Alo—Lancaster Farming, Saturday, August 22,1981
Ag Progress?
Once again hordes of farm
ers and other folks will be
pouring into Penn State's
Research Farm for the annual
event known as Ag Progress
Days.
Packed into three days will
be events and and exhibits
designed to inform farmers
about the latest in agricultural
research and technology.
What's the newest in
novations in conserving soil
and water, tilling, planting,
and harvesting hay and corn 7
What technological advances
have been made in the realm
of farm machinery to make life
a little easier for the hard
working farmer 7
All these questions and
more will be answered as
Pennsylvania farmers and
their families reap the benefits
of years of research and ex
perimentation done at Penn
sylvania’s land grant
university for the sake of ag’s
progress
Yes, there is no question
but that agriculture has
“come a long way” from the
days of the hand plow and the
cyclone seeder. Farmers today
can feed more people using
fewer man hours and less
acreage than their forefathers
and most people take for
granted that this will continue
to improve
But the fact is, farmers are
running out They’re running
out of land, out of financial
assets, and out of will power to
go on with their hard life when
B= ' Ll =
NOW IS THE TIME
To Apply Lime When Seeding
Small Grain
Preparation is being made for
fall wheat and barley seeding. This
is an excellent time to apply lime.
A soil test will indicate how much
per acre, if needed. This is doubly
important if you plan to seed down
a grass-legume mixture next
spring.
Many times a clover or alfalfa
producer will wait until spring to
have lime applied to his field. This
is not the way to get a good stand.
Lime needs up to six months to
react in the soil and correct the
acidity.
If soils need lime, it should be
worked into the topsoil when the
small grain seedbed is being
prepared. Legume seedings are
costly; be sure the soil is between
6.8 to 7.0 pH so they have a good
chance to survive.
To Fertilize Strawberries
The new strawberry patch that
you planted this spring should be
pushing runners by this time of
year. It’s a good idea to fertilize
these new plantings during August-
A fertilizer high in nitrogen or
nitrogen only would be best.
Off the
Somdmg
By Sheila Miller, Editor
they can’t turn a profit even
with all the research that has
gone into modern agriculture
The nation is running out of
young people who can either
afford to or desire to become
farmers and what will be
the benefit of all the research
if there are no farmers left 7
Yes, there’s been progress
in agriculture Just recently
we've learned how calves can
be produced by artificially
fertilizing eggs in a test tube
The fertilized egg can be
placed in a donor cow or even
frozen And scientists are now
talking about the near
possibilities of cloning
producing absolutely identical
offspring of our ‘super’ cows
We grow vegetables in
water, hatch featherless
chickens, and seed corn in gel
strips Things that have
become commonplace in our
ag society, like no-till planting,
embryo transfers, and farming
with computers, would have
boggled the minds of farmers
of the early 1900's even
those of )ust two decades ago
What lies in store for
agriculture in the U S and
elsewhere 7 The answer lies in
the fields and laboratories of
our universities and research
farms. It’s both exciting and
frightening to try to speculate
just how advanced the
American farmer could
become
With all the progress that
has been seen in the past few
years, it is not unfathomable
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
The objective is to encourage
more runners and develop a
stronger plant. It will also increase
yields for next summer. Another
thing, weeds must be controlled at
all times to have a healthy
strawberry patch. The earlier in
the summer we can get the runner
plants to take root, the better way
they will be established for next
year.
To Plan Winter Oliver Crops
This is a good tune to give some
thought to a winter cover crop on
land that has been tilled this past
season The seeding of ryegrass,
bromegrass, or winter grains
following the harvest of the mam
crop this fall, will help reduce soil
erosion.
In addition, a cover crop adds
organic matter when it is in
corporated mto the soil next
spring. Cover crops are especially
helpful on slopes and hillsides
where water erosion is a problem.
Just a word of caution, some
herbicides used on com (atrazme)
may prevent the growth of any
gram or cover crop this fall.
Board
Peepin’ /rx
at the f%>
farm,
picture
that farmers will soon be
watching a computer pnnt-out
terminal while they drink their
morning coffee rather than
turning an ear to the radio for
market information
Computers and lasers on
planting equipment will en
sure that seeds.are ‘lovingly’
dropped at just the right
depth and spacing Complete
intake and output information
on cattle, hogs, and sheep will
be available at the touch of a
button for producers to use in
determining profit margins
Dairy and beef herds will be
made up of identical super
cows produced through a
procedure where a single cell
is ‘sliced’ and grown into
calves
Sound too far-out to be
plausible 7 Don’t forget that's
what people said about em
bryo transfers and automatic
magnetic feeders
Ag progress the sky
seems to be the limit But in
all the vast possibilities, we
need to keep in mind the
dangers of becoming ‘too
smart’ and the fact that we are
still just mere humans trying
to make our lives, and the
lives of others, a little easier
and hopefully a little better
than before.
