VOL 25 NO.JB.
Hanging tobacco crop, with good quality leaf but a bit thin in yield, is examined
by John Yocum, left, agronomist and tobacco researcher at Penn State’s
Southeast Research Lab, Landisville, and Arnold Lueck, agronomist and county
extension agent.
Quality but thin tobacco crop
I hangs in Lancaster sheds
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
LANDISVILLE
Tobacco sheds across
Lancaster County, their
slats open to the cool, dry
October breezes, contain a
crop, which may be hanging
a bit thin in many locations
but whose rich, chestnut
brown color denotes good
leaf quality.
That’s the summary
assessment of John Yocum,
agronomist and tobacco
researcher at Penn State’s
Southeast Research Lab,
and Arnold Lueck,
agronomist and county
extension agent, from their
travels around the county
and judging of tobacco en
tries in local fairs.
“It’s a good crop,” Yocum
said.
“But a lot of the leaf I’ve
seen is thin and some
growers may be surprised
when they weigh it. I haven’t
seen the big leaves, par
ticularly in those areas that
were hut hard by the ex
tremely dry weather.”
While yields will be quite a
bit better than last yWr,
when blue mold took its toll,
it’s expected they generally
will be anywhere from 15 to
possibly as high as 25 per
cent below a normal year.
But yields likely will vary
considerably across the
county, depending on where
the beneficial thunderstorms
fell during the growing
season. While it was quite
dry around places like
Creswell and southern
sections, summer showers
nourished the crop in areas
such as Denver and Ephrata
snd produced some mon
strous plants.
The tobacco yield
variations will follow the
corn crop yield pattern
recorded in various parts of
the county.
Ideal curing conditions
which prevailed since the
tobacco was hung in the
sheds is responsible for the
general good quality of the
leaf.
“We’ve seen some of the
best color we’ve had in
awhile,” according to Lueck.
“While the quality is
definitely up, our overall
quantities will be down from
normal. Also, we should
have a minimum of curing
problems.”
Lueck had strong words of
praise for the efforts of
growers in tackling the blue
mold problem this year.
“We did a lot better than
we first expected as far as
the disease was concerned,”
he explained.
“Most growers did an
excellent job of spraying in
the seedbeds and the only
time we had spme real
problems was when pulling
and transplanting in-
Horst takes trophies at
Lebanon Holstein Banquet
MT. ZION Lebanon
County’s Kirby Horst ended
his years with the county’s
Junior Holstein Club in a
winning way at Monday
evening’s Annual Lebanon
County Holstein Club
banquet..
Twenty-one-year-old Horst
captured four first place
trophies ancf six second
place plaques in youth
competition for best cows in
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, October 18,1910
terferred with regular
spraying in the beds.”
County growers used all of
the Ridomil that was
available this past season for
their fields.
In the continuing chemical
control of blue mold, the
manufacturer pf Ridomil is
striving to obtain label
approval for its use on
(Turn to Page A 36)
Manor Twp. to discuss ag district plan
BY SHEILA MILLER
LANCASTER - The
Manor Township, Lancaster
County, Board of Super
visors will meet Monday
evening at 7:30 p.m. at the
township building, 26
Mxllersville Road, to accept
or reject an agricultural
district plan.
The proposed ordinance
and map for an agricultural
district in the township were
milk and fat production
during the past year.
Horst’s three year old
Holstein took the top honors
in her division for both milk
and fat. She made 21,216
pounds milk and 720 pounds
fat.
His four year old was at
the head of her class with
21,901 pounds of milk. Her
fat production at 772 pounds
ranked her in second place
Lancaster Farmers’ Assn.
i
approves deed restrictions
BY CURT HAULER
INTERCOURSE -
policy to allow counties or
townships to initiate and
fund farmland preservation
programs such as ag
preserve areas, and to use
deed restrictions, was ap
proved Tuesday night at the
annual meeting of the
Lancaster County Farmers’
Association.
The policy, with several
strings attached to assure
local control and allow a 25
year ask-out interval, was
one of several approved.
The preserve program
would need the support and
approval of each township in
which a preserve area is to
be designated, with full input
from township supervisors
and their planning com
missioners, farmers said.
Among other provisions
are a requirement that all
owners of farmland be
notified ofi hearings on the
matter.
