AlO-Uncnter Farming, Saturday, June 1,1985
NOW IS THE TIME
To Be Alert
For Com Pests
We are into the season for cut
worm damage on corn and this
includes the black cutworm. Just a
reminder to keep a close check on
all com fields for the next few
weeks.
Damage symptoms will be
plants cut off just above the ground
level. The culprit will be hiding in
the soil a few inches from the cut
plant.
We suggest a rescue treatment if
2-3% of the plants are cut and you
can find more than 5 larvae per 100
plants. Remember the black
cutworm is the one with the
granular skin.
The control materials listed in
the 1965-86 Agronomy Guide in
clude Lorsban or Sevin or
Dyfonate or Penncap or Dylox. Be
sure to follow all label directions.
ToManage
Farm Ponds
A nice farm pond is a great asset
to any property. Many farms have
ponds but too many of them are
neglected. A pond needs attention
the same as any other area on the
Ag Secretary John Block pushes
for market-oriented industry
Since becoming Secretary of
Agriculture, I have dealt with a
significant number of issues im
portant to agriculture. In most
instances, we arrived at workable
solutions that were acceptable to
all concerned parties.
Nonetheless, one of my greatest
disappointments over the last four
and-a-half years has been the
inability to unite the dairy industry
and achieve a long-term solution to
the dairy surplus problem. I have
personally spent more tune and
effort on dairy than any other issue
during my tenure as Secretary.
Between March 1981 and
November 1983, there were seven
separate pieces of legislation
enacted dealing with the dairy
price support program.
Thus, I was extremely
disheartened to learn that the
Board of the National Milk
Producers Federation is con
sidering the adoption of a program
for the 1985 Farm Bill that once
again fails to address the major
problems in the dairy industry -
price supports above market
clearing prices and the continued
excess resources in both dairy
production and processing
capacity.
Let me address each of these
proposals separately. First, set
ting the dairy support price ac
cording to changes in the cost of
production is a major step back
7 ILLIF, IN HONOR OF
MIRY
UKE
SPEC
FOR
*8
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
Phone 717-394-6851
farm. If we want that half-acre of
ground, that is covered with water,
to produce a crop of fish or provide
recreation and fire protection, we
need to give it some attention.
The problem with algae and
weeds is very common at this time
of year. Many hours of pleasant
swimming, boating or fishing are
ruined because of the mass of
algae or weeds.
Numerous chemicals can be
used to control these problems but,
first, a permit should be obtained
from the Pennsylvania Fish
Commission. Application blanks
for this permit are available from
any Extension office or from the
local Pennsylvania Waterways
Patrolman. A good pond requires
management.
Mowing permanent pastures at
this time of year is a very good
idea. Many of the plants will be
heading out and some will go to
seed; this means that the plants
should be mowed. This practice
will help control weeds and en
courage new growth of grass.
Livestock will thp dry
ward in our effort to develop
market-oriented dairy policy. This
proposal ignores the most im
portant factor that we must take
into account, the marketplace.
Economic formulas are com
plicated and require constant
adjustment to reflect changes in
technology and relative prices.
Nor do they adequately consider
changes in the demand for milk or
the impact of changing prices of
substitute products.
Price supports must reflect
economic conditions in the dairy
industry and the marketplace and
have flexibility to fluctuate, up or
down, in response to changes in
these conditions. Market prices,
not economic formulas, more
accurately reflect these con
ditions.
Second, the Federation has
again adopted supply management
in the form of a milk diversion
program tied to a level of projected
Commodity Credit Corporation
(CCC) purchases of dairy
products. More importantly, the
diversion program becomes
mandatory if CCC purchases are
projected to exceed seven billion
pounds.
CCC purchases of dairy
products for Fiscal Year 1985 are
projected to exceed nine billion
pounds. Thus, this proposal, if
adopted, guarantees that a
mandatory supply program would
To Clip
Pastures
clippings. Pastures should be
clipped several times during the
season. In addition, the clipped
area will look much better to the
general public as they travel
through the country.
To Reduce
Rural Crime
Rural crime has become a sad
fact of life. Most facts and figures
that we read indicate an increase
in rural crime. There are many
things you can do to “make crime
more trouble than it’s worth”.
That would include installing and
using locks, bringing your
equipment inside, or putting it in a
well-lighted area at night. Also, do
not keep loading chutes near gates.
One of the most important
things you can do is to establish
“crime watch” with your neigh
bors.
You also can borrow an
engraving tool from your local
police department to mark you
equipment with your driver’s
license number. Social Security
numbers are non-retnevable so
your driver’s license number is a
much quicker identification.
be put into effect this October. I am
personally opposed to this ap
proach, and this Administration
will not be a party to this program.
In 1983, the Administration
agreed to a limited voluntary
diversion program as part of a
broader approach which included
discretionary authority to adjust
the price support on April 1 and
July 1 of this year following ter
mination of the diversion program.
I need not remind the dairy in
dustry that the President agreed to
sign this legislation only after
gaming assurances from members
of bpth the Senate and House
Agriculture Committees that the
diversion program would not be
extended. This Administration
does not view the use of supply
management programs as a long
term solution to the problems
currently facing the dairy in
dustry.
