AKVUnpMtor Farming,. Saturday, April 5, 1997
OPINION
Thank God For Water
A new report released this week by a leading international
research organization warns that water scarcity will become one
of the world’s main obstacles to feeding the growing population
unless urgently needed policy reforms are made. The report by
the International Food Policy Research Institute states that water
supplies are dwindling in country after country because of waste
ful water use, ground water depletion, and pollution, wMle
demand for water is increasing.
Between 1950 and 1990, water use increased by more than 100
percent in North and South America. In Africa die use increase
was more than 300 percent and in Europe by almost 500 percent.
Man’s concern for water resources is nothing new, especially
as it relates to agricultural water use. In the environmental book
entitled “Rich Land, Poor Land,’’ published in 1936, author
Stuart Chase writes; “The individual farmer is very important in
head water strategy; his cooperation is essential. From raindrop
to river mouth, two principles are paramount: hold the water!
Release it slowly, using every gallon as it comes down. Wherever
possible, hold water in the soil and natural reservoirs rather than
by costly dams.
Modern conservation practices have their start in the eariy part
of American history. Washington and Jefferson are credited with
being good fanners and good conservationists because they
checked erosion by contour plowing. Today 1 , many farmers have
switched to no-til or minimum-til fanning, and conservation
practices on erodable land is very common.
But often it is hard for farmers in the rainfall rich areas of Pen
nsylvania and neighboring states to comprehend what it is like to
have polluted underground water supplies and massive amounts
of untreated sewage carried down the local rivers and streams.
We just want to remind everyone again that our water supply is
our most valuable natural resource. Let’s not let so much of it go
down the drain unused. Let’s keep our livestock manure runoff
out of our streams. Let’s thank God for the blessings of water
given to us.
Do-Si-Do Your Dog, Berks Coun
ty 4-H Center. 9:30 a.m.-3 p.m.
Pa. Horse Farmers* Open House,
Also April 6.
Blueberry Pruning and Manage
ment Meeting, Herrick Hill
Huckleberry Farm, 1 p.m.-3
Pa. 4-H Capitol Days, Harrisburg,
thr April 8.
Berks County Conservation Dis
trict Banquet, Kutztown
Grange, 7 p.m.
Tulphocken Adult/Young Farmer
Agribusiness Science Meeting,
5:30 p.m.
Dairylea Regional Informational
Meetings, Troy Veterans Club,
113 Prospect St, Troy, 7:30
p.m.
Comings and Goings: Smoothing
Those Difficult Transitions.
Lebanon County Extension
Office, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
Chester County Quality Assurance
Meeting, Chester County
Cooperative Extension, Room
370.7 p.m. and SAt., April 12,
Herr Farms Feedlot, 9 a.m.
Precision Agricultural Meeting,
York County Extension, 10
a.m.
Dairylea Cooperative Regional
Informational Meetings, Best
Western Country Cupboard,
Rte. 15 North, Lewisburg, 1
p.m., and Ramada Inn. Rtes. 6
and 11, Clarks Summit, 7:30
p.m.
New Bottom Center Public Lec
ture; A Practical Approach to
Pre-purchase Examination and
Lameness Clinic, 7 p.m.
Farm Show Buyer Appreciation
Banquet, Farm Show Complex
cafeteria, 6:30 p.m.
FFA Banquet, Penn Manor High
School, new cafeteria, 6:30
p.m.
Pesticide Certification Exams.
Penn State Cooperative Exten
sion Luzerne County office.
off, Berks County Agricultural
Center, 6:15-9:30 p.m.
Mercer County Spring Spectacu
lar, Fairgrounds, 7:30 p.m.
Dairylea Cooperative Regional
Informational Meetings, Four
Points- Sheraton Hotel. Elec
tronics Parkway, Liverpool,
NY
Siilmd.n. \|)iil 12
Drying Flowers with Silica Gel,
Carroll County Extension Ser
vice Office, Westminster,
Maryland, 1 p.m.-5 p.m.
Garden Wise. Conference Center,
Penn State York Campus. 7:45
a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Forest Stewardship Landowners’
To Evaluate
Alfalfa Fields
This winter had a high potential
for damage to alfalfa fields,
according to Robert Anderson,
Lancaster County extension agro
nomy agent
Extremely cold weather fol
lowed by mild weather may have
severely weaken alfalfa fields
which survived last summer’s
stresses of too much water and
severe disease pressure. Any stress
helps to reduce stands and yields
but when several stresses are
stacked one on the top of another,
the survival rate of plants may be
extremely low.
Alfalfa growers need to evaluate
alfalfa fields very closely this
spring to determine which fields
will be able to produce acceptable
yields and which fields should be
rotated to another crop. With a
shortage of alfalfa, annual forage
crops may be a very important crop
this year.
If annual forage crops are
planted this spring, they could pro
duce higher yields of forage than
maintaining poor alfalfa stands
which have gone by the wayside.
To Check
Alfalfa Fields
Robert Anderson, Lancaster
County extension agronomy
agent, states all alfalfa fields
should be checked now to deter
mine stand quality.
You need to determine the num
ber of plants per square foot and
the number of healthy plants per
square foot Also, you need to be
looking for signs of crown damage
due to heaving, compaction, insec
ts or being frosted after starting to
grow this spring.
Heaving is the most common
and easiest type of damage to
observe in alfalfa. Heaving pushes
the root upward and out of the
ground. Wet soils which alternate
ly freeze and thaw increase the
amount of heaving.
Crowns should be checked for
their ability to survive. Healthy
crowns are solid and white in color
Banquet, Allen Hall, Mansfield
University, 9 a.m.