To avoid suppression of
property values within a
preserve and to prevent
intermingling of residential
and other development m a
preserve area, the resolution
allows a township to buy, at
market price, a property for
which a change of use is
anticipated.
The passage of the
resolution has to be seen as a
victory for Amos Funk, the
Meeting Monday evening
presented to the supervisors
Tuesday evening by the
township’s planning com
mission.
According to John Barley,
a dairyman and member of
the planning commission for
Manor Township, the
commission hopes the
supervisors will accept the
proposal as presented.
“Ninety percent of the
time the supervisors accept
Horst’s aged cows in milk
took first and second places
with production records of
24,490 pounds and 22,439
pounds respectively In fat
production, they came in
second and third with 864
pounds and 796 pounds
milkfat.
In the two-year-old
competition, Horst’s entry
placed second in both milk
(Turn to Page A3O)
Millersville fanner who has
pushed for such a program
for years.
Funk noted the 25-year
provision and township
control mechanism as the
two compromises which
allowed passage of the
resolution.
The resolution, if approved
on the state level by Penn
sylvania Farmers’
Association, may ease
passage of HB 1963 by
allowing legislators who
ordinarily follow PFA policy
to support such a bill.
HB 1963 basically would
make legal the provisions
called for by LFA. Then
municipalities seeking to
save farmland, like Ephrata
Township, could continue
with their ag preserve
program.
In this Issue
SECTION A: Editorials, 10; Bradford-Sullivan
farmers, 17; York lambs, 18; Lebanon farm-city ex
change, 30; Manheim sale, 32; Good old hybrids, 38.
SECTION B: Eisenhower farm, 2; Meat, poultry
outlook, 8; York DHIA, 9; Chester DHIA, 11; MCMP
York meeting, 12.
SECTION C: Homestead notes, 2; Home on the
range, 6; Joyce Bupp, 8; Ida’s 10th year, 10; Dealing
with stress, 16; Lancaster DHIA, 25; Sheila’s shorts,
34.
SECTION D: Apple art, 2; KILE horses, 4; Farm
talk, 10; 1980 milk picture, 11; NEDCO annual meeting,
13; 291-bushel corn, 20.
the Planning Commission’s
recommendations without
any changes,” he stated.
However he admitted there
may be some discussions on
the proposed boundaries of
the ag district as delineated
on the map.
“The proposed ordinance,
I feel, is acceptable pretty
.much as is,” Barley said
Friday.
Included in the ag district
plan for Manor Township are
its 9600 acres of prime
farmland.
The Lancaster County
Comprehensive Plan and the
Soil Survey for the township
were used as guidelines for
preparing the map.
Barley said the county’s
sample ordinance was used
as a guide but that Manor
Township made some
modifications to the original.
“We felt the county plan
was too restrictive it
allows for zero development.
“In our plan, we are
calling for a three percent
development restriction. In
other words, if a farmer
needs to build a home for a
familv member of himself.
$7.50 Per Year
Since the preserve
program is not manditory,
any township whose voters
are against the idea would
not have to participate.
In other action, LFA
recommended the seller of
any animal sold by weight at
auction be furnished with a
duplicate of the weight slip
furnished to the buyer.
They asked PFA to oppose
designation of streams,
rivers, lakes and wilderness
areas for wild and scenic
uses. This stems from the
proposed Wild and Scenic
River designation for the
Octoraro.
Lancaster farmers
recommended 50 percent of
the property tax be replaced
by a higher income tax and
(Turn to Page A 34)
he can develop up to three
percent of his total acres.
“Instead of being limited
to building on an acre lot, our
ordinance allows for home
construction on 20,000 square
feet.
“This makes development
in the future, if the need
arises, a simple thing.
Farmers are more con
fortable with that type of
ordinance.”
Barley emphasized that
the Planning Commission
encourages any develop
ment on farms be done on
less desirable land.
He pointed out the three
percent allowance can be
transferred between
properties.
“If a farmer owns two 100
acre properties, the total
allowable, for development
would be six acres.”
If one farm had six acres
of woodland or some other
type of less desirable land,
the farmer could then
transfer three acres for
development from one 100
acre farm to the other,
(Turn to Page Al 2)