Alo—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, Way 30,1981
Getting along with city transplants
How well do you get along
with your nonfarm neighbors?
This may seem like a
strange question, but ac
cording to the recent National
Agricultural Lands Study, by
USDA and the President’s
Council on Environmental
Quality, farmers may be faced
with getting along with an
expected 62-75 percent in
crease in suburban population
by the year 2000..
The study also confessed
that "the government con
tributes, sometimes inad
vertently, to the conversion of
farmland and noted a number
of federal programs with the
primary purpose of en
couraging or aiding rural
development."
The study also reported the
unfortunate reality that many
farmers are pulling up stakes
and moving away from their
city-transplant neighbors
rather than trying to cope with
the tensions arising from
increasing numbers of non
farm people living close to
farms.
Many farmers are running
away from local ordinances
that bridle farming activities
with rules about when, where
and how to dry corn, spread
manure, locate out-buildmgs,
and the list goes on and on.
As the farmers vacate, new
residents of Half-Acre Haven
run for local political offices
and relax on sun decks as
their remaining farm neighbor
sprays herbicide on newly
planted corn or harvests grain
with chaff and husks perhaps
drifting onto a landscaped
yard.
Suddenly, the newcomer to
country-living decides
something must be done to
prevent the farmer from using
those ‘deadly’ sprays so close
to the home, and littering the
lawn with corn fodder (even
■===—===—
NOW IS THE TIME
To Be Aware of
New Imputed Interest Rates
The uncertainty as to when the 1
new (higher) imputed interest
rates that apply to deferred
payments and installment sales
agreements that failed to specify
any rate of interest (or a very low
interest rate) has now been
cleared up.
After June 30, unless the stated
interest rate for an installment
sales is at least 9% simple interest,
the imputed rate will be 10%
compounded semi-annually.
This means that a 6% simple
interest rate on an installment sale
is and will continue to be accepted
Off the
Sounding
By Sheila Miller, Editor
though enough stalks from the
field somehow found their way
to the front yard light pole to
camouflage it for Halloween).
To help to make the country
life ‘safer’ and more like their
former abodes in the city, the
transplants decide there
should be better services and
facilities for the township
residents like parks, mini
buses, bike trails, street
lights, sewer and water, and
countless other ‘necessities'
fora civilized world.
It’s not that these suburban
luxuries are bad for country
residents, it’s just that they
wind up meaning higher
property taxes and guess
who owns the largest lan
dholdings and winds' up
footing the greatest per
centage of the bill for these
leisure-time and safety
benefits?
As in everything, there are
exceptions to all rules for
there are communities where
suburban residents welcome
the hard, sometimes aromatic,
country life, and never raise a
complaint. They respect the
work of the farmer and even
volunteer to help out when
there’s hay to get in and a
storm brewing over the
mountain.
Where is this utopia, some
farmers might ask.
instead of the cooperative
suburban neighbor, they cope
with folks who stomp down
the alfalfa when their children
lose a ball in the hayfield
and continue to 'search and
destroy’ even after the farmer
entreats them to stop. Fact.
Or, how about the farmer
who chased young children of
a neighboring development
out of his pasture field where
he had some bulls grazing
with steers. The children had
somehow relocated the
fencing and were teasing the
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
by the IRS through June 30.
It is also indicated that while
certain “commonly controlled
businesses” may be subject to
higher imputed rates, the 9%
minimum rate will be sufficient on
sales of property between family
members after July 1 when the
new regulations become effective.
To Check Sprayer
Calibration
The sprayer is a piece of
equiment that is used quite heavily
from spring till fall. Many com
plaints of poor chemical per
formance can be traced to poor
sprayer performance. This is often
due to poor calibration. Calibration
Board
Peepin’
at the ? %)
farm (fadf)
picture
cattle.
Were the parents thankful
the farmer probably saved
their children’s lives? No, as a
matter of fact, he received
threatening telephone calls
not to harass the kids.
And what did the parents do
to the young boys caught
building a ‘green fortress’ out
of corn stalks yanked out row
after row in the middle of a
field? One boy was punished
by having to volunteer his time
during an afternoon’s hay
making, while the other boy
got off with a verbal
reprimand.
Unbelievable yes, but
these things happen when
people who are unfamiliar
with farming and livestock
move next door.
Some of the costly problems
facing farmers are being
solved through legislation
such as the Ag Areas Bill
designed to prevent nuisance
laws from being passed and to
allow ag districts to be formed.
Perhaps legislators should
pass a law requiring all new
country residents to take a
’short’ course in farming so
they have a better un
derstanding of the investment
of time, labor and money that
each farmer has in fields,
livestock, and buildings.