To Be Aware Of Ihe Adult Stage Of
The Com Rootworm
The adult stage of the northern
com rootworm are starting to
emerge. In fact I’ve seen a number
of these little green beetles in our
home. They are merely a nuisance
in the home.
If you recall, the life cycle is
something like this; the beetles lay
most of their eggs during Sep
tember and October in the soil
around the com roots. The eggs
remain dormant for 8 or 9 months
and begin to hatch m the latter half
of June. The small white larvae hut
for com roots and begin feeding as
soon as they find them. If the
larvae cannot find com roots, they
will die. This is the reason that
rotation of crops is effective in
controlling com rootworms.
So, keep a close watch for the
small greenish beetle, this will be
an indicator on what to expect next
spring.
If you find the green beetle on
your corn silk, they will do very
little damage since most of the
corn is pollinated.
YOU CAN DOIT!
August 23,1981
Background Scriptures:
Deuteronomy 30:11-20.
Devotional Reading:
Nehenuah 9:26-31.
“It’s too late for me to change
my life!”
“Things are too messed up to
straighten out!”
“I’ve always been this way and I
always will be!”
“There’s no way 1 can start
over!”
These are just a few of the things
that people tell me when I
challenge them to put their lives in
order. So many people conclude
that there is a point at which a life
is no longer worthy or possible of
redemption.
1 can understand those feelings,
for there are tunes when the
challenge to “clean up our act”
seems totally beyond our meager
capacities. We feel doomed to stay
exactly where we are; at the
bottom of the pit!
The Choice Is Ours
But one of the enduring themes
of the Bible is that it is never too
late, never too difficult, never
impossible, unless we choose to
make it so. As Moses sums up his
third discourse to the people of
Israel, he makes it clear that their
destiny depends upon their own
choices: “See, 1 have set before
you this day life and good, death
Farm Calendar
Saturday, August 22
Central Pa. Holstein Show, Hun
tingdon, 6 p.m.
Sunday, August 23
Carbon Co. Fair, Lehighton, until
Saturday.
Somerset Co. Fair, Meyersdale,
until Saturday.
Monday, August 24
South Central 4-H Dairy Roundup,
Farm Show Building,
HAV HAWS
“May be should ask him what hybrid seed he used.”
and evil” (Deuteronomy 30:15). As
someone has put it, there are no
hopeless situations; just people
who have grown hopeless about
them. If we choose to regard life
without hope, it will be without
hope. It has not been decided for us
by someone else. It is our choice:
“therefore choose life, that you
and your descendents may live”
(30:19).
Moses makes clear, not only that
we can choose life, but that, we are
constantly making choices—good
and bad—and there are con
sequences that follow those
choices. If we choose hot to follow
God’s commandments, there is an
eventual price to be paid. “But if
your heart turns away, and you
will not hear, but are drawn away
to worship other gods and serve
them, I declare to you this day that
you shall perish” (30:17,18). So, we
are not helpess victims of life; we
shape our lives by the choices we
make.
Very Near
Neither is the good life in God’s
will so far beyond our grasp. “For
this commandment which 1
command you this day is not too
hard for you, neither is it far off. It
is not in heaven, that you should
say, ‘Who will go up for us to
heaven, and bring it to us, that we
may hear it and do it?” (30:11,12).
Of course, it is not easy, but neither
is it beyond our grasp, if we really
want it. One doesn’t have to have a
high I.Q. nor rise from a higher
culture to grasp that which we
must do. No, "the word is very
near you; it is in your mouth and in
your heart, so that you can do it”
(30:14).
When we look at our own lives, it
is easy to conclude that new life is
beyond our grasp. But when we
behold m us the power of God’s
redeeming love, we need to
remember that: WE CAN DO IT!
Harrisburg, continues through
Tuesday.
Montgomery Co.
sburg, Md.,
Fair, Gaither
continues to
Saturday, for more information
phone; 301/926-3100.
West End Fair, Gilbert, until
Saturday.
Westmoreland Co. Fair, Green
sburg, until Saturday.
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