AlO-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, January 10,1987 OPINION Progress Through Technology Now is the time when a young farmer’s fancy (and old farmer’s, too) turns to the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Ever since the early days when the first food products were exhibited at the 1686 Philadelphia Fair, exhibitions of produce and livestock have served to educate consumers about the importance of Pennsylvania’s strong agriculture program and industry. While the Farm Show can’t claim to be the sole reason for the revolutionary advancement in Pennsylvania agriculture, the annual extravaganza in Harrisburg certainly has helped provide the incentive to improve research experimentation and' education. It also helps to unprove the production of higher quality crops and animals. This year should prove to be no exception. The 71st Farm Show scheduled to run from Sunday, January 11, through Friday, January 16, with its theme “Pennsylvania Agriculture-Pro gress Through Technology” will enhance the partnership of Penn sylvania’s number one industry and the corresponding new technology available to build a Dear Editor FARMLAND PRESERVATION BREAKFAST The Board of Directors and members of Friends of Agricultural Land Preservation express our sincere appreciation to the Skiadis family, owners of Family Style Restaurant, and their employees and suppliers for their substantial commitment to farm land preservation in Lancaster County. On Sunday, December 14, 768 folks came to Family Style’s new banquet room to enjoy an “all they-could-eat” breakfast. All proceeds go to the Agricultural Land Preservation Fund. These funds are used in helping to secure voluntary preservation deed Farm Calendar Sunday, January 11 Pa. Farm Show, Harrisburg; continues through Jan. 16. Monday, January 12 Ice Cream Short Course, Penn State University Main Campus; continues through Jan. 21. Gypsy Moth Public Hearing, Townsend Fire Hall, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Franklin County Conservation District Directors meeting, 9:30 VNCUB. OTIS>, YOU'RETH£ ONi-V \ XC£ S>KATEP 'fiW J KNOW 0F... °7So o< \ oO* o Q° o O ° 1 o °C better farm life. We certainly don’t want to forget that a better farm life really has a strong effect on the quality of everyone’s life in Penn sylvania and throughout the nation. Farming is the root of all society and all business enterprize. Everybody must eat. How much and how good everyone eats depends on us farmers. So its difficult to estimate what contribution this year’s Farm Show will make to present-day society. We’re sure many at tendees will get an education. And just like the show’s first 70 years, new standards of excellence for both farmers and agribusinesses that support production agriculture will be established. Once again the entire population will be enriched because the Pennsylvania Farm Show has provided the platform for presenting the ongoing monument of our past, present and future. Truly the cause of our rural heritage will be further enhanced by the cooperative efforts that go into the Pennsylvania Farm Show. Pennsylvania’s agriculture really will progress through technology in the coming week. FARM FORUM lUR READERS WRITE restrictions on Lancaster County’s best farms. This year’s 2nd Annual Breakfast brings the Family Style’s contributions to $B,OOO. These dollars go toward land appraisal, survey and legal costs in accepting preservation deed restrictions by donation and may in the future contribute to the voluntary acquisition of deed restrictions. Our many thanks to Family Style, those who helped, those who donated food and supplies and all who attended. James A. Jolly, President Board of Directors Friends of Agricultural Land Preservation Lancaster, PA a.m., County Administration Building, Franklin Farmers Lane, Chambersburg. Tuesday, January 13 E. Pa. Turf Conference and Trade Show, Valley Forge Convention Center. Bradford County Tax Meeting, Extension office, 1 to 3 p.m. and 8 to 10 p.m. Gypsy Moth Public Hearing, Hartly Fireball, 7 to 8:30 p.m. o o o <p o o imk mm\ NOW IS THE TIME By Jay Irwin Lancaster County Agriculture Agent ToßeAwareof Child Labor Laws If you have boys or girls between the ages of 14 and 16 that plan to operate a farm tractor or machinery on a farm, other than your own farm, be sure they have the proper certification. Under the child labor regulations, the law requires that those boys or girls between 14 and 16 years of age, be certified and carry a certification card before they are permitted to operate hazardous equipment. Some equipment listed under the law as hazardous are... a tractor with over 20 PTO horsepower, corn picker, hay baler, feed grinder, fork lift and many more. Again, on your own farm, your children can operate any equipment that you feel is safe for them. The certification process in most areas is through the vocational agricultural departments in the school system or through the 4-H tractor clubs. Contact either for more information. Wednesday, January 14 Delaware No-Till Meeting, Hartly Fireball, Hartly, Del. Thursday, January 15 Gypsy Moth Public Hearing, Harrington Fireball, 7 to 8:30 p.m. Saturday, January 17 Franklin County Holstein Banquet, 7:30 p.m., Savoy, Waynesboro. Monday, January 19 Ephrata Fair Steer Sale Com mittee Meeting, Ephrata High School Ag Department, 7:30 p.m. Berks Cattlemen on-foot/on rail beef evaluation, Leesport' Farmers Market. Bradford County tax meeting, Troy vo-ag classroom, 8 to 10 p.m. Tuesday, January 20 Lime, Fertilizer and Pesticide Conference, Penn State University, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Berks County Dairy Nutrition School, Berks Ag Center, Leesport, 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also Jan. 27 and Feb. 3. Vegetable Grower’s Association of New Jersey Annual Meeting, Resorts International, Atlantic City. N.J. Association of Nurserymen Annual Meeting, Caesar’s Atlantic City. Atlantic Dairy Co-op 3,11:45 a.m., Chestnut Level Presbyterian Church. (Turn to Page A3l) To Be Aware of Changes in Certifi cation