Ida’s
Notebook
/
Ida Bluer
Our mailman delivers our mail
in the early afternoon and so we
usually sit down to read it after
dinner. Our mailbox is about one
third mile from our house and
opening it often brings a surprise.
It usually contains ten to fifteen
pieces of mail and sometimes
packages from relatives.
I’d like to share an anonymous
writing that I received from
Michigan. It is about a farmer, but
not the usual—saying that I wish
for a cow with spigots that could be
turned off on Friday night. This
writing is much more true to life
and written in a serious vein.
“In all the world, there are no
other men just like farmers.
Farmers are a diminishing class of
specialists who do many things
well. They come in all sizes,
shapes, colors, and ages. Farmers
are eternal optimists who expect
that next year will bring better
conditions than the floods or
droughts or freezes or insect in
festations they may have endured
every year in the past.
“A farmer can keep a ¥5,000
machine working with a piece of
baling wire, an off-size bolt and the
lid from an old tin can. Farmers
don’t belong to unions, don’t have
40 hour work weeks, don’t need
sleeping pills and don’t like
neckties or fast talkers. Farmers
witness the miracle of birth and
the certainty of death and sense an
order behind it all.
“Farmers are men who teach
their sons and daughters
responsibility and workmanship
before the youngsters move to the
city and go to work in industry.
Farmers see the sunrise and walk
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ing the De Laval*
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FREE pair of Della-Boot™
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Offer expires April 30, 1982. ISOBSSZS
SEE YOUR
LOCAL
DELAVAL
DEALER
J.M. HORST SERVICE CO. J. 0. ZIMMERMAN & SONS
Quentin, PA West of Blue Ball, PA on Route 23
717-274-1242 717-354-4955
FRANKLIN D. HESS
FARM EQUIPMENT
RO2
Orangeville, PA
717-925-6939
PEOPLES SALES & SERVICE BENNETT MACHINE CO. WITHER IMPLEMENT SERVICE I WSW
°7?7^ d 6 Shippensburg. PA 215-257-5136
717-463-2735 302-422-4837 717-532-6139
LANCASTER It’s nearly time
to start those plants indoors that
alone under the stars; they are
strengthened by faith in a higher
being. Fanners are patience-m
-overalls waiting for the ram to
stop, for seeds to sprout, or for a
calf to be born.
“Farmers are practical family
men who are sincere and natural
and don’t try to appear as
something they are not. Farmers
risk all the hazards of their
business and, in addition, endure
the uncertainties of weather, in
sects, diseases and politicians.
‘ ‘Farmers are persistence with a
sun-bronzed face, starting again
after a hail storm has wiped out a
year’s work. Farmers are
exhaustion with 326 bales that
must be lifted and hauled to the
bam alter dark before lying down
to rest.
“Farmers are the kind of
courageous, hard-working, per
sistent, practical, fair-minded men
that other men imagine them
selves to be. Finally, farmers are
the brunt of jokes, the whipping
boy of editors and the sacrifical
lambs of politicians. In spite of all
the criticism farmers get, an in
dication of what people really think
is revealed m the fact that almost
every man considers himself a
farmer at heart.”'
6. HIRAM
BUCHMAN, INC.
Rte. 519 N. off Rte. 46
P.O. Box 185
Belvidere, NJ 07823
201-475-2185
Start plants early indoors
will be set out during spring.
The pleasure of
seedlings through the doldrums of
late winter need not be described
to those who have done it. Nor
must the frustration of seeing
those new sprouts turn yellow,
become spindly, or die off be dwelt
on. There are many factors im
portant to raising healthy tran
splants in the home. One is light.
All the varieties that might be
grown indoors as transplants,
including flower and especially
vegetables, need a lot of light.
Even a sunny, south facing window
(a minimum requirement) is less
than ideal because of possible
temperature extremes during both
day and night, and because of the
bending of plants toward the “one
sided” light. If you don’t just
happen to have a greenhouse
available, an easy and effective
way to provide adequate light is
with two tube fluorescent fixtures
(“shop lights.”) Hang lights over
the plant area by chains so that the
height of the lights can be easily
adjusted. A timing device adds a
measure of convenience in using
the lights. By expanding the
reflecting area of the fixture with
aluminum foil, a surprising
number of plants can be raised
under just one setup.
The value of starting plants
Ration Master"
Feeding System
DeLaval technology enables you to place the dairy herd’s feeding
program under computer control. With the Ration Master Feeding
System, each cow gets out the concentrate'needed for optimum milk
production. Components include neck-worn transponders...single-stall
feeding stations where grain is dispensed automatically...and a Com
puter Command Center where a micro-processor stores and retrieves
data on individual animals.
Reduced labor, more milk, less wasted feed, healthier cows, and
shortened calving intervals are typical benefits. Let us explain more
about the Ration Master Feeding System Module One of the advanced
DeLaval® HerdMasterTM Management System.
CECIL DAIRY SERVICE ERB & HENRY EQUIP., INC.
RDI-Rt.274
Vi Mi. South Rising Sun, MO
301-658-6923
j-.j-.jgys* Bummmnr burcmfields, ihc.
equipment co. wmssnvi Railroad St., Martinsburg, PA
R.D. 1 Box 253, rq j Rome. PA 814-793-2194
Centre Hall, PA 717-247-7414
814-364-1419
Lancaster Fanalug, Saturday, February 6,1982—8 S
indoors can not really be measured
in terms of dollars. The actual
expenditure can, of course, be
tabulated and must indicate the
cost of electricity for lights.
Here is a formula for calculating
that cost. First, figure out the total
wattage required by adding up the
wattages of the tubes being used
and adding 10 more watts for each
40 watts. For example, 2-40 watt
tubes require 100 watts total.
(40+40+10+10).
Compute the cost of using those
lights as follows:
—l. Dally wattage + total
wattage required x hours per day
lights are used.
—2. Kilowatt hours (kwh) =
daily wattage 1000.
—3. Kwh per month = kwh x 30.
—4. Cost per month = kwh per
month x cost per kwh.
Contact the Extension Service
for more information starting
plants indoors.
New Berlinville, PA
215-367-2169