Lancaster farming. (Lancaster, Pa., etc.) 1955-current, June 12, 1993, Image 29
PFU Warns About State Farm Labor Proposals HARRISBURG (Dauphin Co.) The Pennsylvania Farmers Union has been attending recent meetings on "the hill” concerning the effect of upcoming legislation on the family farming community. House Bills 1050, 1051 and 1052 were designed to address the needs of the migrant and seasonal workers in agriculture, but the cur* rent wording of these bills encom passes all temporary and full-time help employed on the farm. PFU President Robert C. Junk Jr. has been providing input as to the way this legislation will adversely affect the small family farmer. The legislation as it is now writ* ten, will provide for better wages, better housing in work camps where seasonal help is employed, availability of emergency medical treatment in the seasonal labor camps, overtime if the work week exceeds 40 hours, transportation to and from the job sites and an accurate disclosure of how long the work will last when recruiting for temporary help. Let’s say a farmer needs to hire some temporary labor to help him get his hay in. As the bills are now worded, he can only hire local high school kids or his immediate family or three local people whose primary source of income is not from agri culture and the work must be anti cipated to be for less than fifteen days. Anything over or above these criteria would have the farmer subject to this legislation. PFU would like to see the word ing of these bills changed to exempt the small family farming operation from this legislation and will continue to work toward obtaining this goal in any future negotiations. N.Y., N.J. Area Milk Marketing Meeting Set ALBANY, N.Y. Informational meetings on upcoming changes to the feder al New York-New Jersey milk marketing order are to be held at Grafting Ensures Nuts From Trees (Continued from Pago A 1) visited Book’s Nursery, on old Hershey Road near Elizabethtown, to observe how a nut tree is grafted. In this case, A Hickory shag bark, with five leaves per stem and a rough, “shaggy” appearance to the tree’s bark, was grafted with the hickory nut called Grainger. two locations this month. On Thursday, June 17, at 10 ajn., an informational meeting is scheduled to be held at the Marriott at Glenpoint, in Teaneck, N.J., located at the intersection of I9S and Fort Lee Road. Another informational meeting is scheduled to be held Tuesday, June 22, starting at 10 a.m., at the Albany Polish Community Center, in Albany. It is located at 225 Washington Avenue Extension. Also on June 22, a public meet ing has been announced concern ing the proposed amendment to the Classification and Accounting Rules and Regulations for the order. The meeting is also to be held at the Polish Community Cen ter and is set to start at 1:30 p.m. For more information, call (SIS) 452-4410. Lancaster Farming. Saturday. June 12. 1993-A29 The hickory nut is a favorite of Book’s, especially the variety called Fayette (a shellbarb), which has a dark brown, thick shell, and a distinctive hickory taste. Book maintains about 100 grafted hickory and black walnut trees on his 120-acre farm and nursery, in addition to 3,000 Christmas trees on about three acres. He said that for years, the hick ory nut had a bad name, because people associate the nut to trees that grow wild and bear a small shell that is hard to break and near ly impossible kernel to remove. Many of the ones growing wild were planted by squirrels, who put them nearly anywhere. But with special care and precise grafting, a wild hickory tree can be trans formed into one that bears a deli cious kernel. No industry “There’s no industry for the hickory nut,” said Book. “If I were a young guy just getting started in life, I would consider planting acreage of hickory nuts, because they are a quality nut, in terms of flavor, in terms of easier to crack, if you have the right kind.” Book said the Association is “looking for nuts that have fairly easy cracking quality ... when they break open, you get kernels or halves. On the hickory nut, you look fora half. You try to get them so that they’re a lighter color—the darker colored nuts are supposedly not as good and often have a diffe rent and distinct flavor.” Book said some nut trees have a genetic tendency to produce “not true” to their parent tree. Necessary equipment Growers who want to graft can pick up the necessary equipment from any hardware store or nursery supplier, which includes plastic bags, masking tape, scissors, ham mer, small nails, clipper, sharp knife, hand saw, and rubber bands. Following are the six “Grafting Rules and Procedures” compiled by Book: 1. Collect healthy last year's scion wood after 72 hours of nonfreezing temperatures and before the sap begins to flow. Scion wood is the wood produced at the end of a limb, the new growth from the past year, which appears green in the spring and summer. The scion wood should be collected in late February or early March. On the day of the demonstration at the nursery. Book used Grainger scion wood kept at 38 degrees Fahrenheit in a refrigerator. 2. Store scion wood in a paper towel, and add 3 or 4 drops of water to the towel. Wrap towel and wood in a sheet of newspaper, then put in a plastic bag. Store at temperatures between 36-38 degrees Fahrenheit and not with apples or cabbage. The reason not to store with apples or cabbage is because of cer tain toxicity produced by the particular fruit and other vegetables. 3. Start grafting when the weather report calls for temperatures in the 80s four days or more in a row. The best time to graft would be June into July. Graft black walnuts only after the stock has been cut off and allowed to bleed out. A bleeding stock will not allow the scion to grow. 4. Cover scion after it is placed on the stock. To place it on the stock, first choose a tree that is 2-3 years old. Cut the trunk of the tree at chest height, at a slight angle. Remove all other limbs and branches and new growth, leaving only the trunk. Take the scion wood, and choose one really health bud for top growth. Using a sharp knife, slice the scion wood to expose a “wedge” of only the cam bium layer, which will produce growth of the scion. Next, to make a baric graft, cut the out side edge of the bark of the trunk away, leav ing a site to insert the scion wood wedge. Both cambria layers of the trunk and the scion wood should meet. “The key to the success on this is making sure that you get those cam bium layers contacting,” said Book. “The cambium layer and the toot stock has to con tact on the side. If they make proper contact, then the food-sap flows in there.” Usea small nail and hammer the two together. Use a rub ber band for additional support Then take the plastic bag and cover the scion and part of the trunk to retain moisture. 5. Attach a side stick for birds to sit on. This will protect the new growth from bird perching and wind damage. 6. Tend grafts every third day to remove growth on the stock. Once the scion begins to grow and is 3 or 4 inches long, stop tending. Remove the plastic bag when necessary to continue the top growth. Also, trim the new growth along the trunk as a result of the prun ing for four weeks, then let grow (otherwise the graft can become top-heavy). By attaching a new scion bearing the better nut to an existing tree what grafting is all about —and by correct fertilization and care, a nut tree will bear a delicious kernel. “Grafting in the nursery business is very easy to do.” he said. “You get a preimium price for trees that are grafted.”