VII ft 11111| rOL 33 No. 32 Scenes In Lancaster County Off the Paul Mast farm at Morgantown (Lancaster Co.) son, Ernie, sprays some of their 1 to acres of potatoes Thursday afternoon. The spuds are In blossom. The spray unit with the high clearance frame Is In use for the first time this year. And while this type of unit Is used In New York £tate and the Carolines, these local potato farmers are the first to use this make of sprayer unit In Pennsylvania. Young corn rows stretch into this Lancaster County scene along Rt. 23 just west of Churchtown. While this corn looks good, drought across the mldwestem Corn Belt has skyrocketed December corn prices on the futures market Hmlt upon several days this week. One Ephrata beef farmer reported that In a heavy grain ration feeding prog ram the rise from $2 corn to $3 corn wifi add 10 cents to the cost per pound of gain. On - the average steer about $5O per head will be added to get the beef to market. Making hay the old fashioned way, a loader pulled behind the wagon elevates the long hay from the roils onto the wagon. These Lancaster County farmers were at work along Rt. 322 west of Blue Ball on Thursday afternoon. Photos By Evsrstt Nswswanger Four Sections Lancastor Farming, Saturday, June is, 1988 50a Per Copy Farmland Saved From School’s “Over-Reaching” BY MARJORIE KEEN Chester Co. Correspondent WEST CHESTER Calling the Octorara School Board’s con demnation of Naaman King’s farm “an abuse of discretion”, Chester County Common Pleas Judge Charles Smith ruled Monday against the school district’s taking 102 acres by eminent domain. Taking land in excess of actual need, the judge said, violates the policy of die county and the com monwealth to preserve and protect agricultural land. “We are concerned with the continuing erosion of agricultural land to the wave of development,” Smith’s opinion stated. “Clearly no governmental unit should take from private ownership no more land than it absolutely needs.” Although the judge agreed that the school district needs 30 acres in the near term for athletic fields and Maarin Dixon Farm California Size With Mason Dixon Style Editor’s Note: Lancaster Farm ing will be taking an in-depth look at Mason Dixon Farm’s tot al operation in several subse quent articles. BY PAT PURCELL GETTYSBURG (Adams) When Dick Waybright graduated from high school in 1948 he and his father Clarence and his brother Horace milked 12 cows by hand, farmed with horses, and heaped hay. In September of that year the Waybrights had their largest milk check ever for 4,386 pounds of milk in a month. Now the Waybrights milk that amount in less than two hours and Midwestern Drought Causes Soaring Soybean Prices, Frenzied Futures Speculation BY USA RISSER LITITZ (Lancaster) Lives tock farmers can expert to be pay ing more dearly for feedstuffs this year thanks to the drought situation around the country. Most severly hit have been South and North Dakota and eastern Montana where the lack of snowfall com bined with a dry spring haspaused a severe drought. One that U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Richard Lyng has likened to conditions during the Dust Bowl era. The U.S. Department of Agri culture has declared a drought emergency in 18 states. The Combelt states such as Illi nois, Indiana, and lowa have been in a drought situation since the lat ter part of winter and early spring. $lO.OO Per Year a new elementary school, he labeled Octorara’s taking of the additional 72 acres for projected twenty-first century needs “over reaching”. By condemning more land than the schools actually need, the board is denying King the appreciated value of the land some years in the future, said Smith. “Wc all have learned that the cost of an item may well cause us to forgo its acquisition and we somehow get along without it,” Smith said. Last November the school dis trict, which straddles the Lancaster-Chester county line, filed in court its intention to take King’s Highland Road farm. The crop land, planted in com and potatoes, lies directly across High land Road from Octorara’s ccntral (Tum to Pago A3>) that 12-cow herd has grown to 1278. Things have changed from the days when work was confined to the original 365-acre tract But don’t let the size fool you. This 2100-acre operation is still a fami- ly farm. Hard work and ingenuity from many members of the Waybright family tree and from those employees who have become members of the extended family can be credited with the growth and success of Mason Dixon. On the farm are Dick’s four sons, Bert Doyle, Alan, and Joel; Horace’s son, Jeff and son-in-law, Tom (Turn to Pago A 26) The lowa hay crop has been cut in half, hundreds of Mississippi Riv er barges are backed up due to low water levels, Wisconsin has instated a strict burning ban, Dli nois communities have unposted water-use restrictions, and Indians from the Rosebud Indians Reser vation in South Dakota have been persuaded to perform a raindance in northern Ohio. “They (Midwest states) are in a drought,” reported Dean Kristi niak, weathcrologist from Lake Ariel. “However, a good rainfall will bring them back.” The drought has caused concern among all industries that use grain, resulting in predictions ef higher feed and food prices, a flurry of
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