Aio-Uncmfr Farming, Saturday, January 29, 1994
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OPINION
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Important To Succeed,
But Not Always
The February issue of the Dauphin County 4-H Hotline has
some remarks by Frederick Rudy, extension agent, 4-H youth/
development to the “Dear 4-H Family” that we think should get a
little broader exposure. In this letter. Rudy expressed some opin
ions that others had asked him to share.
“I think it is important for our youth to succeed,” Rudy wrote.
“But not always. If youth, or any people, succeed at everything
they do, when failure does com?, it is often devastating. Individu
als who always attain their personal goals for the first time are
likely not setting their goals high enough.
“As adults working with youth, we must allow room for failure
in a supporting way. We must let youth make the attempt and if it
fails, help them to understand why. We must not jump in and bail
them out all tahe time. We must leam not to be embarrassed by
the shortfalls of youth. Is it really so bad if the hem isn’t quite
straight or the clipping isn’t perfect?
“I ask those of you that are parents to think back to when your
child was beginning to walk. Did the child just suddenly stand up
and run? Or did your child toddle and fall, slowly improving at
walking and then eventually run? How many knees did you
bandage?
“Leadership is like walking. It must be learned over time. Mis
takes will be made. Our job is to encourage them to get up and
brush themselves off; We may have to bandage some egos and
hurt pride. But the end result will be a young person who is confi
dent, capable, responsible, and mature, in short the kind of indivi
dual we hoped they would become when they were bom.
“Success should be planned. So should failure. We must conti
nually reward the effort, not just the result. Regardless of the situ
ation, young people who achieve their goal, feeling that it was
their own efforts that created the success, will feel better about it.
Do we sometimes cheat our youth out of that feeling of self
accomplishment by being too quick to do it for them?”
This sounds like good philosophy to us. Let’s be part of the
company that encourages others around us, youth and adults
alike, to make the effort to succeed. And then let’s applaud those
who reach the top and also applaud those who didn’t make the top
but certainly made an honest effort to reach it. We believe this is
the ultimate win/win situation.
Farm Calendar
Mercer County Dairy Day.
Equine Nutrition Program. Hilltop
Farm, Calora, Md.
NOFA-NJ Winter Conference,
New Horizons For New Jersey
Organic Ag, Rutgers Universi
ty, 8:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Huntingdon Co. Holstein Assoc,
annual meeting. Warriors Mark
Fire Hall, 7 p.m.
Beaver/Lawrence Holstein Assoc,
annual meeting. Liberty
Grange, Harlansburg, 11:30
a.m.
Columbia/Luzerne Holstein
Assoc, annual meeting. The
Lookout House, Berwick, 7:30
National Mastitis Council annual
meeting, Hyatt Orlando, Orlan
do, Fla., thru Feb. 2.
Jefferson/Clearfield Dairy/Crops
Day, Ramada Inn, Dußois, 9
a.m.-4 p.m.
Beef Education meeting, Trainer’s
Midway Diner, 5:30 p.m.-9:45
p.m.
Kent County, Md. DHIA Records
Update, extension office, Ches
tertown, Md., 12:30 p.m.
Apple Pruning and Training Ses
sion, Lerew Brother’s
Orchards, York Springs, 10
a.m.-noon.
U i;i '
Octorara Young Farmers Associa
tion pesticide meeting, Octora
ra Ag Education Room, 7:30
Pennsylvania Vegetable Confer
ence and Trade Show, Hershey
Lodge and Convention Center,
Hershey, thru Feb. 3.
Cumberland County Extension
annual meeting, Penn Town
ship Fire Hall, Huntsdale, 6:30
p.m.
Annual Meeting of the State Horti
cultural Association of Pa.,
Hershey Lodge and Convention
Center, Hershey, thru Feb. 3.
Solanco Young Farmers meeting,
‘Farming Out Heifers,’ Solanco
High School. 7:30 p.m.
Juniata County Dairy-MAP, Fami
ly House Restaurant, Mifflin
town, also Feb. 8.