A continuation of any form of
supply management will in
stitutionalize the use of bases in
dairy. The adoption of quotas or
bases results in income being
transferred directly from con
sumers to quota holders through
higher prices for milk. These
higher milk prices would be
capitalized into the quotas and
they would take on added value
almost immediately.
Quotas would freeze existing
(Turn to Page A 36)
WHEN IT’S YOUR
OX THAT’S
GORED
June 2,1985
Background Scripture:
Proverbs 1:7-19; 3:5-8; 14:1-12.
Devotional Reading:
Proverbs 6:1-15.
One of the achievements of
understanding is the ability to
differentiate between intelligence,
education, and wisdom. Lots of
people fail to distinguish the im
portant differences between them.
Some of the most intelligent
people I’ve known have not had
much of a formal education
(although an education could have
enhanced their superior in
telligence). I’ve also known some
people who were well educated and
obviously quite intelligent, but that
did not necessarily say that they
were also wise. In fact, some of the
most foolish people I’ve known
(and this can include myself) have
been both well-educated and quite
intelligent.
LEARNEDFOOLS
I have frequently noted that
some people seem to reach a point
in life where, surrounded upon
success after success, they have
come to believe that all their
judgements and decisions are
guaranteed to be right. Hitler, for
example, began the Second World
War with a string of brilliant
victories. As time went by,
however, he was so intoxicated by
his success, that he refused to
follow the wise advice of those
around u; m. ’ p **® result was
Farm Calendar
Saturday, June 1
Chester County dairy princess
pageant, West Fallowfield
Christian School, Atglen.
Clearfield County dairy princess
pageant, Eastern Star Building,
Clearfield.
Jefferson County dairy princess
pageant, Homtown Community
Center, Reynoldsville.
Tioga County dairy princess
pageant; Mansfield High
School, Mansfield.
Wayne County dairy princess
pageant, Seelyville Fire Hall,
Seelyville.
Sunday, June 2
86th Annual Convention and Food
Trade Exhibit, Pa. Grocers
Association; Hershey Lodge
and Convention Center; con
tinues through June 5.
Wednesday, June 5
Lancaster Conservation District
monthly board meeting, 7:30
p.m., Farm and Home Center.
Cedar Crest Young Farmers
Banquet, Schaefferstown Fire
Hall, 7 p.m.
crushing defeat. I have also known
businessmen with brilliant track
records for success after success
who, eventually, have come to
bitter and humiliating ends. The
reason; they forgot or perhaps
never knew that there are always
limits to human wisdom.
The problem is that our
cleverness often leads us in the
direction of pride and self
satisfarHnn which is the opposite
direci lf we are
really learned oi. r* or both, w r
will realize the limitations tu ..
faculties. The result will be
humility, not pride. The more we
know, the more we will realize how
much we don’t know. The more we
understand, the more we will
acknowledge the enormity of what
we do not understand.
WISE IN WHOSE EYES?
But there’s more to it than
learning our own limitations. The
writer of Proverbs counsels us:
“Trust in the Lord with all your
heart, and do not rely on your own
insight’’ (3:5). The more we learn
about life, the more we will realize
that none of us, by ourselves, is
sufficient. There are times when
we have thought as clearly as we
can think, when we have preserved
as long as we could, and worked as
hard as we have strength, and it
still was not enough. Real learning,
intelligence and wisdom mean that
we find there is something beyond
ourselves on which we must
ultimately rely and someone to
whom we must eventually turn.
“Trust in the Lord...” is the sage’s
counsel, but it takes a truly smart
person to do it. Only the smart
person realizes that smartness is
never enough-no matter how
brilliant it may seem to ourselves,
no matter how much it may dazzle
others.
When we have reached the ex
tremities of our own wisdom, it is
then that we enter to the precincts
of the wisdom of God.
.. Friday, June 7
37th Delmarva Chicken Festival at
Wicomico Youth and Civic
Center, Salisbury, Md.; con
tinues through June 9.
SE Pa. Lamb Grading and
Marketing Workshop; con
tinues through June 8. Peters
Brothers Meats, Lenhartsville.
“Milk...lt’s Fitness You Can Drink
Day,” 11:30 a.m., Independence
Mall, Center City Philadelphia.
Saturday, JuaeS
Cumberland County Farm Tour,
Ashcombe’s Dairy Farm and
Strockland Farm, Mechanic
sburg, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Armstrong’ County dairy princess
pageant, Lenape Vo-Tech
School, Ford City.
Sunday, June 9
Deer Creek Fiddler’s Convention,
11 a.m. to 10 p.m., Carroll
County Farm Museum,
Westminster, Md.
Monday, June 10
28th Mushroom Industry Short
Course, PSU; continues
tomorrow.
Tuesday, June 11
Pa. Agriculture promo, Keister’s
Middleburg Auction.
Summer tour in northern Virginia,
State Horticultural Association
of America.
Thursday, June 13
Annual Meeting of the American
Guernsey Cattle Club, Denver,
Colo.; continues through June
17.
Mercer County dairy princess
pageant, Mercer County Ex
tension office, Mercer.
Friday, June 14
Pa. State Rabbit Conference;
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