—Lancaster Farming, Saturday. May 14. 1977 10 issaet^ EDITORIAL Facts on farming missing We in agriculture can bark all we want about consumer education. It’s evident we haven’t done enough, nor are we doing enough today. What’s needed is a required course or two in high school which will bring the facts of food to students. Hopefully they’ll then retain that knowledge for the rest of their lives. T Our school system requires all sorts of courses to be studied, but seldom is agriculture taught to anyone who isn’t in Vo-Ag. It's about time a change is made so that people in the cities have a better idea of where food realty comes from. Knowing a few basis facts about agriculture surely is as important as any sciences or literature course, art, geometry, or what have you. The place to start is to relay the need for such an educational program to the Department of Education in Harrisburg. Practical experience needed A story appearing on page 86 of this week's issue of Lancaster Far ming reveals that more than 2500 of Penn State’s 3650 undergraduate ag students come from urban and suburban areas. What a change from a decade or so ago, when farm boys dominated the ag campus and seemingly no one else cared about farming. Now agriculture is the thing to do. Agriculture has finally become important in the eyes of career seeking students. ' That’s good and bad. It's good because it’s about time agriculture is recognized for its importance and that people no longer look down at the man or woman who chooses to serve in this great industry. It’s bad because this trend of urban students eventually filling positions in agriculture will further dimmish the important and irreplaceable value of practical experience. Imagine a hog specialist at the Extension Service who has never seen pigs outside of Penn State’s facilities, much less worked with them Imagine a vo-ag instructor teaching beef cattle management without considering practical aspects Think of the milk inspector who might never have worked with a cow. Some of the folks at Penn State acknowledge themselves that education at the College is not enough to prepare graduates for service within the agricultural community One of them is Dr Leon J Johnson who urges farmers who need help this Summer to contact Serving The Central and Southeastern Pennsylvania Areas Krieg, Editor By Dieter pawning COMMENTS Something should be done to bring the facts of food production to the people in town who have little or no idea as to what it's all about. A young woman from Philadelphia, who has since become the wife of a dairy farmer told me recently that until a few years ago she couldn't trace the origin of milk back any further than the grocery store. Even while in high school, the recent Penn State graduate thought milk was manufactured in the back room of the supermarket. There are supposedly millions of youngsters who are totally in the dark about where food comes from. They are totally out of touch with animals, farms, crops, and agriculture as a whole. Even grownups have been heard-to say that they don't need the farmer to produce food -- they get their needs from the shelves of the store. him. He'd like to see the urban fellows get a taste of life on the farm so that they really learn what it’s all about. Penn State can't offer that op portunity except to a few who work at production facilities. If you’re in terested in hiring one of the students from Philadelphia or Pittsburgh for the Summer, Johnson asks you to contact him at 13 Tyson Building, University Park, Pa. 16802. If you’d prefer to call him, the number is 814- 865-1147. The effects of insufficient practical experiences by many of today’s agriculturists are already being felt. Consider some of OSHA's regulations, for example, as proof that the fellows with nothing more than a book education don't always know what they’re talking about. Students who lack practical ex periences can't be condemned. I remember too well all the years when I wasn’t allowed to shoulder a variety of farm work simply because I lacked the experience. Sooner or later, we have to pick up that experience. At one time, none of us had experience. The opportunities must be offered to those who are willing to learn Otherwise our next generation of agribusinessmen and farm em ployees might be like the fellow depicted in a cartoon a few years ago The brand new hired hand planted himself into a wheelbarrow and was eager to get started while his farmer boss looked on “How do you turn this thing on 7 ’ he asked the irritated farmer THE BEAST Lesson for May 15,1977 Background Scripture: James 3 Devotional Reading: Proverbs 2:1-15 Jesus once said, “And if your hand or foot causes you to sin, cut if off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life maimed or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire” (Matthew 18:8). Of course, Jesus did not mean for that statement to be taken