Lancaster County Cattle Feeder’s
Day, Farm and Home Center,
9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Winter Turf and Ornamental
School, Farm Show Complex,
Harrisburg.
Income tax meeting, Montoursvil
le Presbyterian Church, 1
p.m.-3 p.m.
Holstein Winter Forum, Holiday
Inn Frederick, Frederick, Md.,
9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Dairy-MAP, Lehigh County Ag
Center, Allentown, also Feb. 8.
Berks County Estate Planning
NOW IS
THE TIME
By John Schwartz
Lancaster County
Agricultural Agent
Not To Plant
Feed Oats
It seems like every year some
growers consider using feed oats
for planting.
According to Robot Anderson,
extension agronomy agent, this is
usually not a very good idea if seed
oats are available and even cost
more.
Feed oats often contain seeds
such as quackgrass, bindweed, and
other hard-to-control weeds.
Yields from feed oats are usually
lower than yields from seed oats.
Keep in mind that the cost of the
seed is usually the smallest vari
able cost involved in planting oats.
If you must use home grown seed
because seed oats are not avail
able, make sure it is cleaned,
treated with a fungicide seed treat
ment, and has good germination.
To test germination, wet a few
paper towels, spread some seeds
on the paper towels, then role the
towels around the seeds and place
in a plastic bag in a warm location.
In about a week, count the number
of seeds which germinated com
pared'to the total seeds.
To Evaluate
Spring Wheat
Some farmers are considering
growing spring hard red wheat var
ieties because of their price advan
tage over the winter wheat variet
ies traditionally grown here.
Traditionally, these spring hard
red wheal varieties have been
grown in the northern plains of the
United States.
Penn State has done some test-
Workshop, Ag Center, Lees
port, 7:30 p.m.-10 p.m., also
ftU^anda^
Herd Health Management Work
shop, Rostraver Grange. Belle
Vernon, 6:30 p.m.-9 p.m.
Northumberland County Winter
Conference, Otterbein United
Methodist Church, Sunbury, 9
Franklin County Dairy Nutrition
Service annual meeting,
Gibble’s Restaurant, 7 p.m.
Lancaster County Cooperative
Extension annual meeting.
Farm and Home Center.
Holstein Winter Forum, Guilford
County Ag Extension, Greens
boro. N.C., 9 a.m.-5 p.m.
Crop Management Association
meeting. First Citizens Bank,
Ulysses, 10 a.m„ and at Seneca
Highlands Vo-Tech, Port Alle
■HbdDDShl
Pa. Com Conference, Lancaster
Host Resort.
PASA Fanning For The Future
Conference, Nittany Lion Inn,
University Park, thru Feb. 5.
Holstein Winter Forum, Atlanta
(Turn to Pago A 27)
ing of spring hard red wheat, and
Dr. Elwood Hatley makes the fol
lowing comments.
Hard red wheat is not very resis
tant to the complex of diseases
found in Pennsylvania. As a result,
low yields of 30 to 3S bushels per
acre have been observed.
.To achieve optimum yield, he
suggests seeding as early as possi
ble at 100 pounds of teed per acre.
Use fertilizer recommendations
similar to those for spring oats. Be
prepared to spray for mildew, sep
toria, and leaf rust.
In Dr. Hatley’s tests, mildew has
been the major factor in lowering
yields.
To Set Up
Farm Test
Plots Correctly
Many farmers like to test new
varieties or new management ideas
on their farms to see how they
work.
Making comparisons may be a
difficult procedure, and if not done
properly, may lead to the wrong
decision.
Dr. Greg Roth, Penn State Agro-
V f
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BY I AWRtNi E W AItHOUSt
f SI!!3!LS
SH/
GETTING WHAT'S
COMING TO YOU
January 30,1994
Background Scripture:
Luke IS
DEvotional Reading:
Isaiah 40:9-11; Ezekiel 34:1-6,
11. 12. 15, 16
If you want to know what '
makes the Christian concept of
God so unique, look at the 15th
chapter of Luke.
