V 01.43 No. 7
Eastern Shore Poultry Manure Successful As Poinsettia Potting Mix
Dr. John Bouwksmp, associate professor, horticulture
dept, University of Maryland, holda a newa conference to
chow the success of composted poultry manure as a pot
Grace and Lyle Mellott, Need more, Fulton County, ahow
. one of their Boer does and 2-mopth-old kid. The Mellotts
make more money on meat goatsthan on any other stan
•' dard animal enterprise. See story page A2O. Photo by Everett
,• Newswanger, managing editor.
VI
Four Sections
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 20, 1997
ting mlx for poincettiM. The rccawrch project is part of the
Future Harvest Project at the University. Photo by Marshall
Cohen.
Lancaster Turkey Flock
Has Avian Influenza
VERNON ACHENBACH JR.
Lancaster Farming Staff
HARRISBURG (Lancaster
Co.) Slate Secretary of Agri
culture Samuel Hayes Jr. on Wed
nesday afternoon announced that
thcH7N2 avian influence virus has
been positively detected in a
24,800-bird northern Lancaster
County turkey flock.
At a general press conference
held in the state Department of
Agriculture Building in Harris
burg, Secretary Hayes told media
news reporters that on Tuesday
evening, lab results confirmed that
the flock consisting of 13,000,
Seasons Greetings
Everyone on the staff at
Lancaster Farming wiahea
you and yours a blessed
Chriatmasand a prosperous
New Year.
$28.50 Per Year
10-week-old birds, and 11,800,
10-day-old birds tested posi
tive for the non-pathogenic H7N2
strain of avian influenza.
It is a non-threatening disease
for humans.
The turkeys are slated for dis
posal, and a farm-specific quaran
tine has been imposed.
As of presstime, a team from the
(Turn to Pag* A 33)
Beautiful cows make the every day work around the dairy
farm more enjoyable. This week we feature some of these
cows—the All-Maryland Holstein winners. To introduce
these show girls, we have Savage-Leigh Lyle Gwen-ET, the
All-Md. 100,0001 b. cow owned by Wayne and Cindee Sav
age, Knoxville, Md. For the photographs of the other win
ners see page A 27 to A 29.
600 Per Copy
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Mid-
Atlantic consumers may soon
have another good reason to
purchase poinsettias during the
holidays beyond their tradition
al and cherished use as festive
and colorful seasonal plant dis
plays.
A three-year study on the
effectiveness of composted poul
try litter as a potting mix for
poinsettias and other plants is
conclusively demonstrating the
great potential of composting to
rid and reuse chicken manure
from the Eastern Shore, prevent
future Pfiesteria outbreaks, and
save a dwindling natural
resource.
In a demonstration today by
the Future Harvest Project at a
University of Maryland labora
tory in College Park,
researchers showed how poin
settias produced on composted
poultry manure from one of the
Eastern Shore's two composting
facilities have grown as well as
or better than those from com-
Inercial potting mixes that rely
heavily on peat moss, a virtual
ly nonrenewable resource.
Future Harvest researchers said
(Turn to Pago MO)
Publication
Deadlines
For Next
Three Weeks
Next week ie Christmas
and then comes New Year.
And the second week in
January farm families get
ready to make their annual
trip to Harrisburg for the Pen
nsylvania Farm Show. For
Lancaster Farming, this means
many of the advertising and
(Turn to Pago A3l)