816-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 11,1986
Jerry and Eleanor Barker will take several Christmas trees to this year’s Farm Show.
Here they admire some of the cut trees they had for sale during the holidays.
Jeny Barker is cutting best trees for Form Show
BY BETSY STITT
Staff Correspondent
WILLIAMSBURG - While other
Pennsylvania farmers are loading
up their livestock for the trip to
Farm Show, Jerry Barker of
Williamsburg is cutting down his
best Christmas trees.
Barker has been taking his trees
to Farm Show every year, and this
year is no exception. He’s planning
to exhibit a Douglas fir, a white
pine, a Scotch pine, and a white
spruce.
“We do not raise a special tree
for the Farm Show,” Barker
reported. “We just pick out the
nicer ones as the shearing is
done.”
Barker is a member of the
Pennsylvania and National
Christmas Tree Growers
Associations and is a past director
of the state association. Both Jerry
and his wife, Eleanor, say they
learned everything they know
about Christmas trees at
association meetings.
The meetings provide growing
information, influence legislation
and help promote sales, Jerry
says.
Unlike many other types of
agriculture, Christmas tree farms
have not been hit with a severe
economic pinch. Jerry said
production is expanding and he
sees new faces at every association
meeting he attends.
Most are talking about getting
into the industry on a small scale,
primarily by retailing their trees.
Barker says he has seen more
competition here from the
southern states, but adds, “Maybe
I am optimistic, but I haven’t seen
good quality trees from the south. I
see an expanding market for good
quality trees in the southern
market.”
Barker started growing
Tom Murtiff drives a tractor and wagon to bring successful tree hunters Mr and Mrs.
Ralph Parsons of Petersburg back from the fields.
Christmas trees in 1950 as a hobby
while he ran Keystone Milling in
Williamsburg. After he retired
from the mill, he turned the hobby
into a full-time career.
Currently, Barker has 200 acres
of Christmas trees. With 1,600 to
1,700 trees per acre, he has his
work cut out for him. Fortunately
for Jerry, his family willingly
supports him with their help.
Barker sells the trees both
wholesale and retail. Ap
proximately 10,000 trees are sold
wholesale; some stay in Penn
sylvania, but many go into New
Jersey, Maryland and the
Washington D.C. area.
In the retail market, Jerry sells
approximately 2,000 trees. For
those who like to go into the field
and cut their own, he offers a wide
variety to select from.
Barker also offers cut trees for
people who don’t like to cut their
own.
There’s a tree to suit almost
everyone’s taste at Barkers. They
grow pines, firs and spruce. Of the
three types of pines grown
Scotch, white and Austrian
Scotch is the most popular.
They also grow three types of
spruce: blue, Norway and white.
Spruce tend to hold their needles
better than other trees.
Three varieties of firs are also
offered. They are Concolar;
Fraser, which is growing in
popularity; and Douglas firs,
which are the most popular of all
the Christmas trees.
When people come searching for
a Christmas tree, Barker said,
they want trees six to seven feet
tall, with good color and full
branches. In other words, he said,
they want a perfect tree.
“There just isn’t a perfect tree,
but we try to make them as close
as possible,” he said.
One of the ways they do this is to
shear every tree every year.
Barker said it takes a crew of 16
people six weeks to trim all the
trees. A crew of girls shear trees
up to four feet, while a crew of boys
trim the taller ones. Most of the
employees are students at
Williamsburg High School.
Barker also sprays the trees for
insects and diseases. Scotch pines,
he said, are difficult to grow and
must be sprayed four times a year
because of their susceptibility to
diseases.
Weed control is another im
portant part of raising Christmas
trees. Barker sprays for weeds and
mows all summer.
Although he cannot change the
type of soil he has, Barker does try
to control pH and fertility,
especially for the fir trees.
Weather is another factor im
portant to growing Christmas
trees. Moisture is needed after the
trees are planted. But once the
trees are established, they can
take a dry spell without much
damage.
