—Lancaster harming, Saturday, November 4,1978
146
Farming then
By JERRY WEBB
University of Delaware
NEWARK, Del. - When did farming become strictly
business and cease to be a way of life? I’m not real sure
that this has happened but everyone who is not a farmer
and knows anything about farming says that’s the way it
has to be. That farming can no longer be a way of life in
the hard-nosed business environment where it now must
operate.
The farm as I knew it as a small boy no longer exits. I’m
sure of that. The pre-war machines are rusting in junk
piles. The men who ran them are old or have passed on
and the horses I loved are no more. Farming to me then
was strong, honest men, sweating horses, rattling farm
wagons and creaking harness, the smell of new hay, iron
wheeled tractors that started with cranks and Model A
trucks. All of those things are gone except for the honest
men. And there are a lot fewer of them now.
It’s easy to romanticize about farming - to think how
wonderful and good it was then and how bad it is now. To
some extent, however, it’s true. There was a lot of good
back then. Things like hard work for men and boys toiling
side by side bucking hay bales or shocking wheat.
Drinking cold water out of a wooden keg kept under a wet
tow sack, listening to men talk about horses and fast cars
and Saturday night m town and how to fix a flat tire and
how many bushels of wheat they could lift.
There were other good things that made farming a way
of life. Things like hearty meals around a huge round
table, washing up at a backyard pump, attending a one
room school and riding a horse instead of a fancy school
bus.
The good old days included some bad things like very
little hard money, hand-me-down clothes, tramping loose
hay in a burning hot loft, picking com by hand in
December, milking cows without a machine, shocking
barley, sacking gram at the thresher with the wind in the
wrong direction, hoeing weeds.
Tune and progress have changed a lot of the things I
remember about farming - both good and bad. But I’m
not sure that many farms have crossed over mto the cold
world of business. The farmers I meet talk about their
independence, the right to choose, being their own boss,
making things grow, raising a family on the land, keeping
the soil. They gripe about low prices and tell you they
PUBLIC SALE
REAL ESTATE,
SOME FARM EQUIPMENT
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 8
Situated along Route 322, 2 miles West of
Blue Ball, 6 miles East of Ephrata, Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania.
Consisting of a 46 acre farm, more or less. Bank
barn, com bam, tobacco shed, butcher shop, 4-car
garage.
2% story frame and aluminum siding dwelling with 8
rooms and bath, oil heat.
Also 4-apartment building, 3 apartments with 2r
bedrooms each and 1 apartment with 1-bedroom. The
two upstairs apartments have air conditioning, wall-to
wall carpeting, electric range, refrigerator, washer
and dryer. The first floor apartments have an electric
range and hardwood floors. These apartments are a
sure means for extra income.
Farm equipment mcludes. Farmall Super A tractor,
two-way plow, cultivator, mower, snow plow, Case
rubber tire farm wagon with new bed, cultimulcher, lot
of steel posts, snow fences, Toledo band meat saw and
miscellaneous goods.
For Settlement and Conditions, contact the owner
Personal Property—l:oo P.M.
Real Estate—2:ooP.M.
ELMER & LIZZIE SENSENIG
New Holland, PA
Phone: 717-354-5212
Marlin Shreiner, Atty.
f\/iARTiN Auctioneers Inc
z&frt Box 71, Blue Ball, Pa. 17506 : 7
' ■" '
“Complete Auction Service”
PaulZ. Larry L. Paul Z., Jr
717-354-6671 717-354-7539 717-354-8793
1:00 P.M
and now - it’s still a way of life
work for less than the legal minimum wage. Yet they
wouldn’t trade it for a corporation desk and a good salary.
Talk to a fanner about what he likes about farming and
he tells you about everything but the business side of
things. He hates office work, does it only when he has to -
would rather plow than figure profit and loss and feels
better in denim than in flannel.
Farming is strictly business to a few farmers. I’ve
visited some of those places and found them lacking. The
operators live m towns and commute to the fields. There
are few, if any, buildings, machinery is left in the field or
under a tree, weeds grow everywhere - taller than the
crops, white paint is nowhere to be seen. These farmers
may make more money but they seem to enjoy it less.
Compare that to the farmer who has the education to do
other things but likes to farm. To him it’s more than a
business. He greets each day with enough enthusiasm to
milk cows at 6:30, do a full day’s work in the field or or
chard and then attend a farm gathering that night.
He’s not nch but he does eat choice meat every day with
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 18
Located Vi mile West of U.S. Rt. 1 at the 472
exit on Bethel Rd. near Oxford, Pa. (signs
posted)
Having decided to discontinue farming, will sell the
following at public auction:
John Deere 1520 tractor & JD 48 loader; John Deere
620 tractor; two 3-bottom 16” JD plows (3 pt. hitch);
Seaman-Andwall roto tiller (3 pt. hitch); 12’ JD disc on
rubber; 12’ cultipacker; 4 section JD harrow; IH 13
disc gram drill; 268 NH baler with thrower; MF 3 pt.
hitch rake; 9W JD mower; two 16’ bale wagons (high
sides), 2 gram boxes, (all wagons on running ge.ars);
N 1323 one-row com picker; Oliver 2 row com planter
(3 pt. hitch); JD flail chopper; 5’ 3 pt. hitch rotary
mower; JD hay crimper; JD manure spreader; 28’
Little Giant elevator, 1969 Chevrolet pickup C-20 (6
cyl., 4 spd. 3 /< ton); two JD dual action hydraulic
cylinders; cattle head gate; 12’ fence gate; fence
controller (battery); Homehte chain saw; 3 h.p.
electric motor; chams; forks; 6 h.p. Troy tiller (like
new).
