Editorial Budgets and extension News stones over the past few weeks have explained how the Gramm-Rudman tax cuts would affect Agricultural Extension Services. And the news has certainly been bad. At first, the extension programs were going to be cut entirely. Even now, wholesale reductions in staff and services are being c(iscussed, with 4-H and family living programs a prime target. In an era of budgetary limitation, the extension services can hardly expect to be viewed as a sacred cow. Cuts will be made, and new realities will have to be recognized. But extension services have proved their worth year after year, in the help, advice, counseling and personal services they provide to farmers and rural residents alike. Cutting many of these programs now, in one of agriculture’s lowest moments, would truly be short-sighted. .Perhaps states can and should assume a greater burden. After all, federal funds guarantee an adequate food supply through purchase of surplus commodities and other programs to maintain prices. Shouldn’t the states assume greater responsibility for the aid and development of the agricultural businesses within their borders? Decisions about what programs to fund and how to fund them are political decisions, decisions that will be made in the heat of the coming political campaign. Farmers have every right to participate in that process, making suggestions about what programs could be cut. . . and which ones have proved their worth. And they have a responsibility to their industry to fight for the programs they think are absolutely essential. __ 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 vejitilation 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 employees of this potential danger. To Control Wild Garlic We may like onions on our hamburgers and in other foods, but 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 weed is early spring when the young plants are 4 to 8 inches high. An ap plication of 2,4 D will knock them down. Follow the label for direc- Saturday, March 15 tions. When this is applied around NE Regional Christmas Tree the middle to latter part of March, Grower’s Meeting, 8:15 a.m. to little damage is done to any 4 p.m., Luzerne County Corn legume in the area. If garlic plants munity College, Nanticoke. are allowed to mature each year, p a . Ayrshire Breeders Annual the pasture area will become so Meeting, Grantville Holiday contaminated that dairy cows inn, 10:30 a.m.; contact Milt cannot utilize the grass. Brubaker, 717-626-5788. By Jay Irwin Lancaster County Agriculture Agent Phone 717-394-6851 To Care For Horses Many horses and ponies are neglected this time of year. When they are kept in a stable for long periods of time...such as during the winter...they can get out of con dition. 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 to twenty-five 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 moldy, dusty or dirty hay or grain to horses; this could result in respiratory problems. Free choice of clean water, salt and minerals should be provided. Good care now will help bring good performance during the rest of the year. To Control Mice In Orchards Now that the winter is almost Farm Calendar r^l A 10-Uncaster Farming, Saturday, March 15,1986 Background Scripture: Devotional Reading: A few months ago I was privileged to hear a lecture on cosmology by Dr. Robert Jastrow, now of Dartmouth College but internationally known for his work in the space exploration program of NASA. Speaking to the Isthmus Institute, an organization that explores the convergences of science and religion, Dr. Jastrow fascinated us by reminding us that the balance of forces and elements in the creation of this universe is so intricate and finely-tuned that a seemingly significant change in that balance would have created a gone, our fruit growers should take a look at the newly-exposed grass sod in their orchards. If there are runways at the surface of the grass, it is a good sign that there are plenty of mice in the orchard even though a mouse baiting program may have been followed last fall. The mice have used up their stockpiles of stored food and are now looking for a fresh supply. At this time of the year they will move quickly onto bark and roots of fruit trees. Fruit growers should re-bait their orchards as soon as possible if there are fresh mouse signs. For growers who put out bait stations in the orchanl last fall, it will be a simple matter of replenishing the rodenticide treated bait under all of the stations. You must remember that the mice are hungry and can do a lot of damage to fruit trees bet ween now and the time that other plants start to grow in the spring. Lancaster 4-H Woolies Meeting, Lancaster Farm and Home Center, 7:30 p.m. Sullivan County 4-H Leader Din- ner, Forksville. York Sheep Management Meeting, 4-H Center, Bair Station, 7:30 p.m. COUNTING GOD’S SLOWNESS March 16.1986 2 Peter. 