Blue Seal Feeds, Inc., Open
House, Hagerstown, McL, 9:30
a.m.-4 p.m.
East Central Pa. Two-Cylinder
Club, Inc., Ron Boyer Farm,
Hereford, Pa., 9 a.m.-? Rain
date April 19.
“Income Opportunities for Rural
Areas-Utilizing Your Natural
Resources,” James Rumsey
Technical Center, Hedgesville,
New London, Pa. and KA
Equestrian Center, Cochranvil
le, 8:30 a.m. Also June IS and
Sept 7 at Grazing Acres and
(Turn to Page A3O)
internally. Crowns which are start
ing to him brown may not survive
the growing season.
When more than SO percent of
the root tissue is discolored,
chances of survival are very mini
mal. Remember, when a hay field
fails in July, it is too late to plant to
another crop to replace the feed
lost Several scouting trips over
questionable fields is essential.
To Count
Alfalfa Plants
In view of past summer’s wet
ness and this open winter, Robert
Anderson, Lancaster County
extension agronomy agent,
encourages every alfalfa grower to
count the number of plants grow
ing per square foot now.
How many plants are enough
plants to warrant keeping the field
for another growing season? Fields
which are one year old should have
between 30 and 40 healthy plants
per square foot if they are to con
tinue producing for more than this
FINDING YOUR KEYS
April 6, 1997
FINDING YOUR KEYS
April 6. 1997
Background Scripture:
Revelation 1
Devotional Reading:
Revelation 21:1-3
I had an interesting dream the
other evening. I was working on a
project with a friend of mine, but
somewhere along the line in my
dream my friend had become,
without my realizing it at once, a
pet cat that I once had.
Most dreams are like that fuzzy
and ever-changing. That realiza
tion may help you when you read
the Book of Revelation, because
John’s visions are not too unlike
our dreams the images and pic
tures constantly changing, hard to
visualize.
Visions and dreams are very
much alike in how they appear to
us and in the Old Testament the
same Hebrew word is usually used
for ‘dreams’ and ‘night visions.’
In both the Old and New Testa
ments dreams are an important
means by which God reveals him
self to people. Unfortunately,
today most of us don’t take
dreams, visions and voices very
seriously. And, that too, makes it
more difficult for us to understand
Revelation.
LISTENING
In the play. The Lark, the Dau
phin of France complains to Joan
of Arc because the visions come to
her, a peasant girl, rather than to
him, the successor to the throne of
France. “Why don’t they speak to
me?” he demands and she replies,
“They do speak to you, but you
don’t listen.”
Like the Dauphin, we may not
receive revelation from God
because we do not listen for his
voice. To a large degree we’ve
been educated to disbelieve or
rationalize the messages that come
from within ourselves. I am quite
convinced that God has more to
say to us then we ever heard, but
the reason is not that he does not
try.
About 10 years ago my wife
Valero and I visited the island of
Patmos, a small Greek island just
off the coast of Turkey. Our pur
pose was to visit the shrine of the
Revelation, a church marking the
season. Two-year-old fields
should have 12to 20 healthy plants
per square foot Any field with less
than five healthy plants per square
foot should be planted to another
crop.
The key is the number of healthy
plants. Healthy plants which are
simply pushed out of the ground
may survive this summer and pro
duce adequate yields providing
other stresses are kept to a mini
mum. Seldom do heaved plants
survive a second winter and grow
ing season. Fields which show a lot
of injury, but still have a sufficient
number of plants, should be man
aged very carefully this year.
University researches suggest
fields in this condition should be
allowed to reach mid bloom or
more before making the first cut
ting. Controlling insects and other
stresses will be very important in
the fields.
Feather Prof.'s Footnote: "The
future belongs to those who believe
in their dreams."
place in which John experienced
the visions and voices of which
the Book of Revelation was com
posed when he was, as he writes,
“in the Spirit on the Lords day”
(1:10).
“In the Spirit” means that he
was in an ecstatic mystical state or
what we might call today an
‘altered state of consciousness.’
He was conscious, but not in the
usual sense of the word some
thing or someone in an unusual
way. But just because it is not our
normal or usual experience
doesn’t mean that we should not
be open to what God maysay to us
through it.
IN THE SPIRIT
Correspondingly, just because
John’s revelation comes tp us in
language that is hard to under
stand and lies outside our own
experience doesp’t mean that~Jj
has no message for us. The Book
of Revelation has much to reveal
to us, if we persevere and permit
to do so.
In this very first chapter of the
book there is what I see as a mes
sage of cosmic continuity. In verse
8 John writes, “I am the Alpha and
the Omega,” says the Lord God,
who is and who was and who is to
come, the Almighty.” In vase 17
John writes again: “But he laid his
right hand upon me, saying, “Fear
not, I am the first and the last, and
the living one; I died, and behold I
am alive for evermore, and I have
the keys of Death and Hades.”
Sometimes, when I am in the
grip of perplexity or pain, I need
to be reminded that I am in the
hands of the one who is the begin
ning and ending of all things,
someone who has died but is yet
“alive evermore,” someone who
holds the key of Death and Hades.
Stuck momentarily in the immedi
acy of a particular time, place and
situation, 1 can find the keys that
help me to realize that I am linked
with the Eternal, Infinite God.
(In October, Rev. & Mrs. Alt
house will lead a 14-day tour to
Turkey to trace the footsteps of
Paul and John. For information,
write: 4412 Shenandoah Ave.,
Dallas. TX 75205).
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturdsy
Bphrata Review Building
1 E. Mein St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
-by
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stelnman Enterprise
Robert G. Campbell General Mmiger
Everett R. Newtwanger Managing Editor
C'pyrighi 1997 oy t /meatier Farming