iter Farming, Saturday, February 2,1980
Farm and Home Foundation holds 16th annual meeting#
BY SALLY BAIR
Staff Correspondent
LANCASTER - Nearly
150 people attended the 16th
annual meeting of the Farm
and Home Foundation held
at the Farm and Home
Center Thursday. Christine
Erb, Mount Joy, newly
returned International 4-H
Youth Exchange delegate,
showed slides and spoke of
her experiences while living
Maryland to launch bean beetle blitz
ANNAPOLIS, Md. -
Soybean growers in the
northern five Eastern Shore
counties of Maryland are
being asked to take part in a
massive effort to combat the
destructive Mexican Bean
Beetle on soybeans in 1980.
Entomologists of the
Maryland Department of
Agriculture’s Plant
Protection Section say that if
they can recruit 300 farmers
who will be planting full
season soybeans this year
they can prove, once and for
all, that Mexican bean beetle
parasites can do the job of
controlling the pest.
For several years, MDA
and the Cooperative Ex
tension Service have been
working with farmers in
using the parasites to curb
bean beetle populations.
Results have been mixed. In
some cases good control has
Solar collector can
An inexpensive, easily
installed solar collector,
Solar Pak 11, designed to
heat homes or outbuildings,
is rapidly gaming attention.
Mounted on a metal frame
near or attached to a
building, Solar Pak II is an 8
x 12-foot polyethylene, solar
collector, resembling an air
mattress.
A window-mounted un
bundling unit takes cool air
from the building, heats it in
the collector using the sun’s
energy, and returns the
warmed air to the heated
space.
The unit provides about
15,000 B.T U.’s of heat. It will
increase temperatures by
about 50*. In other words, it
will keep an uninsulated
area at 40-50 degrees when
outside temperature is at 0.
Larger units of 8 x 24 feet
have been used successfully
as heat sources for one
method of drying gram.
They have cut drying tune
by one-third, and have
substantially reduced
electrical energy costs.
Solar Pak II emerged from
the ingenuity of Lance
Crombie, a farmer and
microbiologist Ph.D, of
Webseter, Minnesota.
Outraged by excessive
propane gas costs to heat his
100 year-old farmhouse,
Crombie designed and
patented the mattress-like
clear polyethylene collector
and tested several units in
the winter of 1977-78
Temperatures of up to 140°
were recorded in the
collector on a typical 25°
winter day in the Minnesota
area
and working with Japanese
farm families.
Chris told the audience
about Japanese agriculture,
which is on a much smaller
scale than m the United
States, and described some
of the daily living ex
periences she encountered.
Seven directors were
elected to serve three year
terms on the board. Newly
been achieved, but m other
cases the results have been
disappointing.
According to MDA’s
supervisor of pest
management activities,
William F. Gimpel, Jr.,
“1980 is the year we go all
out m this program. We have
discovered from our past
work that, to be successful,
the Mexican bean beetle
control program requires a
large number of parasites
released at the proper,time
over a wide area. We,
therefore, are planning an
intensive control campaign
for this year.
“In cooperation with the
Maryland Extension Service
we now want to sign up
participating farmers. The
basic requirements for a
farmer to participate are
that he have full season
soybeans m his crop plans
over 1,000 units were m use
and other designs for in
dustrial and commercial use
were underway. In 1979,
larger 8 x 24-foot units were
discovered to have valuable
application as alternative
heat sources for grain
drying.
Another reason for
Chicago’s Solar growth, has
been the interest by con
sumers m taking advantage
of the government’s 30%
elected directors include
Elam Bollinger, Manheun
R 7; Kenneth Groff,
Strasburg R 2, and Melvm G.
Rohrer, Lititz R 3. Re-elected
were: Vernon Leminger,
Denver R 3; Roy A.
Brubaker, 700 Woodcrest
Avenue, Lititz; Mrs. James
Z. Martin, New Holland R 2
and Clarence Keener,
Manheun Rl.
for 1980 and that he make
available a plot one-quarter
acre in size, for a ‘nurse
plot’.
“The nurse plot will be
planted very early to snap
beans and soybeans. The
snap beans will attract early
emerging adult Mexican
bean beetles that are on the
farm.
“Once the first population
of beetles appears in the
nurse plot we will introduce
the parasites which are tmy
wasps that lay eggs only in
the Mexican bean beetle
larvae. The parasite life
cycle is completed in about
two weeks resulting m a ten
fold population increase.
There are six to eight cycles
each season. The parasitic
wasp is host specific and
does not bother humans or
other animals.
“Once a high parasite
dry grain
energy tax credit. Solar Pak
II qualifies for federal and
applicable state energy tax
credit.
A bill pending before
Congress would increase
federal tax credit to 50% of
home energy improvements,
retroactive to July 1979.
For more infomation,
contact Terry Crombie,
Chicago Solar, 5217 North
Harlem Avenue, Chicago,
Illinois 60656.
Foundation Board
President Jay E. Landis
gave special recognition to
retiring directors Gary A.
Dean, Strasburg; H.
Raymond Stoner, Eden
Road, Lancaster; and B.
Snavely Garber, Willow
Street R 2. Stoner served for
nine years and Garber
participated as a member of
the Board from the begin-
population is achieved m the
nurse plot, the parasites
quickly spread to the
soybean fields where the real
action, and benefit to far
mers, takes place. The role
of the parasite is to prevent
the Mexican bean beetle
population from increasing
to damaging levels.
“We definitely believe that
with better, monitoring,
proper timing of parasite
release, and higher density
levels of parasites, this
program can do the job.
“For this project we need
85 nurse plots m Dorchester
County, 65 m Talbot, 63 in
Queen Anne’s, 56 in Caroline
and 31 m Kent”, Gimpel
said.
Farmers who are in
terested in signing up, or
who want more information
on the program, are asked to
contact their county
agricultural agent as soon as
possible.
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and mess 2 and 4-nipple units are available No freeze
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RVDERSuppIv
- U ' d
ning of its existence, for 15
years.
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agent M. M.
Smith, chairman of the
foundation’s scholarship
committee, reported that the
committee selected 17
students to receive the $650
scholarship last year, from a
total of 40 applicants.
Five scholarships were
awarded in agriculture, five
in home economics, and
seven in nursing.
Smith noted that the
amount given was raised
this year, reflecting an in
crease in money available in
the Esbenshade trust for
ALPINE
Balanced formula of trace elements
Immediate availability of nutrients
A neutral chlorine free product will
not rust or corrode equipment
February Base Price
$2.50 Delivered
Volume Discounts
MERVINM. KREIDER
Frystown, Pa.
717-933-8943
■1
scholarship progress. While
no publicity will be given the
1980 program until later in
the Spring, Smith said
potential recipients are
already inquiring about the
scholarships.
Vocal selections were
provided by Jeannette
Martin, New Holland R 2,
accompanied by her mother,
Mrs. James Z. Martin.
Following her presen
tation, Chris answered
questions and displayed
artifacts she had brought
with her from Japan. For
her talk she was dressed in
an hand-embroidered, silk
wedding kimona.
LIQUID
PLANT FOOD
9-18-9 Starter
10-7-7 Foliar Feed
|i
RR 8, P.O. Box 219
Chambersburg, Pa.
17201
Phone:7l7-2639111