2 Peter 1:3-11 Monday, March 17 universe quite different from the one in which we live. 15 BILLION YEARS Dr. Jastrow said that, “if the strength of the nuclear force is decreased by about one percent, nuclear reactions would take place so slowly in the universe that none of the elements on which life depends—carbon, nitrogen, oxygen, and so on-could be for med in the 15 billion years’ since creation. So, the slightest change in the-balance of forces would have resulted in a universe wftkotrtuiylH* wtotoMvw. And it is difficult to conceive of that delicate balance As I write these lines, tb coming into being by accident or problems facing the world todn without a Creator. seem overwhelming: violent The other idea with which Dr. terrorism, crime, corruption, the Jastrow boggled my mind was to nuclear arms race and so forth remind me that, if the creation But this is my 56th year and Ic« took place 15 billion years ago-as recall that each year of my brief science generally assumes-the spsn has had its share of alarm time span of human life on this snd crises and I can hardly earth is but a flyspeck in the total remember what it was 10,20,30,« expanse of time science creation y ears ago that seemed so earth and our civilization, our own era threatening, and lifetime are utterly invisible The God who created thij on the universe’s timeline. Thus, universe 15 billion years ago still u when the writer of 2 Peter says, in charge of where creation has “with the Lord one day is as a been and where it is going. And if thousand years, and a thousand he seems slow, the problem is with years as one day” (3:8), he is our sense of time, not his. probably even Understanding the Bjsed on copyrighted outlines produced by the difference between time as we see on R ' h ,* ,nd usM b » it and as God views it. Suburban Press * ommunity and Small Fruit Seminar, Warrendale Sheraton Inn, 8:30 a.m. Bucks County Milking School, 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Delaware Valley College, Doylestown; continues through March 18. Potter, McKean and Cameron Counties calf and heifer management workshop, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., Calvary Baptist Church Youth Center, Coudersport; continues through March 18. Tuesday, March 18 Crop Management Meeting, 7:30 p.m., Blue Ball. Pesticide handling and safety, 10 a.m. to noon, Jefferson Fireball, Jefferson, 1:30 to 3:30 p.m., Dover High School. Wednesday, March 19 Future of Pa. Ag Conference, Holiday Inn, Harrisburg; continues tomorrow. Thursday, March 20 Pequea Valley FFA banquet, 6:45 p.m., Plain and Fancy Farms. Holstein Investment Opportunities Inc. Merchandising .Workshop, 8:45 a.m. to 4:15 p.m., Bird-In- Hand Motel, Bird-In-Hand. Manheim Young Farmers, Hempfield Church of Brethren, East Petersburg, 6:45 p.m. Mercer County Pork Meeting, Mercer Extension Center, - Denver, 7 p.m. Friday, March 21 Crops Day, Berks County Ag Center. Lancaster County Conservation District Banquet, Brickerville Fireball, 7 p.m. Red and White Dairy Cattle Association Show, Guernsey Sales Pavilion. Club Saturday, March 22 Montgomery County Dairy Princess Pageant and Mon tgomery Holstein Club’s Annual AS SOME COUNT IT So, it may seem such a very time since God gave us his pi of “new heavens and a new t in which righteousness dwel (3:13), but that is only becuse o sense of time is so short term win viewed to the broad expanse of ft, universe. It is because of this, the? that he can say to us. “The LordJ not slow about his promise as sonui count slowness...” (3:9). That’stS problem right there! -not that ftS is slow, but that we “count tinr strictly from our very limju| human perspective. , Banquet, Towamencin Fireball, 7 p.m. Red and White Dairy Cattle Association’s Sale, Guernsey Sales Pavilion. Brown Swiss Canton meeting, Cloister Restaurant. Tuesday, March 25 Safe Drinking Water Clinic, York County 4-H Center, Bair, 1 to J p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Wednesday l JHarch 26 'Berks Conservation Disti Meeting, Agricultural Cent Bern Township, 7:30 p.m. Thursday, March 27 “Pennsylvania on Parade” and Show; continues March 29. Pesticide training nag p.m. to 9:30 p.iaj| tension meeting rood Acres Friday, Match l!> Performance Test Bull Sale. Saturday, March 29 Adams County Beef Ball, Sherati Inn, Gettysburg. Pa. Holstein Spring Show, 8:1 a.m., Farm Show Compta Harrisburg. Antique Show and Sale, Mi flinburg Area High School, a.m. to 5 p.m., $1 admission. Ag Preserve Boar issues report LANCASTER - The first i nual Report of the Lancast County Agricultural Preset Board has been published and’ available in limited quantities. 1 local effort to save Lancast County farmland is explained detail in the report. Progress mu in preserving one of the are! most important resources, prime agricultural lands, highlighted. Thd publication conta numerous photographs of County’s productive countrys and recognizes individual U downers and townships hav| made commitfnents. to presi vation. . , Readers will find the 1985 AnW Report an insightful overview 0 unique venture undertaken landowners, government offlo and community leaders to pr