AlO-Uncettef Farming, Saturday, October 12, 1996
OPINION
Pa. Holstein Association, Penn
Poultry Management and Health
Seminar, Kreider Restaurant,
Manheim, noon.
ADADC District 6 meeting, Club
211, Middletown, NY, 7:30
p.m.
Berks Poultry Fanciers 1996 Fall
Show, Berks 4-H Building, 9
Dillsburg Community Fair, thm
Oct 19.
Pasture Walk, David E. Beiler
farm, Narvon.
Dairylea Coop Inc. Annilal Meet
ing, Four Points Hotel. Liver
pool. NY.
Pa. Council of Cooperatives
Annual Meeting, Nittany Lion
Inn, State College.
Pasture Walk Pequea-Mill Creek,
David E. Beiler farm, 10
a.m.-noon.
Maryland and Virginia Milk Pro
ducers Cooperative District
meeting, Fulton Grange Hall,
Wakefield, noon.
Dauphin County Farm Bureau Fall
Meeting and Banquet Camp
Swine Producers Network Meet-
ADADC District 2 Meeting, Saha
ra Restaurant, Carthage, NY, 8
p.m.
ADADC District 12 Meeting, Sen
nett Church, Sennett, NY, 7:30
Thanks!
p.m.
Maryland State Grange Annual
Session, Venice Inn, Hager
Uniontown Poultry and Farm
Show, thru Oct. 20.
Maryland Delaware Grazing Con
ference, Frederick Community
College, thru Oct 19.
Maryland State Grange Agricul
ture and Awards Banquet Ven-
ship Organizational Meeting
and Field Trip, Lebanon Ag
Center, 12:30 p.m.-5 p.m.
Fall Harvest and Sawmill Show,
Jacktown Community Center, 7
Cochranville, 7:30 a.m.
Family Day on the Farm, Mt. Arar
at Farm, 1 p.m.-S p.m. Raindate
Sun.. Oct 27.
I’m writing to respond to your
editorial Sept. 21, 1996, titled
“Fanners Feed The World.” Your
printing of statistics from the Hud
son Institute could be accurate in
some parts but does not paint the
whole picture.
The major factors that are
destroying the world’s food pro
duction potential are population
To Control
Combine Fires
Cutting comers on combine
maintenance may spark a disaster
a combine Are.
About 75 percent of all combine
fires start in the engine area, warns
Howard Doss, Michigan State
University extension farm safety
specialist.
Electrical malfunctions, hot
exhaust gases, and frictional heat
from bearings and belts are the
most common causes. As a precau
tion, check your combine’s electri
cal components before harvest and
during each week of harvest. Make
sure battery terminal connections
are tight. Make sure all exhaust
manifold and muffler connections
are tight
Check all belts and bearings.
Belts may catch fire if they start
slipping. Worn bearings may glow
red hot before they fail. Clean your
combine engine once each season
with a high pressure sprayer and
degreasing solvent
Quickly shut down the engine if
you suspect a fire. Turn the key
completely off. Mount a 10-pound
ABC type dry chemical fire
extinguisher near the cab. You
may want a second one outside the
cab that can be reached from the
ground.
In event of a fire, attack the fire
from upwind. Aim the exting
uisher at the base of the flames, not
at the flames. If the fire is beyond
your control, go for help immedi
ately, do not endanger yourself.
To Time
Last Cutting
Of Alfalfa
One of the key considerations in
planning the last cutting of alfalfa
is the impact it will have on winter
survival, according to Robert
Anderson, extension agronomy
agent
The shortening day length and
cooler temperatures tell the winter
hardy varieties of alfalfa to deve
lop cold resistance. During this
hardening process, plants reduce
top growth and increase the
growth, loss of prime farmland and
soil erosion. Many organizations
including the well-respected Wori
dwatch Institute have accurate sta
tistics that prove this.
Every year there are almost 100
million more people to feed than
the year before. Each person
requires 2 to 4 acres of farmland
(Turn to Pag* A3O)
amounts of carbohydrates they
store in their roots.
Winter survival and spring
rcgrowth are dependent on having
adequate amounts of carbohy
drates stored by the plant in the
fall. Harvesting alfalfa at the
wrong time in the fall may cause
the plant to use some of the stored
carbohydrates to make new fall
growth. This will reduce the
amount available for winter survi
val and spring re growth.
This consideration has led to the
traditional recommendation not to
harvest in the four- to six-week
period before the first killing frost.
However, new alfalfa varieties
have helped to eliminate some of
the problems of winter kill.
It is now felt that the length of
time since the previous harvest is
more important than the actual
date 6f the harvest. If it has been at
least 45 days since the previous
harvest, further delay of harvest is
not necessary.
