MHjßfinlfr Fanwipg, Saturday, January 17,1987 v. OPINION 1987 Pa. State Farm Show “Progress Through Technology” was the theme of the 71st Penn sylvania Farm Show held in Harrisburg this week, and the technologies on display covered a span of 2,327 years. Farm Show visitors, in a walk of a few minutes, could travel from the Stone Age of agriculture to the Hi-Tech Age of modem farming. In the shadow of massive, com puterized machinery was the display of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Com mission and the Society for Penn sylvania Archaeology. Artifacts displayed in the historical exhibit were explained with simple-sentence notations. Nearby, a sport coat clad salesman is on hand to explain and answer questions about a com plicated looking piece of equip ment. The artifacts included stone hoes, which were hafted to wooden handles and used to break soil and cultivate hand-planted gardens. Also shown were wooden digging sticks for loosening the soil and extracting plants. Towering nearby you could see modem day cultivating and harvesting tools designed by engineers and manufactured by world-known Dear Editor: An article in Lancaster Farming last week indicates Secretary of Agriculture designee Boyd Wolff would like to improve farm income and promote Pennsylvania agriculture. Who wouldn’t? However, there is a limit to what the state can do. Prices, costs, interest rates and ag programs are determined nationally, not on a state level. I would hope the state ag secretary would represent ag to the governor, other cabinet members and the legislature. He has their ear. A farmer might have problems with Penndot, DER, revenue, labor and industry, state r i Farm Calendar 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 Dept., 7:30 p.m. Berks Cattlemen On-Foot/On-Rail Beef Evaluation, Leesport Farmer’s Market. Bradford County Tax Meeting, Troy vo-ag classroom, 8 to 10 p.m. companies. The crude implements were the tools of a time when fanning the land was a total way of life. Today, as agriculture has again become Pennsylvania’s leading industry, the tools in use are really technologies. A computerized combine on display, for instance, has digital read-out electronic monitors and electro-hydraulic controls. Oldest items in the historical display were squash seeds that date back more than 3,000 years. They were recovered from the Meadow Craft Rockshelter in Washington County. They were seeds from the soil. A short walk, in the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture booth, were hydroponic vegetables grown in rockwool. Looking back and ahead through the exhibits at the Farm Show, it was evident that “Progress Through Technology” is more than a theme. It signifies the dramatic evolution in the way Penn sylvanians live and farm. We hope you had the opportunity to enjoy this year’s nice weather and see a really great Pennsylvania State Farm Show. FARM FORUM lUR READERS WRITE police, fish and game, etc. The ag secretary could help the parties understand each other better. Water pollution must be reduced. Regulations should be bearable. Obnoxious weeds must be con trolled. We need leadership in the department of agriculture. I am convinced farmers would do better in the legislature if they would do more to reduce soil erosion and water pollution. Lip service is not enough. I wish Mr. Wolff well. Fertilizer and Pesticide Meeting, Kisser’s Restuarant, Stouchsburg, 9:30 a.m. For information call 717-866-5205. Blair-Huntingdon Annual Crops Management Meeting, Alexandria Fireball, noon. Fayette County Beef Meeting, 7:30 p.m., Angelo Farm Equipment, Perry opolis. Lime, Fertilizer and Pesticide Conference, Penn State sore cme>. - WHAT ARE YA DOING-, - HAULING ; 90ME Ho6s> NTO7DWN? 7 Sincerely Richard Wright EUiottsburg Tuesday, January 20 NOPE, 1 NEED 7D HAUJ MY TAX STUFF INTO —r TOWN NOW IS THE TIME By Jay Irwin Lancaster County Agriculture Agent To Be Aware of the Meeting Season This is the time of year that a lot of educational meetings are held and they’re held during this season of year for a good reason you have more time to attend meetings. During the spring, the summer and into the fall, there’s just too much field work that must be done. Take the time to become acquainted with the meetings of interest to you and your operation. Some meetings are designed to reach certain production groups such as Dairy Days, Livestock Day, Crops and Soils Day and Poultry Day, but others are programmed to reach all agri business people like the Financial Management, Estate Planning and Farm Transfer Arrangement meetings. Also, many agri-business and lending institutions conduct 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 Growers Association of N.J. 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. Luzerne County Extension Service Open House, 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Extension Office, Wilkes-Barre. Theme: Tools of the Future. Wednesday, January 21 Lancaster County Dairy Nutrition School, Harvest Drive Restaurant, Intercourse, 9:45 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also on Jan. 28 and Feb. 4. Ag Day, American Legion, Chestertown, Md. 9 a.m. Dairy Supply Management Seminar, 10:30 a.m., American Legion Hall, Rt. 94 Knowlton Township, N. J. Hunterdon Co. Agriculture Development Board Meeting, Extension Center, 8 p.m. Sulbra Crop Management Association Annual mem bership meeting, Wysox Presbyterian Church, 7:45 p.m. Thursday, January 22 Delaware Association of Nur serymen’s Meeting, Sheraton Inn, Dover, Del. Mifflin County Holstein banquet, Belleville Mennonite School, 7 p.m. Interstate District 11 annual meeting/luncheon, Cochran ville Fireball, 11:45 a.m. (Turn to PageA3l) meetings to keep you abreast of the changes in their organizations. We urge you to mark your calendar as these meetings are announced and attend as many as possible. To