Alti-Uancatf r Farming Saturday, Fabruary i;5,1954 '
Straw fire, Mississippi mud, popcorn and the
1985 Farm Bill.
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
Next to the crowded, uncomfortable con
ditions m airplanes, the worst experiences in
agricultural travels are found in rental cars.
0 J. Simpson and Arnold Palmer may always
get the ideal vehicle, but I was never that
lucky
Here are a few recollections concerning
rental cars during ag ramblmgs
The first lesson I learned was to never pull a
vehicle with a catalytic converter into a wheat
field during harvest I did it in Kansas and
started a little straw fire Now, a lot of big
wheat farmers burn off their fields, but they
like to wait until the harvest is over
If you ever read the fine print on the back of
a car rental contract, it specifies that the
vehicle is not to be operated off paved roads
Well, it’s pretty hard to film and photograph
combines or other machinery at work from a
paved highway
Once during a swing through the South I
learned the true meaning of Mississippi mud
Driving out a levee, I suddenly ran out of
paved road and soon was mired in some thick
gumbo - not the eating kind It took a few
hours to work the car back out and the first
stop was a car wash where the vehicle was
bathed inside and out
The car was stnll a mess when it was turned
in and that was the first time - but not the last
Farm Calendar /
L.
Saturday, Feb. 25
Woodcutting and chainsaw safety
program from 10 a.m. to noon in
the Vo-Ag Department of Blue
Mountain High School.
Monday, Feb. 27
Fayette Co. Agronomy Day from
10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Piwowar
Farms, Uniontown R 6.
Lanchester Pork Day at 9 a.m. at
the Martindale Fireball.
Luzerne Co. soil fertility day at 1
p.m. at St. James Lutheran
Church, Hobbie.
Cumberland Cooperative Sheep
and Wool Growers banquet at 7
p.m. at the South Middleton
Fireball, Boiling Springs.
Delaware Conservation Con
ference at the Dover Sheraton
Hotel.
NE regional fruit growers meeting
at 10 a.m. at the Hamada Inn,
Chinchilla.
OH<
OT! S, YOU'VE BEEN
FARMING FOR OVER
SO VEAPS, RIGHT?
(right)
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Bedford Co. dairy meeting from 11
a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Bedford
Trinity Lutheran Church.
Tuesday, Feb. 28
Bradford Co. NIR forage testing
from 8 a.m. to noon at Rockwell
Mills, and from 1 to 4 p.m. at
Claverack Electric, east of
Wysox.
Mid-Atlantic irrigation conference
at the Treadway Resort Inn,
Lancaster. Continues
tomorrow.
Del. Safety Seminar at 7 p.m. at
Odessa Fireball.
Conservation Tillage Day at 9 a.m.
at the Farm and Home Center,
Lancaster.
Cumberland sheep producers meet
at 8 p.m. at the Extension Of
fice, Carlisle.
Farm Financial Management
School at the Lampeter
Fireball. Contmues tomorrow.
-- I got docked extra by Hertz for operating off
a paved road
And then there was the time in Illinois, or
was it Indiana We were out filming combines
in specialty crops One of the crops was
popcorn being grown for that guy you see on
TV - Orville (funny last name)
Well someone in the camera crew got the
bright idea to try and pop some of the corn by
dropping kernels down the defroster vents
and turning the heater on full blast
Needless to say, it didn’t work But that was
another time that Hertz didn’t find much
humor in our escapades and tacked an extra
charge on the bill for removing the corn that
clanked and bounced around every time
someone turned on the heater
And what does this have to do with the 1985
Farm Bill Not much really, except providing a
different way to introduce some comments
about it
Preliminary talk about the bill has already
begun in Washington and I hope that the heat
of campaign rhetoric doesn't overshadow
common sense and dumb mistakes aren’t
made like pulling a hot car into a field of straw
Also, as each faction of agriculture sumbits
input, I hope that the whole process doesn’t
get bogged down m biased details and drafters
of the bill lose sight of the general overall
modernization that is needed in ag legislation
And, finally you gotta admit it’s pretty dumb
to try and make popcorn in a car heater All
you get is a lot of noise and a bill to rectify the
stupidity Also, it's been pretty dumb for the
government to continue to try and solve the
farm surplus problem with stop-gap tem
porary measures that have failed time and
time again
This is Tnsh Williams’ final issue with
Lancaster Farming She has moved on to the
Amenca'n Dairy Association in Towson, Md
If Tnsh brings the same enthusiasm and
freshness to the job of promoting dairy
products that she displayed here, perhaps
some progress finally will be made at whittling
away at those surpluses
SO LONG, TRISH
Lebanon Valley National Bank ag
seminar at 8:45 a.m. at the
Prescott Fireball.
Md. Holstein Convention, Sandy
Cove, Md. Continues tomorrow.
York Farm Forum at 6:15 p.m. at
Moser’s Restaurant.
W. Pa. Turf and Grounds Main
tenance School at the Pitt
sburgh Marnot.
Wednesday, Feb. 29
Pa. wine conference at Penn State.
Continues tomorrow.
Md. Holstein Convention Sale at
Sandy Cove, Md.
Leb. Beekeepers meeting at 7:30
p.m. at the Lebanon Extension
Office.
Acid rain meeting at 7:30 p.m. at
the Lower Paxton Township
Building, Harrisburg.
Dauphin Soil Conservation Day at
9:45 a.m. at the Upper Dauphin
High School.
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NOPE
DP
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Background Scripture
Isaiah 58 and 59.
Devotional Reading:
Isaiah 59:1-15.
If you handle this one carefully,
you’ll be okay.
After all, much of what the
Prophet Isaiah is talking about in
Isaiah 58 is the practice of fasting,
something that is likely a “non
issue” for 99 and 44/100% of those
who will read these words.
So, as long as Isaiah talks about
something that’s outside our
religious experience, we’re safe
from guilt, aren’t we?
SPARE NOT!
No, not really.
For fasting is not the issue in
Isaiah 58. The issue is insincere
worship and hypocritical religion.
If you’re a non-faster, you’re not
necessarily excluded, because
anytime we practice hypocrisy, we
stand under God’s judgement.
But surely you can’t mean that
we might be hypocritical?
Why not? It is one of humanity’s
more prevalent spiritual
sicknesses. In my own life, I’ve
seen the symptoms far too often:
saying one thing and living
another. I’ve attempted to trade
off to God some respectable
religious practices as substitutes
NOW IS THE TIME V* *•!
■■■ flHB
Many people are making plans
for the 1984 growing season. In
these plans, we should be
preparing to use the very best
quality seeds possible. Leftover
seeds may be satisfactory if
properly stored. If they are cer
tified or top quality seed to start
with, it would be a good idea to run
a germination test to be certain
they will grow. This can be done
with the old, but still effective,
"Rag Doll” method (wrapping
seeds in rolled-up moist rags or by
placing seeds in a dish on wet
paper towels, cover with plastic,
and keep in a warm place for at
least 10 days. If these seeds do not
grow under either of these tests,
don’t rely on them for your crop.
Certified seed may cost a little
more in the beginning, but usually
is worth the difference.
To Consider
Topdressing Wheat
At this time, we are not certain
how our wheat crop will survive
the winter elements because we
fGOVERNMENT 1 ( C S
I RED T/)PB J- ~
■*>
THE SECRET OF
PLEASING GOD
February 26, 1984
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Afnrulture Agent
Phone 717 394 6851
To Use Quality Seed
&
'K
«
for doing what God really wants
from me.
Are you sure you’ve never ex
perienced these same symptoms in
your own life? If not, you must be a
very singular person, because
hypocrisy from time to time af
flicts all of those who profess to
serve the Lord. It is in our human
nature to frequently talk a better
game than we nlay.
Since i ~ among us,
the only thing to do is to be vigilant
so that when it occurs in our hvc~,
we may spot it and root it out
before we lose our capacity to see
it for what it is. And we frequently
need help. As the Prophet says,
“Cry aloud, spare not” (58:1).
THE FAST HE CHOOSES
It is important for us to realize
that Isaiah was not condemning
the practice of fasting. It is a
valuable spiritual discipline. What
he condemned was the practice of
using it as a substitute for living in
a manner that pleased God. So it is
with lots of our practices today;
regular church attendance, par
ticipation in church activities,
bearing responsibilities in the
congregation, making a pledge to
the church, putting a sticker on
your car’s bumper.
There is nothing wrong with any
of the above. All of them are
valuable religious acts so long
as they are not substitutes for
doing what really pleases God. And
what is that?
...to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the thongs of the yoke, and
to let the oppressed go free...ls it
not to share your bread with the
hungry, and bring the homeless
poor into your house...? (58:6,7)
Actually, there’s nothing very
secret about pleasing God. It’s a
secret we all know. But there’s a
gap between knowing and doing.
still have March to contend with.
And March, with its freezing and
thawing conditions, is one of the
hardest months on wheat.
In any event, topdressing wheal
with nitrogen will generally result
in an extra 10 to 12 bushels per
acre. This can result in extra profit
to the grower.
The ideal time to topdress wheat
is just when it begins to “green
up" in the spring. This will
generally occur in the middle to
latter part of March. However,
wheat can successfully be top
dressed earlier in March when the
ground is "honeycombed”. Be
cautious of highly fertile land that
has received a lot of manure in the
past. This kind of land does not
need additional nitrogen.
Most wheat varieties can use
between 40 and 50 pounds per acre
of nitrogen. There are few ac
tivities around the farm that can
return more profit, with less input,
then topdressing wheat with
nitrogen.
To Store Supplies
Properly
Many farmers have purchased
and accepted early delivery on
seeds, fertilizers, and other sup
plies. It is very important that
these supplies are stored properly.
I have seen bags of fertilizer stored
too close to a barn door or an open
window where the rain and snow
blow in; also seeds in similar
conditions. Extra moisture on
these materials, or under them on
a damp floor, can seriously affect
quality. It's also very important to
keep seeds away from weed killer
chemicals These herbicides may
reduce or kill the germination of
the seed Be sure to store all farm
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