God’s love for us is like the she
pherd who is not content to have
with him 99 of his 100 sheep, but
searches diligently until he finds
that one lost sheep. He is like the
woman who has lost one of her ten
silver coins and with great deter
mination searches until she finds
the lost coin. He is also like the
father who joyfully and magna
nimously welcomes back his pro
digal son from whom he has been
estranged. And, like all three of
these characters, he is so glad to
have back those who have been
separated from him that he calls
ill creation to celebrate with him.
The first two parables tell us
about the persistent love of God,
but the parable of the Prodigal Son
tells us also a lot about ourselves.
To begin with, “There was a man
who had two sons.” We might
expect that for the purpose of
illustration, one of them would be
“good” and the other “bad". But,
instead of being the epitome of
good and evil, they are like us: a
bit of both. Most of us can identify
somewhat with either or both of
them.
The younger son came to his
father, saying: “Father, give me
the share of property that falls to
me.” Like so many of us, the basis
of the rift between father and son
was something material. "Give me
what I have coming to me!” How
many relationships flounder
because of selfishness and greed.
Yet, in today’s society, some peo
ple would hail the young man’s
determination to get what he had
coming to him, “He’ll go far!”
some probably said. And he did:
“...into a far country where he
squandered his property in loose
nomy Department, makes the fol
lowing suggestions for farm test
plots.
First, select a uniform portion of
a field which represents the type of
land found on the farm. Second,
keep the number of varieties or
other variables to be tested to a
minimumrDo not mix com variet
ies with nitrogen rates with herbi
cides, for example. Third, whenev
er possible, replicate what is being
tested several times in the plot.
Fourth, consider repeating the
same test in another field if possi
ble. Fifth, monitor the test through
out the entire growing season and
discard the results of those plots
which have been effected by out
side factors such as animal dam
age, poor stands, misapplication of
fertilizer or pesticides, etc. Sixth,
do the test several years before
making a final decision to change
the entire farming practices to
those being tested. Seventh, look
for university research that will
support the findings on your farm.
Feather Profs Footnote;
"Expect the best. Prepare for the
worst. Capitalize on what comes."
living.”
Next, Luke tells us, ‘‘And when
he had spent everything, a great
famine arose in that country, and
he began to be in want.” In the
margin of my Bible is a comment 1
wrote some years ago: “Great tim
ing!” Have you ever noticed that
same sense of timing in your life.
After you spend what’s coming to
you, that’s when the famine
comes! Disasters can come to any
one, but they hurt most those who
have dissipated all their resources.
One moment we may be carousing
with the wild bunch or the jet set
and the next we’re sharing awtud
dy barnyard with the pigs. That’s
what happens when he got so far
from the father’s house.
The younger spn was no dupt
my. For the sake of staying alive,
he at least had the sense to take a
job no respectable Jew would
touch. And, after a while, he very
reasonably concludes that he
would be better off as one of his
father’s servants. Some people
don’t even have the good sense to
realize that. Stubbornly they con
tinue a barnyard existence rather
than admit they made a mistake.
But the younger son says, "How
many of my father’s hired ser
vants have bread enough and to
spare, but I perish here with hun
ger! I will arise and go to my
father, and say to him. Father, I
have sinned....! am no longer
worthy to be called your son; treat
me as one of your hired servants."
I confess that I’m not sure whether
this son is penitent at this point or,
just hungry and clever. At any
rate, he has the sense to go home
and the father makes it clear that
he returns, not as servant what
he has coming to him but as a
beloved son what the father
gives him out of his gracious, for
giving love.
I am reminded of the woman
who told the portrait artist, “Mind
you, I want you to do me justice.”
“Madam,” replied the artist, “what
you need is mercy, not justice.”
And so do we all.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St
Ephrata, PA 17522
by
Lancaster Farming, Ino.
A SMimn EnMqariw
Robert Q. Campbell Qenersl Manager
EvaM R Nemewengef Meneglns Edtor
Copyright IW3 by Leneuter Fuming