Control The Mid-Winter Rat Problem Rats are dirty, they are destructive and they carry disease-spreading pests. We all know that, but did you know that one rat can cost you $2B a year and that rats cause an estimated 25 percent of all farm fires. Rats spread more than 35 diseases (which have killed more people than all the wars in history). Rats are very prolific; they have new litters every 30 days they multiply so rapidly that a pair could have 15,000 descendants in a year’s life span. Rats have sharp teeth and can gnaw through lead pipes, sheet metal, cinder blocks and wiring. It’s estimated that rats destroy about 20 percent of all crops planted each year. This is an excellent time to check your bait stations and make sure they have fresh material. And be sure that children and dogs and cats can not get to the bait. Let’s do all we can to keep these expensive, destructive pests out of our buildings. To Provide Supplemental Heat This is the time of year when many pigs and lambs are being bom into cold quarters. If the newborn animals become chilled that first hour, they will be in trouble. Many digestive and respiratory problems can develop. We urge producers to provide heat lamps, or some other source LAZARUS ONLY DIED TWICE January 18,1987 Background Scripture: John 11:1-44. Devotional Reading: John 11:45- 53. When last seen in the Gospel according to John, Lazarus had just been raised from the dead and literally was getting a new lease on life. That’s the end of his story, so far as we know it. But, despite the fact that Jesus raised him from the dead, Lazarus eventually died again. We don’t have to read it in the Bible to know that Lazarus’s raising from the dead by Jesus was temporary, like all the healings of Jesus. Or was it? When Jesus arrived in Bethany, he was met by great disap pointment. The very first words which Martha spoke to him were; “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died,” the very thing with which Mary greeted him a bit later (John 11:21,32). They cannot help wondering why Jesus did not arrive earlier? They were probably not aware that when the message of Lazarus’s illness reached Jesus, “he stayed two days longer in the place where he was” (11:5). It seemed a strange way to show his love for this family. THE GLORY OF GOD It might appear, then, that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead because of the reproaches from Martha and Mary. They did not of heat, for these a.umala the first few days. Modem farrowing haras already have supplemental heat units that provide the proper temperature to get little pigs off to a good start. However, many sheep bams are too cold for little lambs. The placing of a heat lamp over the small pen in which the ewe and lamb are kept for the first few days will be helpful. Be careful that the heat lamp is well attached and out of the reach of animals. To Recognize Fertilizer Values Since the cost of commercial fertilizer continues high, we should take a look at other sources of plant food; I am referring to farm manure and legume sods in our crop rotation- The 1987-88 Agronomy Guide gives a very good comparison of these fertilizer values on page 22. With the amount of manure that is being applied to some of our livestock and poultry farms, it is quite possible that very little commercial fertilizer will be needed. Alfalfa sod can add as much as 110 pounds of nitrogen per acre. This information is also found in the ‘B7-88 Agronomy Guide on page 23. This is one advantage to having legumes in the crop rotation. A complete soil test will reveal the needs for each field. Then the needs can be met by using farm manures, legume sods or com mercial fertilizer. Careful han dling and storage of manure will preserve many of these valuable fertilizer elements. The Cooperative Extension Service is an at firmative action equal opportunity educational institution realize that Lazarus had already died before the messengers reached Jesus (he had delayed only two days, but when he got to Bethany, Lazarus had been dead four). Also, we might conclude that Jesus also raised Lazarus because of the challenge which Martha gives him: “And even now I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you” (11:22). But, Jesus did not raise Lazarus from the dead because he had delayed in coming, nor because he was challenged to demonstrate his power. There are two reasons for this miracle and they have nothing to do with a failure of either Jesus’s judgement or his com passion. The writer of the Gospel of John indicates from the very beginning of the story that Jesus delayed, not because of a lack of compassion, but because there was a Divine higher plan and purpose of which he was aware. Informed of Lazarus’s illness and the summons of Martha and Mary, Jesus tells his disciples, “...it is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by means of it” (11:4). And later, informing his disciples that Lazarus was already dead, Jesus said, “...and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe” (11:15). JESUS WEPT The second reason is evident: “When Jesus saw her weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled” and John tells us plainly that “Jesus wept” (11:33,35). Jesus’s sorrow was evident enough for people to notice: “So the Jews said, ‘See how he loved him!’” Although Jesus knew God’s plan to raise Lazarus, nevertheless he was moved and troubled by the grief and pain of his friends- a pain that may have been all the more in tense because they were not certain that Jesus hadn’t failed them. In the raising of Lazarus, God demonstrates his power over death and established Christ as the Lord of life. The point was not that Lazarus would not die again, but that when that happened, by the power of God in Christ, death would not have the final word with Lazarus or with us. 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