AUHaacaatar Fnwim, Saturday * March
OPINION
Bearish Optimism
Because you often get squeezed
into your seat with not much elbow
room on some of those commuter
airplane rides out of Lancaster
Airport, some travelers call these
shuttle flights cattle cars. Edward
Zuckerman, a writer for “Spy"
magazine decided to share a ride
with real cattle to judge the ac
curacy of this metaphor.
According to “USA Today”
Zuckerman rode with a train of
cattle cars from Florida to Texas
and found that each cow was
allowed 13.3 square feet. That
would be equivalent to 2.7 square
feet for a 160 pound person. People
on air commuter flights are
allowed 5.8 square feet per person.
So people fair better than cattle.
Unfortunately, Zuckerman says
most of the air passenger space is
taken up by tiny seats and
passengers are forced by flight
attendants to sit in them.
Of course since we flew to In-
1 Farm Calendar
Saturday, March 7
Cedi County Annual Farm Bureau
Banquet, Huntingdon County
Annual Holstein meeting,
Juniata Valley Elementary
School, 7 p.m.
Dauphin Nut Tree Workshop,
Lower Dauphin High School, 9
a.m.
Monday, March 9
National DHIA Convention and
Trade Show, Adam’s Mark,
Philadelphia; continues
through March 12.
Cumberland County 4-H Dairy
Banquet, 7 p.m.
Atlantic Co-op, Lampeter Fireball,
noon.
Future of Ag Conference,
Lewisburg, Union County.
Bradford County Extension estate
planning meeting, Extension
office, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
NW Jersey Fruit Growers
meeting, Watchung View Inn,
Route 206, Pluckemin.
Tuesday, March 10
Lancaster County Dairy Day, 9
a.m. to 3 p.m. Farm and Home
Center.
Pesticide Recertification Meeting,
Ephrata High School Ag
Department, 7:45 p.m.
Pa. Turkey Conference, Sheraton
Inn, Gettysburg (Route 15
South), 9a.m. t03:30p.m.
Future of Ag Regional Conference,
Greensburg.
Swine Management Seminar,
Mifflintown Fireball, Mif
flintown.
Bradford County Extension
meeting on DHIA and AM/PM
dianapolis this week to see the
Greenfield Swine Research Lab
and to attend the American Pork
Congress, it would not be ap
propriate to call the airplane a
cattle car. Pig car maybe. Or does
swine shuttle sound better? We
don’t know. But we had a good
flight. The stewards and
stewardesses fed us apple juice
and cheese and the airways were
smooth.
But most importantly, the
American pork producers are in an
upbeat mood. They have a new
promotion program financed by
new checkoff moneys. And pork
prices are high enough to make
farmers a little money for once.
The convention’s theme “On The
Move” was proclaimed to signify
an industry in motion and involved
in change.
It certainly was worth the trip on
Sow Air just to get a little dose of
that boarish optimism.
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testing programs, Extension
office, 8 p.m.
Bradford County Maple Festival
Committee meeting, 8 p.m.
Maryland State Holstein Board of
Directors Meeting, Extension
Office, Westminster.
Wednesday, March 11
Annual Meeting, Farm Credit
Banks of Baltimore, Marriott in
Washington, D.C.
York County Potato Growers
Meeting, Centre Presbyterian
Church, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Cumberland County Mastitis and
Milking Update, 10 a.m.
Franklin/Cumberland Mastitis
and Milking Machine Update,
Shippensburg, 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Future of Ag Conference,
Greensburg.
Bradford County DMA Super
visors meeting, Extension
office, 11 a.m.
Montgomery County Md. Holstein
Meeting, Ag Center, Gaither-
sburg.
NW Jersey Turf and Ornamental
Institute, Extension Center,
Route 31, Flemington. Call 201-
786-1338 for details.
Thursday, March 12
Lancaster County Farm Transfer
Meeting, Farm and Home
Center, 7:30 p.m.
