention which will be held in con junction with the State Farm Show. A number of the youths will be honored for out standing FFA work when they receive the Keystone Fanning Degree which will be presented at an awards assembly on Wednesday, Jan. 7. The highest state award, the Keystone Farming Degree is presented an nually to 2 % percent of the youths enrolled in the FFA program in Pennsylvania. To be considered for the award, an FFA’er must have invested $5OO into his projects. He must also have been an active member of his local FFA chapter and served as an officer or in a leadership capacity. The Keystone Degree represents the finest in project work coupled with leadership abilities and an interest in the FFA work and service programs. Numerous youths from the Lancaster Farming’s prime coverage area will be receiving the Keystone Degree this Wednesday. Once again Lancaster Fanning has featured short biographies on these youths in the Farm Show Edition beginning on page 49. Tobacco lacking quality ByPIETERKRIEG LANCASTER Lan caster County’s tobacco crop does not appear to be as good this year as it bad been in previous years. That’s the conclusion that was drawn Wednesday afternoon following the Comity’s tobacco show, held here in the Farm and Home Center. One of file more significant revelations was that *be show drew only 111 entries— that’s down from 169 entries the past two years, and 200 before that. Although judges and organizers of the event were somewhat reluctant to comment on this fact, they did express some concern over it and are assuming that the lack of top quality tobacco tins year has caused a number of growers to skip the show. The judging in the 4-H and FFA divisions was done by John Yocum of Pom State Agronomy Research Farm at LandisviHe. Jay Neff of Millersville captured top honors in both categories. Maurice Hostetler, general manager for the A. K. Mann Company, and Les Whitmore, assistant manager from American Cigar, served as judges in the open classes. Arnold Lueck of the Lancaster County Extension staff supervised the show. Commenting on it af terwards, Lueck described the event as having bad a [Continued on Page 19] Pesticides okay for com Corn farmers may con tinue to use dihrdane and heptachlor up until Ang. 1 of fids year, according to an announcement made earlier tins week fay Russell E. Tram, administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Most other uses, however, have been banned because of alleged ties with cancer. Corn farmers will be allowed to continue use this year so that they might have time to find alternative management programs, an EPA spokesman said. The EPA’s ruling came after more than a year of research, debates, and controversy. Velsicol Chemical Corporation, sole manufacturer of both of the banned pesticides, sent the following notice to editors, reporters and newscasters last summer when it learned EPA was intending to suspend the manufacture of heptachlor and chlordane: . “Half-truths, un substantiated allegations, omissions and double-talk arc not the kind of news information you would ex pect from a federal regulatory agency. But that is what you got in die EPA news release, and we think you’ve beat had.” Velsicol presented its case to the media by sending out packets of information. The allegation was that the EPA had slanted its research and news releases, and bad, in (Continued on Page 2t] Exhibitor honored by hog men By MELISSA PIPER YORK - For the post 45 years, J. E. Tanias, a bog producer and farmer from tins comity has traveled to Harrisburg to exhibit bis animals at the State Farm Show. At this year’s 60th edition of the event, Lanins will be honored by ids fellow - swine exhibitors as having the longest history of exhibits. The honor will be in conjunction with a display to be staged in the hog confinement area and is entitled “Do You Remember When?” Lanins first traveled to the Farm Show in 1925 with several Poland China hogs to show in the then “one and only swine class.” The producer explained that at that period in time there was no main building and classes were judged in various buildings throughout the city of Harrisburg. “That first year and for many after we showed in a garage,” Lanius explained “it wasn’t until 1931 that the Farm Show Building was opened for the exhibits.” During the early years of the Farm Show, swine exhibits were verj prominent in the agricultural scene with great numbers of exhibitor: flocking to the show. The breeds then common wen [Continued on Page 24] In This Issue Markets _ 2 . Farm Commentary 10 Veteran Showman 14 UfeontheFann 18 Classifieds 28 Homestead Notes 42 Country Comer 44 Home on the Range 46 Jr. Cooking Ed. 47 Ida’s Notebook 47 Keystone Fanners 49 Bicentennial farm 70 Lancaster DHIA 71 Steer-Hog Show 74 Farm Show feature 75 800 ribbons won 77 Sales Register 80 York DHIA 86 Farm Show Schedule 87 Master Farmer 92