Qr, perhaps this ‘education’
is up to the farmers we’ve
got the most to lose if we think
ignoring our new neighbors
will make them go away.
A mutual respect for each
other and each other's
property will go a long way in
coping with the growing
number of people moving to
the country.
Besides, how much farther
can we run?
simply means to apply a known
amount of spray mixture to a
known area.
There are several methods used
to calibrate a sprayer. The sim
plest is to travel over a selected
area (about one-tenth acre) to
determine the amount of water
applied.
Measure off a strip that provides
a known area. For example a 21-%
foot boom traveling over a 200 foot
course provides one-tenth acre.
One-tenth acre for a 28 foot boom is
154 feet.
Next, fill the sprayer tank with
(Turn to Page Al 2)
ARE YOU BLEEDING?
May 31,1981
Background Scripture:
Hebrews 10 through 13;
Devotional Reading:
John 17:1-11.
The other day was one of the
tunes when it seemed, as the old
saying goes, “1 shoulda stood in
bed.” It was one of those days
when, if something could go wrong
it did. After experiencing blow
after blow, I concluded that
nothing else would go wrong
because I had had more than my
share of woe for the month in one
day. “It wouldn’t be fair for God to
let anything else happen,” I told
myself.
Later, on reflection, I realized
how stupid that reasoning is.
Where did I ever get this idea
about “my share”? What ever
made me fall back upon what is
“fair”? Whoever assured me that I
would be asked to suffer just so
much as a Christian and no more?
Yes, things certainly did go wrong
that day, but, despite everything, I
had not been given a cross. And
that, not a waterbed, is what Christ
has promised us. “If any man
would follow me, let him take up
his cross...”
Consider Him
I should have not been so sur
prised myself for, as a pastor, I
have heard very much the same
thing from people over the years
who have protested having more
than their “share” of troubles,
Farm Calendar
Today, May 30
Bainbridge Mayfest, 4-9 p.m.,
Nissley Vineyards, Rt. 441, near
Bainbridge.
Monday, June 1
Dairy Sanitation Conference,
starts at noon, continues
through June 4, 1.0. Keller
Conference Bldg., Penn State.
Tuesday, June 2
-Cedar Crest Young Fanners 17th
annual banquet, 7 p.m.,
Schaefferstown Fire Hall.
Franklin County Conservation
District monthly meeting, 7:30
p.m.. County Administration
Bldg., Chambersburg.
Wednesday, Junes
Lancaster Conservation District
HAV haws
*
(?•
I
Are you sure that you’re supposed to rotate the
tires the way you do on the car?
implying that God was not exactly
being “fair” with them. I have
reminded them that Christ
promises us a cross and we need to
consider what he himself endured
for us. As Hebrews puts it,
“Consider him who endured from
sinners such hostility against
himself, so that you may not grow
weary or faint-hearted” (12:3). We
have just been through an Easter
season that reminds us once again
that the victory of the resurrection
morning comes only through the
agony of Good Friday and the
sorrow of Holy Saturday.
And, when you get right down to
it, don’t most of us tend to over
dramatize our sufferings a bit?
Yes, 1 had a bad day, but it was all
a matter of perspective. At the end
of that rough day I still enjoyed
excellent health, I still was
married to a wonderful wife, I was
still employed doing the things I
enjoy doing, a flip of the wrist
would still turn on the record
player and bring me Bach or
Chopin, I still was a citizen of the
USA, and on ad infinitum. As bad
things seemed to be that day, the
writer of Hebrews, had I turned to
him, would have brought me up
short with his reminder: “In your
struggle against sin you have not
yet resisted to the point of shedding
your blood (12:4)!
For the Moment
Perhaps when we think that life
has been particularly unfair we
need to ask ourselves, “Yes, but
are you bleeding?” Are we suf
fering anything that is as terrible
as the cross? Are we really suf
fering, or just pouting because
things haven’t just gone our way?
The key is often one of per
spective, taking the long
viewpoint. As Hebrews puts it:
“For the moment all discipline
seems painful rather than
pleasant; later it yields the
peaceful fruit of righteousness to
those who have been trained by it”
(12:11).
Board meeting, 7:30 p.m.,
Farm & Home Center.
Friday, June 5
Delmarva Chicken Festival,
Princess Anne, Md., concludes
tomorrow.
Saturday, June 6
Mason-Dixon Polled Hereford
Field Day, Stony Run Farm,
Arthurdale, W. Va.
Pa. Sheep Field Day & Per
formance tested' ram sale, 10
a.m., Meat Evaluation Center,
Penn State. Sale at 2 p.m.
Strawberry Festival, Blevins Fruit
Farm, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., Stewart
stown, rain date on June 13.
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