Clarion-Venango-Forest Dairy
Day, Salem Community
Building, Lamartine, 9:30 a.m.
to 3:30 p.m.
Lampeter-Strasburg FFA Annual
Banquet, Lampeter Fireball, 7
p.m.
Bradford County 4-H Leaders
Banquet, Wysox Presbyterian
T REALLY
I DO)
NOW IS
THE TIME
By Jay Irwin
Lancaster County Agriculture Agent
To Check Pastures
With March arriving and tem
peratures moderating, our
thoughts quicken to early spring
pastures. We need to be concerned
with pastures and exercise lots
along rural roads for discarded
junk. Unfortunately, people still
throw bags of waste from their
cars into nearby fields. Some of the
materials may be poisonous to
livestock. Every producer should
remove these materials before
starting to graze. Also, in hay
fields the materials should be
removed before growth begins.
Bottles and tin cans will damage
equipment and be a threat to the
livestock eating the hay. Be sure
Church, 7:45 p.m.
Farm Transfer Seminar, Lan
caster Farm and Home Center,
7:30 p.m.
Future of Ag Conference, Mercer.
Wayne County Dairy Day, Wayne
County Memorial Armory,
Tyron Street, Honesdale, 9:30
a.m. to 3:15 p.m.
Pa. Egg Marketing Meeting, Olde
Hickory Inn, Lancaster.
Friday, March 13
York County Extension Annual
Meeting, Porters Fireball, 7
p.m.
NE 4-H District Dairy Meeting,
10:30 a.m.
Lancaster County Farmers
Association Spring Meeting,
7:30 p.m.. Farm and Home
Center, Lancaster.
Pa. Flying Farmers Annual
Convention, Sheraton Inn,
Greens burg; continues through
March 15. For additional in
formation call: 717-867-2384 or
412-2584906.
Saturday, March 14
Annual Meeting, Pa. Ayrshire
Breeders Association, Holiday
Inn, Grantville.
Delaware Ag Industry Dinner,
Clayton Hall, University of
Delaware. Call 800-282-8685.
NE Regional Christmas Tree
Growers Meeting and Trade
Show, Split Rock Ledge,
Gallerio, Lake Harmony, Pa., 8
a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Berks County Guernsey Breeders
Annual Meeting, Shartlesville
Grange Hall, 11 a.m.
Maple Sugar Festival, Hibernia
Park, Chester County, 9 a.m. to
3 p.m.
Tioga-Bradford Jersey Club, Alba
Church, noon.
Monday, March 16
Egg Marketing Order Meeting,
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your animals are not poisoned
through someone’s carelessness.
We have been saying for years
that animal and poultry manure is
an excellent fertilizer. It still is...
but not for tobacco. Research
shows us that animal manure,
particularly dairy, increases the
chlorine content of the tobacco;
this chlorine content reduces the
“bum” quality of the tobacco, and
buyers frown on that.
Locate the area that you plan to
transplant your tobacco, and be
sure not to apply any manure to
that area this year.
We suggest that a soil test be
taken as an indicator of your
present nutrient level. Then apply
fertilizer at the recommended
rates. The fertility program
recommended by our research
agronomists for a 2,000 pound
tobacco crop should consist of 80
pounds of nitrogen, 35 pounds of
phosphorus (P 205) and 165 pounds
of potash from either sulfate of
potash or potassium nitrate. This
fertility program will increase
quality and reduce buyer
resistance.
Weeds continue to be one of the
major factors in reduced crop
yields. This is true in the garden as
well as in the field. The battle to
control weeds is not a new one;
years ago cultivation was the only
W.ST H “” ItoMday, Harcb 17
National' 'Agriculture Week.
Continues through March 21. f * g ’ t • ou y .,
Maple Sugaring Festival, 7 d g ’
Hashawha Environmental _ Ch^b*reburg,7. 30 p.m.
Appreciation Center, Carroll Ephrata Area Young Fanner
ajth ituEnni monthly meeting, Ephrata High
County, Md.,l to 5 p.m. School As npbkrbnent 7-45
Horse Symposium, Extension JcJ* 001 Ag 7.45
Cmter, Route 31, Flemlngton, 8 d *g open
P ’ (Turn to Page A3l)
TROUBLE IN THE
VINEYARD
March 8,1987
Background Scripture: Luke 19:47
through 20:26.
Devotional Reading: Luke 21:34-
38.
The trouble in the vineyard was
with the tenants, not the vineyard
itself. They had been granted the
privilege to tend their own places
in the owner’s estate, but, once he
went away they began to act as if it
were their vineyard, not his. Oh,
they knew he had title to it, but he
had gone away on a trip and they
were there and they felt that they,
not he, had control over it. Ap
parently they thought he was going
to be away for a long time or,
perhaps, that he would never get
around to returning.
WHOSE VINEYARD?
After Jesus had told this parable,
Luke tells us: “The scribes and the
priests tried to lay hands on him at
that very hour...for they perceived
that he had told this parable
against them” (Luke 20:19). And
WELL IT SHOULD NT
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To Plan Area For
Tobacco Planting
To Plan Weed
Control Program
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method of weed control. Now,
herbicides are widely used for
weed control.
However, we still have too much
crop damage from weeds. An
agronomist once said that for
every pound of weeds produced,
the crop yield was reduced by the
same weight. Some weeds are so
prevalent that they amount to
several tons per acre; this means
that much less of the desired crop.
Follow the recommendations in
the Agronomy Guide and plan for a
better weed control program this
year.
To Prune
Fruit Trees
Whether you have a few or
several hundred fruit trees, or
chard pruning need not be delayed
until spring. It may be started in
colder weather. But it is a good
practice to work on the hardiesl
trees first.
Early pruning can involve some
problems from winter injury, but
in many cases an early start will
be necessary to complete pruning
of large orchards before spring. By
confining work to the older, har
dier trees, fruit growers keep
injury to 9 minumum.
Apple and pear trees are the
hardiest of the fruits, with plums
and sour cherries next in order.
Because peach and sweet cherries
are most tender, delay their
pruning, particularly the younger
trees, until later in March.
they perceived rightly! Jesus was
telling this parable against them.,
and anyone else who, like the
scribes and pharisees, forgets
whose vineyard it is. Given the
responsibility and the authority to
teach the people the Jewish faith,
they had tended to forget that the
religious heritage belonged to God,
not to them. They were con
veniently forgetting that they were
but tenants in the vineyard, not the
owners.
“How could they do such a
thing?" we wonder from the
perspective of the 20th century.
From this distance we can all see
what a mistake they made.
(Despite all the revisionist
histories that have been written,
I’ve never read one that defended
the scribes and pharisees as being
“right” and Jesus “wrong.”) But,
if we can see their mistake in
rejecting Jesus, we often are
equally blind in failing to realize
that we do much the same thing
they did. Like them, we tend to
regard the church - or whatever we
may call our repository of religious
truth as our “vineyard.” We
tend to forget our tenant status and
even if we realize there is
somewhere an Owner of the
vineyard, like the scribes and the
pharisees, we behave pretty much
as if we doubt that he’ll ever
return.
THE REJECTED STONE
So, God sends us prophets from
time to time, but, like the scribes
and pharisees of old, we don’t heed
them and we may use some
violence to send them on their way.
We may acknowledge that the
church is Christ’s vineyard, but we
act as if it really belongs to us.
Often, what we do in his church
may have little or nothing to do
with the “fruit” he expects from
his vineyard. There are many
times when Christ is still the
rejected cornerstone of the
churches we build in his name.
If there is trouble in the
vineyard, the trouble is with us.
(Based on copyrighted Outlines produced by
the Committee on the Uniform Series and used
by permission Released by Community and
Suburban Press.)