A late freeze can be very
damaging to trees with early bud
break. It will stunt the growth for
that season.
This harvest season, the weather
has not been kind to Barker. It has
been extremely wet and has
slowed cutting of the trees and
getting them out of the fields.
“I think this is the wettest,
muddiest, season I can remember,
Barker says.
Barker plants approximately
25,000 trees every year, with the
average tree taking from seven to
eight years until it is ready to be
cut. Some may take as long as 10
years to reach cutting stage.
“This is a nice business for
someone who likes to grow things
and be outside,” Barker said.
See your nearest
HOLLAf\D
Dealer for Dependable
Equipment and Dependable
Service:
Annville, PA
BHM Farm
Equipment Inc
RD 1
717 867 2211
Beavertown, PA
B&R Farm
Equipment Inc
RD 1 Box 217 A
717 658 7024
Belleville, PA
Ivan J Zook
Farm Equipment
Belleville, Pa
717 935-2948
Carlisle, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
35 East Willow Street
717-243-2686
Chambersburg, PA
Clugston
Implement, Inc
R D 1
717 263 4103
Davidsburg, PA
George N Gross, Inc
R D 2 Dover PA
717 292 1673
Elizabethtown, PA
Messick Farm
Equipment Inc
Rt 283 Rheem's Exit
717 367 1319
Everett, PA
C Paul Ford & Son
R D 1
814 652 2051
Gettysburg, PA
Yinglmg Implements
R D 9
717 359 4848
Greencastle, PA
Meyers
Implement's Inc
400 N Antrim Way
P 0 Box 97
717 597 2176
Grove City, PA
McDowell Farm
Implement Co
Rt 173 North
814 786 7955
Halifax. PA
Sweigard Bros
R D 3, Box 13
717 896 3414
Hamburg, PA
Shartlesville
Farm Service
R D 1 Box 1392
215 488-1025
Honey Brook, PA
Dependable Motor Co
East Mam Street
215 273 3131
215 273 3737
Honey Grove, PA
Norman D Clark
&Son Inc
Honey Grove, PA
717 734 3682
Hughesville, PA
Farnsworth Farm
Supplies Inc
103 Cemetery Street
717 584 2106
Lancaster, PA
L H Brubaker Inc
350 Strasburg Pike
717 397 5179
Lebanon, PA
Keller Bros
Tractor Co
R D 7, Box 405
717 949-6501
Lititz, PA
Roy A Brubaker
700 Woodcrest Ave
717 626 7766
Loysville, PA
Paul Shovers, Inc
Loysville, PA
717 789-3117
Lynnport, PA
Kermit K Kistler Inc
Lynnport, PA
215 298 2011
Martinsburg, PA
Forshey's, Inc
110 Forshey St
814 793-3791
Mill Hall, PA
Paul A Dotterer
RD 1
717 726 3471
New Holland. PA
ABC Groff, Inc
110 South Railroad
717 354 4191
New Park, PA
M&R Equipment Inc
P O Box 16
717 993 2511
Oley, PA
CJ Wonsidler Bros
R D 2
215 987 6257
Pitman, PA
Marlin W Schreffler
Pitman PA
717 648 1120
Quakertown, PA
C J Wonsidler Bros
RD 1
215 536 1935
Quarryville, PA
C E Wiley & Son, Inc
101 South Lime Street
717 786 2895
Ringtown, PA
Rmgtown Farm
Equipment
Ringtown, PA
717-889 3184
Tamaqua, PA
Charles S Snyder Inc
R D 3
717 386 5954
West Chester, PA
M S Yearsley & Son
114 116- East
Market Street
215 696 2990
West Grove, PA
S G Lewis & Son Inc
R D 2, Box 66
215 869 2214
Churchville, MD
Walter G Coale Inc
2849 53
Churchville Rd
301 734 7722 1
Washington, NJ
Frank Rymon & Sons
201 689 1464
Woodstown, NJ
Owen Supply Co
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609-769-0308