:V01.21N0. 26
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Lancaster Farming; Saturday, May 15,1976
$3.00 Per Year
--.- . , , <
Farther fraternity made history
I By DIETERKRIEG
■ CHRISTIANA A unique
■aimers’group, theDctorard
Banners Club, recently
Completed 120 years of
Bzistence and. service to its N
Community. It’s unique. Tor
Several reasons. "
I Dr. JeromeJC. Paste, pow
Hean of resident educatifmat -
Venn State; once remarked: "
rlhis is one of the oldest
warmers’ clpbs. ip the
■country, and perhaps this,
■the Octoraro Fanners Club, -
-is the cradie of farmers.dubs
in the country. r PastoLwas
present for the-Odh’s.lfiOth
anniversary in 1956 arid
*
\
made the' remarks at that
time.
To Harold Graham, a
relatively new member who
' ..
moved into Lancaster
County\in 1963, the' dub. fa
mote man a fraternity.
Aside from'' providing
f
£
fellowship and opportunity
for learning, ' Graham
regards, the orgamzatfajras
being a nudeus of dom-
Ten scholarships awarded
>. . . By MELISSA PIPER
LANCASTER., TenybuthT representing several
County-high schools, were awarded S4M scfaolarsfaipff by
the Farm and Home Foundation -during an acceptance
program held here on Tuesday evening. .
Eight of the scholarships were awarded to students for
college educations in the fields of home economics and
agriculture..'These presentations come, from'an
_ ! I Continued on Pace 27]
.........
Inthisissue j
:'Fan6 Calendar ‘ 10 Cropßeport , -62 •
1 Life withe Farm 10 - Bicehtefnijialfeature 66 , ;
„ Classifieds • 31 Ladies Day Out , V 74 Z
Country Cdnjfr 50 , Franklin County FF A .76 •
OO ; , Womeh’sfeature ;7? •
Home on the Range 53 > . OSHAskit _ 80 ;
Ida’s Notebook 53- Mini-vacation feature 81 I.
Newt-Hagent ' -54 Youthfeature' 82 »
Dairy princess. , —PulalicSale Register Jg. •
Lancaster Faming Photo by Dieter Kriet
Here's a typical as well as an atypical scene. It’s the season for field work,
that’s true, but a large tractor such as this oneowned by Elmer Hoover of-
Womelsdorf Rl, is still a bit unusual in this part of the country. Hobver'who
farms around a thousand acres in partnership with his brother, Paul, says
he got the tractor above five years ago and is very happy he did. He cango
anywhere. It’s being operated, above, by George Weaver. Powered by a
Cummins V-8 diesel engine, the behemoth is pulling a 15-foot disk and
more. “It saves a lot of work,” says Hoover, who had 250 acres of corn
planted on May 10 and another 300 to go.
Hot-rod tractors ready to go
' munityhistory. He and Ins
wife bave'botti delighted in
findingotitmore about their
Aurbiidings by paging -
through Obtoraro Fanners
Club history.
The Club was once
featured in an issue of The
COUNTRY GENTLEMAN,
a national agricultural
publication, which in itself
indicates bow unique the 120-
year did dub is. Although
membership is presently not
iGoaSnied on Pace 19]
By DIETER KRIEG
' THE BUCK Using three
To four gallons of fuel to go a
distance of 300 feet might
sound like someone needs his
engine tuned, but that
couldn't be further from the
truth. The sophisticated,
precision-tuned, screaming
engines found at a tractor
pulling contest represent a
height in - mechanical
ingenuity.
It involves talcing an
“ordinary” tractor engine
and modifying it to develop
up to 10 times as many
horsepower. The result is
that the tractor, equipped
with over-sized tires, can
tear up a 300-foot dirt track
ui 30 seconds, even though it
is hitched up to a sled which
weighs in excess of 20 tons.
One man who has won
trophy after trophy at the
Buck Tractor Pulls, Inc.,
here, is Mike Wright, a
young farmer from York
County who manages over
2,000 acres. His International
tractor developed about 130
horsepower when he got it
from the dealer. After
modification, it screams
alive with close to 1,000
horsepower.'
But .it takes more than a
Wheat
By DIETER KRIEG
OXFORD - Farming’s
future all boils down to one
thing, according to Wilmer,
Hostetler, Chester County
dairyman and grain fanner,
“If you can’t make a profit,
you. can always sell your
land for good money - - - then
in the end, the consumer will
have to pay more for food.”
Explaining his opinion,
Hostetler commented, that
most farm"' prices are
favorable right now, and as
long as they stay that way,
and consumers are aware of
the farmer’s production
costs, then the outlook is
good. “I can’t speak for the
consumers, but I would Hope
they’re aware of our costs,”
he added.
As one who started far
ming on his own by leasing
powerful engine to win at a
tractor pull. Wide tires help;
proper balance is im
peritive; and the driver’s
> and later purchasing a farm,
Hostetter has had to look for
opportunities to make
His father had a-
Annual Dairy Issue
deadline is June 1
On June 5, LANCASTER FARMING will
recognize the area’s .dynamic dairy industry with
its Annual Dairy Issue. .. .
We extend a special invitation to dairy groups and
organizations, as well as individuals, to submit
articles and news on dairying for the Dairy Issue.
To be sure you make the Dairy Issue, please
submit all advertising and editorial material by
Tuesday, June 1. Call us at 717-394-3047 or 717-626-
1164. Or write LANCASTER FARMING, Box 266,
Lititz, Pa. 17543.
skill frequently make the
difference between placing
first or second.
It has been estimated that
trade found lucrative
farm but sold it, and
Hostetler went to work as a
plumber. After two years he
bad a strong urge to return to
farming -somehow and
signed a rental agreement
Three years later, in 1962
he signed a purchasing
contract
Cows have always been the
mainstay for the Hostetlers,
but for the past eight years
the middle-aged fairmer has
also been involved in grain
marketing.
Hostetter went into the
grain dealing business
because he found that grain
production has been on the
increase in this area during
IContinued on Pace 16]
a tractor which has been
modified for pulls, would.be
capable of'shooting down the
track at a speed of GOmiles
an hour if it were not held
bade by the weight of x the
sled. Tractors in tliese
pulling contests usually ran
ont of traction, not out of
power. To overcome the
traction problem, com
petitors use wide tires, the
treads of which have bear
ground to - shape for -
maximum pull. Wright’s
tires are 30 Inches wide
the most common width is
24.5 indies. They cost $9OO a
piece.
Fuels aren’t the ordinary
kind either, and are often
mixed like drinks. Elwood
Flowers, a puller froir
Manheim, for example,
bums a mixture of 99 per
cent alcohol and one per cent
water in his tractor-which
develops about 820 hor
sepower at 8,000 rpm.
(Continued on Pace 14)