literally, but if he had, I suspect that more Christians WOULD LOSE THEIR TONGUES THAN ANY OTHER ORGAN OF THE BODY! Many who are never likely to kill, steal, or commit adultery will prove just as errant in God’s eyes by virtue of their in temperate or untruthful speech. The unrecognized beast The evil of the unbridled tongue is probably as per vasive as it is because we tend to underestimate its importance. We seem to accept uncritically the old doggerel: Sticks and stones May break my bones, But names will never hurt me. But it isn’t so! Names can often be as hurtful or more than “sticks and stones.” We often say, “they were just words,” as if words were inconsequential. Dema gogues, like Hitter, know that that isn’t so. Military experts in psychological warfare and - propaganda know that is not so. And, if we stop to be honest with ourselves, we know it too. The other evening I watched documentary television program on “Violence in America.” A portion of the program dealt with the “violence of word s,” something that seems to be growing in our society. Every day in the newspaper I read inflammatory words written or reported by newspeople. I hear in temperate words written or reported by newspeople. I hear intemperate words on my radio and TV, on streetcorners, public buildings, and the livingrooms of friends and neighbors. And James is right when he calls the tongue “a fire,” “a beast,” a “deadly poison” that can ravage a who community. Taming the beast James is concerned that the readers of his letter will begin to understand how vulnerable their tongues can be maice them. What we say, he points out, is very serious. It is just as easy - perhaps even more - to sin with words as with deeds. Furthermore, says James, how terrible to use the same organ to praise God with one breath and curse men with another! If the same tongue is used to both bless and curse, we must assume that the words of blessing are insincere: “Does a spring pour forth from the same opening fresh water and brackish?” (3:11). A bit of brackish water casts doubt upon the purity of the “fresh To Check For Alfalfa Weevil We are in the decision making period with alfalfa; should I spray or should I cut it. This depends on the degree of dpmage and the stage of maturity. If your stand is getting along in maturity, then it would pay to cut early. If you decide spray, then the ap plication should be made when 60-70 per cent of the plants show slight feeding damage at the tips. There are two problems with'spraying - the physical damage from the tractor water” that comes from it and a malicious tongue throws suspicion upon our acts. The tongue, James tells us, tis not a mischievous “tabby cat,” as we so often assume, but a fiery, untamed, poisonous beast that somehow for our souls’ sake we must learn to control. Farm Calendar Monday, May 16 The Elizabethtown-Donegal 4-H Community Club holds reorganizations! meeting at 7:30 p.m. in the home of Ray Sauder, Mount Joy. York County Extension Service has pond management and weed ’ control meeting at the 4- H Center in Bair, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, May 17 Ephrata Area Young Far mers meeting, 7:45 p.m. at the high school. Topic: Farm Building Con struction Techniques. Exam for commercial pesticide applicator license, Adams - County Extension office, 1 p.m. Board of directors meeting of the Lancaster Farm and Home Foundation, 8 p.m. at the Farm and Home Center. Deadline for placing orders RURAL ROUTE By Tom Armstrong NOW IS THE TIME Max Smith County Agr. Agent .Telephone 394-6851 wheel running over the growing plants and tolerance time when the residue is “off” the plants. Be sure to read the label for the tolerance periods for the different chemicals. Some alfalfa fields can be harvested early to prevent damage. When this is done, keep a dose watch on the stubble to make certain that the new growth is not being damaged. Hie stubble may need spray protection to permit new shoots to develop. Check the Agronomy Guide for materials and rates. The best thing you can do now is to take a walk into your alfalfa fields and closely examine the plants. Many times they look alright at a distance. To Beware of Gypsy Modi The Gypsy moth have started to hatch and will {Continued on Page 17] for capons in the 4-H Capon Club, Lancaster County. Contact Jay Irvin for details. Wednesday, May 18 Lancaster County , 4-H County Council meeting, “Sports Night” of volleyball and basket ball, etc. at Kerry BbyS’s home, south of Clay on Clay Road. 7 p.m. Thursday, May 19 Lancaster County 4-H demonstrations, 7 pin. at the Farm and Home Center, 7 p.ra. Lancaster County 4-H Consumerama, 4 p.m. at the Farm and Home Center. Saturday, May 21 Hampshire Sheep Field Day, at the Clyde Brubaker farm. Lancaster. Lancaster County 4-H’ers hold boagie sale. Contact Extension Service for details. o •••
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers