Alo—Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, March 17,1984
This Week's
3&RI-1/I6
• L *‘t
Week - Ho Hum
BY DICK ANGLESTEIN
Agriculture now has a special week to
launch its busy season in spring and a week to
wind things up in the fall.
Ag Week is now under way and includes Ag
Day on Tuesday, the first day of spring. Then
after tne harvest, there's Farm-City Week
about Thanksgiving time.
Like the multitude of other weeks and days
that are proclaimed in this country, the
general public probably receives these two ag
events in much the same way - with a yawn
and hardly a passing glance
And as far as having any lasting impact on
agriculture or helping to solve some of its
problems, they have about as much influence
as any of the other special observances
proclaimed by special interest groups
I'd like to suggest that a few other ag weeks
or days be proclaimed during the heart of
farming's busy season and not just at its
beginning and end
How about a National Drink Milk Week in
June.
Or, a Ton of Topsoil Disappearance Day
after a big thunderstorm in July.
Or, just the opposite, a National Ram Dance
Day for Corn during tasselmg.
Now, days or weeks like this, might get at
Farm Calendar
Tuesday, March 20
It’s Ag Day.
Waste Water Disposal for Homes
and Communities meetings,
1:30 p.m., Oxford Twp.
Municipal Building; 7:30 p.m.,
North Branch, Adams County
National Bank.
ELCO FFA Banquet, 7 p.m.,
Middle School Cafeteria.
Lycoming Dairy Day, 10 a.m. - 3
p.m., Lycoming Mall Com
munity Room.
Ephrata Young Farmers meeting
on soil loss, 7:45 p.m., ag shop.
Regional small fruit meeting, 9:30
a.m., Vo-Tech School, Marlin.
Tioga Crops/Soils Day, 10 a.m. - 3
p.m., Youth Center,
Fairgrounds.
Workshops on managing better
meetings, 9 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.,
Business Administration
Building, Delaware State
College, Dover.
Joint meeting of Senate & House
Otis
GH‘. THE SIGHS OF SPP/N&.
Birds in the trees...
the heart of some of the specific problems that
are facing agriculture
No Ag Week or Day is needed to remind
farmers that spring is near Like migrating
birds or lost dogs, they have an instinctive
personality trait that comes forth about this
time of the year just like the first flowers and
buds.
But let that rural rhymer and Bally
balladeer, Sandy Moser, who makes periodic
poetic contributions to Lancaster Farming
express this condition she's been noticing in
her father;
Some people say my Dad is sick
and I am forced to agree,
for as the days keep getting warmer
his temperature goes up by degrees.
This affliction is a common thing
for it happens every year.
It seizes the entire farming community
and there is no cure, I fear.
The symptoms make it simple
to diagnose this disease,
it’s important to catch it early,
after winter’s last freeze
The sufferer sneaks out in the middle of the
night
in hopes that he will not be seen,
He’s greasing machinery, it’s easy to tell,
he never gets his fingernails clean
The smell of grease will be on his breath
though this accusation he'll deny,
He’ll say he feels quite normal,
but notice the glazed look in his eye
He will be prone to fits of violence -
a sure sign he's not well,
He'll jump up and kick the TV set
if the forecast is ram or another cold spell
These symptoms remain until the patient
is’on his tractor, the gas pedal floored.
Plowing fields up to the horizon,
And only then will he be cured
Ag & Rural Affairs Com
mittees, 9:30 a.m., Senate
Majority Caucus Room, sub
ject: farmland preservation.
Wednesday, March 21
Regional Greenhouse Production
and Marketing, 4-H Center,
Bair.
Lebanon County Holstein tour.
Hunterdon County, N.J. Ag
Development Board, 8 p.m.,
Extension Center.
Carroll County, Md. Sale,
Fairgrounds, Westminster.
Del. Poultry Improvement Assn,
annual banquet, Felton Fire
Hall.
PCCEA regional meeting, 10 a.m.-
2:30 p.m., Sheraton Crossgates,
Wilkes-Barre.
Bradford Agronomy Day, 10:30
a.m. - 3 p.m., Wysox
Presbyterian Church.
Saturday, March 17
Pa. Ayrshire Breeders meeting,
Embers, Carlisle.
Small Farms Livestock Con
ference, 9 a.m. - 4 p.m., Mercer
County Extension Office.
Berks County Guernsey Breeders
Assn, annual meeting, 11 a.m.,
Shartlesville Grange Hall.
Elizabethtown Young Farmer
Banquet, Hostetter’s, Mt. Joy.
Bradford County farm tour to New
Jersey, 10 a.m.
Pa. Brown Swiss Assn. Canton 4
meeting, 11:30 a.m., Cloister
Restaurant, Ephrata.
Monday, March 19
Woodland Management Workshop,
7 p.m., Tyler Arboretum, Lima,
Delaware County.
Chester conservation meeting on
Chesapeake Bay, 7-9 p.m.,
Russellville Grange Hall.
Warwick Young Farmers meeting
on ag nutrient pollution, 7:30
p.m., high school ag room.
Adams County Beekeepers, 7:30
(Turn to Page At 2)
Buds on
we TREES...
Background Scripture:
Mark 4; 35 through 5:43
Devotional Reading:
Mark 4:10-20.
Last week I was at a public
presentation where a prominent
theologian was asked about the
miracles of Jesus. The theologian
gave a long and rambling answer,
but the essence of his reply was
that he didn’t believe they were
literally true as presented in the
New Testament.
Lots of people, lay and clergy
alike, seem to find the miracles of
Jesus a continuing source of either
difficulty or embarrassment. In
short, they would find it necessary
to believe that the miracles, for
example as recorded in Mark 4 and
5, did not really happen; Jesus did
not still the storm (4:37-41), did not
heal the woman with a “flow of
blood’’ (5:25-34), and did not raise
the daughter of Jairus from ap
parent death (5; 35-43).
WHO IS THIS?
At the same time that I have
experienced so much skepticism
on the part of Christians, I find that
there are many people with
scientific backgrounds who seem
much more open to the possibility
that Jesus did the things the New
Testament claims that he did.
Last year about this time I was
privileged to have dinner with a
NOW IS THE TIME
To Practice Safety
Around Liquid Manure Pits
Many manure pits will be
cleaned out at this time of year for
field application. This by-product
of the livestock and dairy business
is very useful as fertilizer.
However, the pit can be a safety
hazard because of poisonous and
explosive gases. When the mixture
is agitated in order to be removed,
these gases are more plentiful and
much more dangerous. Good
ventilation above the pit is very
important. Also, anyone who goes
down in the empty pit should be
wearing a gas mask. These gases
are dangerous and can be fatal to
both humans and animals. We urge
all farmers to caution their em
ployees of this potential danger.
We may like onions on our
hamburgers and in other foods, but
THE POWER *
OF CHRIST
March 18,1984
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717 394 6851
To Control
Wild Garlic
Nobel laureate scientist, who told
me in the course of the evening
that none of Jesus’s miracles
appear to him to be beyond the
realm of possibility. “In our day,
no one should decide that anything
is impossible,” he told me.
Unfortunately, too much
preoccupation with whether this or
that act of Jpsus is “possible” or
“impos-Muic .>.eeps us from going
beyond the act itself to the deene.
meaning to which it points. I have
no problem believing that Jesus
stilled the storm, but I am also
aware that there is more involved
than just a storm. The event is a
demonstration of Jesus’ power to
still all the storms of life, human
and natural.
Neither do I have any problem
believing that Jesus healed the
woman with the “issue of blood,”
for I have see such demonstrations
of Christ’s power to heal in my own
life. (See the writer’s book,
Rediscovering The Gift Of
Healing). But I know that these
demonstrations of Christ’s power
are indicative of his power to heal
all human hurts.
ALL MEN MARVELED
“Who then is this,” asked the
disciples, “that even wind and sea
obey him?” (4:41). Later, when he
had cast the demon out of the
Gerasene Demoniac, it is said,
' ‘And all men marveled” (5:20).
Jesus was a preacher and
teacher whose words have
changed the world. But we must
not forget that he was also a man of
power—power demonstrated in
marvelous acts that boggled
people’s minds Yet, even more
than that, the “signs and wonders”
pointed to an even greater power
and authority, the capacity to heal
all human brokeness and meet the
deepest needs and hungers of the
soul.
very few of us like onion-flavored
milk. This can easily happen on
dairy farms where wild garlic
plants are allowed to grow. Many
pastures are infested with wild
garlic One of the best times to
start control measures on this
week is early in the spring when
the young plants are 4 to 8 inches
high. An application of 2, 4-D will
knock them down. Follow the label
for directions. When this is applied
around the middle to latter part of
March, little damage is done to any
legume in the area. If garlic plants
are allowed to mature each year,
the pasture area will become so
contaminated that dairy cows
cannot utilize the grass.
To Care
For Horses
Many horses and ponies are
neglected this tune of the year.
When they’re kept in a stable for
long periods of tune...such as
during the winter...they can get out
of condition. And they may develop
some bad habits. But you can avoid
this by following good
management practices.
Your horses are natural athletes
and need a daily workout to keep
their muscles, feet and legs in good
condition. Twenty or 25 minutes on
the end of a long line is one of the
best ways. Just let the horse run
circles around you. This keeps him
from getting fat and developing
weak feet and legs.
Don’t feed moldly, dusty or dirty
hay or gram to horses; this could
result in cohs or respiratory
problems. Free choice of clean
water, salt and minerals should be
(Turn to iPageAl2)