TRUSTING IN A UE
October 13, 1996
Background Scripture:
Jeremiah 28 through 29
Devotional Reading:
Jeremiah 30: 13-24
University of Pennsylvania
Professor Martin E. P. Seligman
has done an exhaustive study of
presidential elections in the USA
and determined that optimism is
almost always a very strong factor
in the presidents that we elect
In his book. Learned Optimism
(Knopf, 1990), Seligman says, “In
the twenty-two presidential elec
tions from 1900 through 1984,
Americans chose the more
optimistic-sounding candidate
eighteen times.” In the senatorial
campaign of 1988, Seligman and
his associates predicted accurately
23 of the 29 Senate races, includ
ing all the upsets and all the close
races, on the basis of an analysis
of the positive/negative content of
the candidates’ campaigns. Obvi
ously. people do like a positive
rather than a negative message.
In the long history of the Judaic/
Christian faiths it has been appa
rent that believers also prefer a
hopeful message. Jeremiah, for
example, had prophesized that the
people would be carried away into
exile and they were, most of
them. Those who remained in Jer
usalem as well as those carried
away to Babylon had witnessed
the terrible fulfillment of the pro
phecies they had rejected.
HAPPY DAYS ARE COMING!
So, they are ready for Hana
niah’s upbeat message: “Thus
says the Lord of hosts... ‘I have
broken the yoke of the king of
Babylon. Within two years I will
bring back to this place all the ves
sels of the Lord’s house, which
Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon
took away from this place...’ ”
(Jer.2B:2-4). He goes on to prom
ise an end to the people’s suffer
ings and Jeremiah replies that he
hopes it is so. “Amen? May the
Lord do so; may the Lord make
the words which you have prophe
sized come true...” (28:5),
Other prophets, says Jeremiah,
have prophesized disaster and
their prophesies have been
fulfilled. “As for the prophet who
To Manage
Alfalfa For
Winter Survival
Robert Anderson, extension
agronomy agent, reminds us good
management may improve winter
survival of alfalfa.
In addition to proper timing of
last cutting, other management
considerations to help improve
winter survival of alfalfa include
maintaining good soil fertility and
proper pH. This will help to reduce
stress and increase winter survival.
Planting the most disease
resistant variety available that also
has a high yield potential when
seeding will help with survival.
Remember, even with the best
management possible, weather
conditions some seasons are not
conducive to maintaining alfalfa
stands.
Feather Prof.’s Footnote:
"Obstacles are things a person
sees when he takes his eyes off his
goal."
prophesizes peace, when the word
of the prophet comes to pass, then
it will be known that the Lord has
truly sent the prophet” (28:9).
Like everyone else, Jeremiah
wanted to believe that peace was
just around the comer.
But “the word of the Lord came
to Jeremiah” and the message was
not one of peace, but more suffer
ing. God makes it clear that Nebu
chadnezzar rules, not in spite of
God, but because of him. The king
of Babylon is unknowingly fulfill
ing God’s will. So, Jeremiah turns
to Hananiah and says, “Listen
Hananiah, the Lord has not sent
you, and you have made this peo
ple trust in a lie” (28:15).
GLADLY HEARD
In Babylon Hananiah’s glowing
prophesy was repeated by a col
league. Shemaiah. promising that
the exile would soon be over aad
they would return to Jerusalem. It
was a message the people wanted
desperately to hear, so that we
may assume that Shemaiah was
gladly heard and received. If he
had been running for office, he
would have certainly won the
race.
But Jeremiah sends a letter to
his friend Zephaniah in Babylon
and the latter decries Shemaiah’s
message as hope: “...and they have
spoken in my name lying words
which I did not command them”
(29:23). And Jeremiah adds;
“Because Shemaiah has prophc
sized to you when I did not send
him, and has made you a trust in a
lie, therefore thus says the Lord:
Behold, I will punish Shemaiah...”
(29:31b).
It is tempting to tell the pleasant
lie instead of the hard truth. But
lies, no matter how pleasant, do
not bring the repentance that is
necessary. Those who knowingly
lie to us and paint a rosy picture
when the reality is actually omin
ous are not prophets sent from
God. And if we expect and accept
their lies, are we any better than
they? They may win our support
but hinder our salvation.
Still, even in the darkest of pro
phesies there is a promise that is
our only hope: “When you seek
me with all your heart, I will be
found by you” (29:13-14).
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 B. Main Bt.
Ephrata. PA 17522
-by
Lancaster Fanning, Inc.
A Slelnman Enterprise
Robot 0. Campbell General Manager
Everett a Nawawengar Managing Editor
Copyrighl 1996 by Lancaster Farming