Cl2—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, April 12,1980
On being
a farm wife
"Andother
hazards
J Joyce Bupp
Emotions will run high this
week as farmers and city
relatives alike respond to the
battle cry of Uncle Sam:
“It’s time to pay your in
come taxes!”
While millions take the
easiest way out and submit
the simple 1040 form,
calculation of farm taxes is
something of an art unto
itself. And to further com
plicate matters, decisions on
what is and what is not
deductible seem to change
with as much predictability
as the wind.
This year’s version of the
Internal Revenue Service
game rules and regulations
offer a brand new hair
raising goodie for fanners,
something labeled by our
farm accounting service as
the “alternate income tax.”
It sounds innocent enough,
and is truly an alternate. If
the total farm income
reaches a certain level, what
Western Berks 4-H
Dairy Club elects officers
The Western Berks 4-H
Dairy Club held its fust
meeting of the year at the
home of William Lesher.
New officers elected in
clude. Mark Moyer,
president; William Lesher,
vice-president; Lon Lesher,
secretary; Karen Lesher,
was previously non-taxable,
suddenly becomes taxable.
Some alternate, huh?
Mostly, the ruling affects
farms with earnings from
capital gains on the sale of
some farm asset, like dairy
cows for instance. Fanners
could once balance the gains
from the sale of cattle
against the investment
credit. But now, if the farm
income reaches a deter
mined level, the tax must be
figured in two different
ways, hence the “alternate”
label.
And here’s the clinker:
you must pay the HIGHEST
amount of tax from two ways
of figuring the same income.
My blood boils every time I
even think of it.
In all fairness, I think I’d
like to have an alternate
place to send my tax check -
like to my favorite church or
chanty. If they can have an
alternate, then why can’t I?
treasurer; and Donna
Stump, reporter.
Following the meeting, the
group judged cows in the
Hoard’s Dairyman Cow
Judging. Awards will be
given to the highest junior
and semor. Reported by
Donna Stump.
Lime important for vegetable growers
UNIVERSITY PARK -
Recent research has shown
that the proper use of lime
can play a vital part in help
ing vegetable growers gam
much higher efficiency by
lowering production costs.
Lime can play a signifi
cant role in reducing the
plant uptake of toxic
elements, unproving yields
and increasing nutrient up
take and levels
lame supplies or makes
available several important
plant nutrients including
phosphorus, calcium, and
magnesium. Lime also
depresses the uptake of
several elements including
manganese, zinc, and
potassium.
Avoiding manganese tox
icity is one of the mam
benefits of liming. Some
crops such as red beet make
very poor growth on highly
acid soils, likely as a result
of toxicity related to the ex
cessive uptake of
manganese. Reduction in
leaf zmc by liming may not
be desirable but this is usual
ly offset in producing
vegetables by applying fer
tilizers containing
ammonium-nitrogen which
enhances the uptake of zinc
and prevents a deficiency.
Research results have also
provided some interesting
information on the role that
liming plays in controlling
nutrient supplies when com
pared to fertilizer applica
tion. In studies with the four
most important vegetable
crops, sweet com, snap
bean, tomato, and cabbage,
when the best lime treat
ment and the best fertilizer
treatment were compared,
the tune treatment had near
ly as great an effect as the
fertilizer treatment m in
creasing total yields.
A good liming program
can be responsible for nearly
one-half of the potential yield
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# I enta/s Reading PA 19604 U / D‘OOuD
increase from lime and fer
tilizer additions. In consider
ing other production costs,
lime is thus still a very good
value.
Whether lime supplied
adequate quantities of
calcium and magnesium
depended on the type ap
plied. While all three lime
types studied had similar
effects in raising soil pH, the
calcitic and calcitic with 3
percent Mg types increased
the percent saturation of
calcium substantially, but
caused only moderate in
creases in percent saturation
of magnesium. The dolomihc
type, however, raised
ca’cmm saturation to 58 per-
See Us First.
WE’VE GOT WHAT YOU NEED
j^ENTALS
f^NLIMITEO
cent but increased
magnesium saturation to 24
percent, which was 6-fold
that of the unlimed check.
A good compromise bet
ween the calcitic and
dolomihc types could be a
calcitic type with 3-6 percent
magnesium which would
supply reasonable quantities
of both calcium and magen
sium. In fact, the calcitic
with 3 percent Mg lime
resulted in as high or in some
cases higher yields as when
the dolomitic type was ap
plied even though the soil
magnesium was only 3.9 per
cent saturation before lim
ing.
Contrary to what has been
believed, these studies have
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720 N Prince St Lancaster PA 17603 05I0" I /U I
940 Cornwall Road Ann VI CEO
Lebanon PA 17042 C, / C'^DOO
shown that finely-ground
limestone will increase plant
nutrient supplies quickly.
For example, in one snap
bean experiment, calcitic
lime applied at 4 T/A in
creased leaf calcium by 28
percent just 45 days after be
ing applied while a com
parable application of
dolomitic lime increased
leaf magnesium by 65 per
cent. This demonstrates that
dolomitic lime can supply
magnesium rapidly enough
to remedy most deficiency
problems and that it need not
be applied m more costly fer
tilizer. It also shows that it is
practical to apply lime on
rented land.
We rent trucks of all sizes.
from pick-ups and Econo
lines to vans, stake body and
dump trucks. So whenever
you need a truck or any
kind of equipment
I