Over 3,000 bales mixed hay; over 3,000 bushels new
com in cribs.
Auctioneer's Note; The above machinery is in
very good condition. There are very few small
items for auction. Be On Time!
j
Auctioneer:
George L. Gibney 301-658-5649
Not responsible for accidents day of sale
PUBLIC SALE
FARM MACHINERY,
HAY & CORN
11:00 A.M
Hay & Corn
Lunch Available
Terms: Cash or good check
Sale By
BILL DUNCAN
little concern over rising food costs. He goes hunting on
his own farm, looks out of his bam door at open space and
doesn’t worry about his kids becoming juvenile bums.
There’s honest work for them as soon as they are big
enough. He has enough machinery to take the drudgery
out of farming and enough hard work to keep him on the
farm.
Would he give it up for the security of a job? Not likely
as long as he can make a living. Nor will he scramble so
hard to make a buck that he forgets why he’s a farmer.
Sure, it’s a business and he has an office. He also has a
suit. He wears the suit when he goes somewhere special
and he uses the office when he has to or when everything
else is done.
He and others like him to stay with farming because it’s
what they want to do. They know it’s a business but they
aren’t forgetting that it’s also a way of life.
PUBLIC SALE
ANTIQUES & HOUSEHOLD ITEMS |)
Location: 3 blocks east of Oregon Pike (Elby’s)
take Butler Ave. to 1661 Clearview Ave.,
Manheim Twp., Lancaster, Pa.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11
10:00 A.M.
(4) Oak clothes trees, cedar chest, small book case,
(leaded glass front), oak desk chair, pedestal flower
stand, mahogany stand, blanket chest, ship trunk,
small store display cabinets, magazine rack, lamp
stands, piano footed stool, what-not shelf, victrola
cabmet, telephone stand, wood stools, wooden store
buckets, dinette set, metal step stool, steel folding
chairs, steel 4-dr. file cabmet, fireplace screen. Silver
tea set, depression, carnival pieces, Syracuse china,
egg dish. Lots of glassware, dishes, vases, aluminum
cookware, agate pots, roaster, Gone-With-The-Wmd
(reproduction) glass, paper weights, school slate, store
sugar scoops, tin boxes, shoe buttoners, iron Amish
collection, cigar boxes, picture frames, oil lamp,
pocket knives, stamps by the hundreds in packs, some
small dolls, old cards, blankets, spreads, curtains, old
news clippings, market baskets, electric digital alarm
clock, clock radio, Hamilton, Mixmaster, electric oven
broiler, toasters, hotplate, G.E. vac. cleaner, table
lamps, elec, opener. Hoover port, vacuum, Bissel rug *
shampooer, Allen add machine, Toledo store scales,
miscell. items, nap sack, sprayer, rake, shovels, hoe,
axe, fork, step ladders, apple picker, quart jars,
numerous other items.
Auct:
Oilier and Kreider
464-2233 or 786-1545
AUCTION SALE
OF HOUSEHOLD GOODS, FARM
MACHINERY, TOOLS, GUNS, ETC.
Located in Blue Ball, MD, midway between
Fairhill & Calvert. Signs posted off Rt. 273.
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 11
1O:0OA.M.
HH Goods and small items first: School master’s
desk, 2 wash stands, pitcher & bowl, cottage bureau,
dome trunk, old rocking horse, 4 oak chairs, 4 piece
bedroom suite, 2 double beds, kneehole desk, Dining
room table, mantle clock, 2 sewing machines, lamps,
tables, pictures, living room furniture, dishes &
glassware, kitchen set, library table, old
space heater, refrigerator, automatic washer, gas"
range, lawn & porch furniture, etc.
Guns: LC Smith DB shot gun, Winchester 12 gauge
pump gun, 3 22 rifles - 2 with octagon barrels.
Machinery; Oliver 550 with front end loader, 2 B plow
with 3 ph, roto-mower with 3 ph., Oliver 77 row crop
tractor, NH 268 hay liner baler with PTO, Oliver
mower with 7 ft. cut, Oliver 1 row com picker, Oliver
manure spreader, Oliver 10 disc drill, Mayrath
elevator with motor, NI hay conditioner, disc and spr
ing tooth harrows, side rake, 2 RT wagons, McCrudy
gram bin, chain hoist, block and fall, extension lad
ders, B & P & platform scales, bag truck, dehorners,
forks and shovels, bench grinder, electric clippers,
Toro 888 series riding mower, hand powered mower,
roto tiller, wheel barrow, Esco milk tank, 2 Surge units,
double tubs, milk cans, electric clippers, com sheller,
old com by the bushel, hand tools, numerous articles
found around the farm and home.
Terms: Cash or equilivent only.
Owner
MRS. LUCY R. MARTINDELL
Auctioneers
HaroldS. Hill & Son
215-274-8525
Sate By
F. IRENE WILSON
Lunch Available
#■)
m