of Pesticide Applicators A new pesticide law becomes effective March 1967. The old pesticide law and the new one require people who buy or use restricted-use pesticides to have an applicator’s permit. If your permit expired in 1986, you have until March 31, 1987 to have it renewed, under the provisions of the old law. To accomplish this, you need to attend pesticide training sessions. Such sessions will be conducted at many agricultural meetings this winter. If you do not have a permit, or if your permit expired prior to 1986, you can acquire a permit by passing a written examination, taken before March 31, 1987. In formation about training sessions and applications for a study course and for the examination are available from the Penn State Extension Service Office at the Farm and Home Center in Lan caster. Under the new law, applicants will have to acquire training points. By attending training sessions, you can start ac cumulating points towards future certification. Or, you can attend a general pesticide update session from 10 to noon on March 18 at the Farm and Home Center. Don’t miss these opportunities. To Transfer Silage Livestock and dairy producers who have had silage stored in temporary structures might be planning to move this feed into upright silos in the next month or so. Many producers use the temporary storage until some of the material is fed out of the MORE THAN A FEELING January 11,1987 Background Scripture: Luke 7:11- 17;14:l-6. Devotional Reading; 2 Kings 4:32- 37. Lots of people ask “How’s it going?” and “How are you?”, but you and I know that lots of them, perhaps most, don’t really want to know what they’re asking, unless it can be contained in a few words like “Fine,” “Very good,” and even “0.K.” Many would be surprised and disappointed if we responded with “I’m glad you asked, because things haven’t been going all that well with me and I’d like to tell you about it.” What most of us want when we ask those insincere questions, 1 suppose, is an assurance that other people are going to be “0.K.”, so that we feel quite justified in concentrating upon our own problems and concerns. It’s not that we don’t want to care about other people, but we think our own problems are so consuming that we don’t have any time, effort or feeling left over for others. It has taken me a long time to leam this, but I have found, as I’m sure you have, that our own bur dens are likely to be borne more easily when we allow ourselves to upright silo. By transferring into the upright silo, mechanical feeders can be used. The objective is to move the silage during cold weather. The months of January and February normally provide this condition. When transferring during wann weather (above 50*F) there is danger of more heating of the silage. No preser vative should be needed. The faster the material can be moved into the upright silo, the better it will settle and remove the air. To Use Sawdust On Icy Walks Freezing rain, sleet and hard packed snow on walkways and driveways are quite slippery and dangerous. The next time you have this condition, try using coarse sawdust to reduce the hazard. Ammonium nitrate and other fertilizers have been used for melting ice and they may be ef fective, but the chemical reaction will ruin a concrete surface in just a year or two. Sand and grit from deteriorating concrete, when tracked into the house, is a nuisance to clean and it marks and scratches finished floors. Some commercial ice melting compounds containing ammonium nitrate are just as bad as fertilizers and the runoff from these melting chemicals may kill grass, trees and shrubs. Coarse sawdust spread on slippery sidewalks provides a relatively skid-free surface. It has no harmful effect on concrete or plant life and is much easier to pick up with a vacuum cleaner if tracked into the house. The Cooperative Extension Service is an affirmative action, equal opportunity educational institution become involved with others and their burdens. It’s not that becoming concerned about someone else makes our own go away. But it does help to put them in perspective. When we see and feel, even if just partly, what others are experiencing, we leam to look at our own concerns without the distortion that often afflicts us. Allowing ourselves to be con cerned for others also helps to take away some of our own pain. It is a simple medical fact that pain’s intensity is relative to the amount of attention we give to it. We’ve all read or heard of athletes who are injured during a game, but are unaware of it until after the challenge of the contest is over. We can increase or decrease the pain and discomfort of our burdens by the amount of attention that we give to these things. And, if we allow ourselves to become in volved in the pain of others, our own pain will be diminished. So, once again, we see that there is an inherent reward in the Christian way. It may sound crass to say so, but compassion pays! And, actually, it pays better and more everlastingly than selfishness or hardness of heart, because in the long run, these bring us only more pain, more suffering. Someone and I’ve forgotten who has said, “I never did an errand for God that I didn’t gain something for myself. ” It is important, however, that we really understand what com passion is, for we often mistake it with a mere feeling of sympathy for another person or persons. That’s the way compassion begins, but it is certainly not where it ends. My Random House dictionary defines it as “a feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another who is stricken by suffering or misfortune, accompanied by a strong desire to alleviate the pain or remove its cause.” Luke tells us that Jesus “had compassion on" the widow of Nain and he responded both with feeling and action. So it was too with the man afflicted with dropsy. We may not always have the ability to alleviate another’s pain or remove the cause, but unless we have the desire to do so, the feeling will more likely bring us judgement than a reward.
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers