AlO-Lancaster Fanning, Saturday, May 12,1990 OPINION Farmers Have Done Well Several weeks ago, the Earth Day celebration drew a massive outpouring of homage and respect for Mother Earth and the environment. The amount of national attention the whole event received was unbelievable. It is very fashionable to be an envir onmentalist. I guess we all want to be one. But there was something wrong with the celebration. It was more like a wake with the environmental fringe filling the air with their own pollution of gloom. Example: • Farmers are poisoning the land by using dangerous chemi cals in food production. • The world population stands on the brink of global famine. • Solid waste threatens to bury mankind. • Our lakes and streams are polluted. • If we don’t conduct our lives differently, a “greenhouse” change in climate will destroy our planet. Germany was praised over and over again for being the ideal environmental nation. “What we just witnessed was not my idea of a celebration or a balanced review of where we are today, or where we have been concerning our environment,” said John R. Block, president, National-American Wholesale Grocers’ Association and for mer secretary of agriculture. “A celebration should have included a tribute to the American farmer, the American food industry and American technology which has been able to keep the wolf away from the door all these years. Food in this country takes less than 13% of dispos able family income. No other country in the world can claim the same. And what is even more astounding - we have been able to do all of this while making a rapid improvement in our environment.” We agree with Block. The life expectancy of our population is extended every year. There is absolutely no evidence of any harm ever coming to mankind from the recommended use of farm chemicals, fertilizers, processing technology, and on and on. We have systematically been cleaning up our lakes and streams. You can catch big, beautiful coho salmon from Lake Michigan right off a Chicago dock. They weren’t there 30 years ago! The Soil Conservation effort in this country spearheaded by USDA has built hundreds of miles of terraces, and saved thou sands of tons of topsoil. The 1985 Farm Bill established a conservation reserve which has set aside in grass and trees, 34 million acres of fragile land. Thousands of farmers are putting together their own conser vation plan. Germany may be doing rather well in recycling bottles and papers, but they use five times as much fertilizer per acre as we do and twice as much in chemicals. The free enterprise, market-driven economy of the United States has left the Communist-central planned economies in Europe choking in their pwn filthy air. We acknowledge that there is more to be done in protecting our environment, but we think the thrust of a celebration should be to recognize something good, instead of only espousing the bad. And farmers have done something good. Farm Calendar Western Pa. Sheep and Club Lamb Sale, Mercer Co. 4-H Park, 6:00 p.m. Maryland Eastern Shore 4-H Show, 4-H Club Park, Center ville, Md., 10:00 a.m. l» Robert G Campbell General Manager Everett R. Newswanger Managing Editor 1M by Lancaster Farml’Vf Sunday Ma\ 13 llii|)|)> Molina's l)a\! Gum Tree 4-H Open Horse Show, K.A. Equestrian Center, Derry Meeting Road, Cochranville (rain date May 19). (Turn to Poflo A3l) ori yoo TO i NOW IS THE TIME By Jay Irwin Lancaster County Agricultural Agent To Continue Forage Feeding Dairy and beef cattle producers should continue to feed some dry matter while the animals are on pasture. The feeding of hay or sil age, when the cattle are turned out to pasture will result in more uni form production. Also, keeping some dry matter in the ration will help prevent serious scouring and bloating. Some producers provide this forage by way of a portable hay bunk in the pasture area. The ani mals should consume some of the dry forage along with lush spring pasture. The hay should be fed early in the day, before the herd goes to the new pasture. Later in the season the stored hay or silage will continue to be useful when growth slows down due to dry weather and high temperatures. To Be Aware Of Corn Insects With the increased trend toward no-till com planting or minimum tillage, we can expect more prob lems with com insects. Past exper ience shows this. We urge com growers to inspect their fields fre quently to observe any feeding on small plants. You can have cut worms, stalk borers and army worms at any time feeding on the com plant. The Agronomy Guide lists several materials for the con trol of cutworms and army worms. The stalk borer is very difficult to control because they work inside the com stalk. Flea beetles are another insect that may feed on small corn leaves; they create small holes in the leaves but seldom do extensive damage. Sevin can be used to eli minate these small insects, if it is serious enough. Keep an eye on the com field for the first several weeks and avoid serious insect injury. Always follow label direc tions when using any pesticide. Farm Forum Editor: I have been reading with inter est the various letters relative to the $33,000 line item for FFA that was proposed to be eliminated from the budget for the upcoming fiscal year. As a high school agri culture instructor for the past thir- (Turn to Pago A 33) For Haylage and Hay Making Good quality forages can help farmers generate more cash income with little to no additional expenses. And, what farmer couldn’t use that right now! Cows produce more milk and livestock gain more rapidly on higher qual ity forages. The need for pur chased concentrates is also gener ally reduced. So, if you are grow ing forages, concentrate on impro ving forage quality and improving nutrient yield per acres. Most important to quality is stage of maturity at time of harvest. For established stands of alfalfa, harvest the first cutting at the late bud stage; later cuttings can be harvested in the late bud to early bloom stage. .. about 35 to 42 days after the previous cutting. To enhance the vigor and longevi ty of the stand, at least one of the cuttings should be allowed to bloom. Similarly, the first cutting of a new seeding of alfalfa should be made in the early bloom stage. Grasses should be cut in the boot stage of maturity, just as the heads are beginning to emerge. To Safely Dispose of Shrubbery and Plant Trimmings As we begin to trim the trees IF YOU WANT TO KNOW GOD May 13,1990 Background Scripture: 1 John 4:7-21. Devotional Reading: 1 John 4:1-9. A little girl was busy at work with a piece of paper and some crayons. “What are you drawing?” asked her mother. “A picture of God,” was the confident reply. The mother smiled and said, “But, darling, no one knows what God looks like.” Without looking up from her work, the daughter snapped, “They will when I’m finished!” The writer of 1 John said: “No man has ever seen God” (4:12). But he also goes on to suggest that, although God can not really be seen, he can be known. The key is love: “Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is bom of God and knows God” (4:8). CASTRO, KHADAFI & CO. He goes even further: “He who does not love does not know God; for God is love. Notice, 1 John is not saying that loving God is enough: “...we also ought to love one another” (4:11). And to make it even plainer: “If any one says, T love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (4:20). We are not talking about loving just those who are closest to us. BUT "THEY ‘bURE ARE and shrubs in our yard and dispose of these trimmings and other plants around the home and gar den, it is important to dispose of them in a manner that will not be hazardous to livestock, according to Bruce Hellerick, Extension Horticultural Agent. Plant debris is often thrown over the fence into a field or pas ture. Many times we feel the trim mings will help feed the cattle or horses. However, many plants found in the house or yard are tox ic to livestock. Cherry, peach and plum trees are extremely toxic to livestock. When wilting, the leaves are very attractive to ani mals, but a few leaves may con tain enough prussic acid to kill a mature animal. Other plants which are toxic to livestock are: Yews, Laurels, Rho dodendrons, Pieris and most other broadleaf evergreens which con tain toxine. Several flowers including Oleander, Foxglove, Delphiniums, Lobelia, Lily of the Valley and Lupines all contain toxic amounts of alkaloids when eaten by livestock. Care should be taken not to dis pose of plant materials into pas tures. Jesus said that anyone can love those who love us. It is something else to love those who are strange to us. It is difficult for a Democrat to love a Republican, or a Conser vative to love a Liberal. Method ists may not find it all that easy to love Baptists and Baptists may find difficulty in loving Jews, Moslems or Hindus. And then there are Castro, Khadafi and the Ayatollah! Must we not love them? TRUST VS. FEAR The prerequisite is not lovabili ty. Thomas Merton says, “If a man has to be pleasing to me, comfort ing, reassuring, before I can love him, then I cannot truly love him.” This is true whether he be Jew or Christian, black or white. “If he has to belong to my political party or social group before I can love him... then my love is no longer love because it is not free... It is dominated by an appetite other than love. I love not the person, but his classification...”* Why do we find it so hard to love the “unlovely”? Often it is fear that lies behind the hate. Hatred becomes our means of responding to and protecting ourselves from what threatens us. And if fear lies behind the hate, it is lack of faith that is the bedrock on which the fear is founded. If we are afraid of God’s other children, it is because we do not trust God as Creator. It is as if we think he fouled-up in creating people who are different from us. “There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear.” If we live in fear, if we cannot bring ourselves to love others, then we cannot know God. For when we love, we are as close to God as we can be. * (Quoted from SeoMomt of Celebration in Slate of Recognition, edited by Thomas P McDonnell, 1983 Doubleday). (Based on copyrighted Outlines produced by the Committee on the Uniform Series and used by permission. Released by Community A Sub* urban Press.)