SPECIAL SECTION LANCASTER FARMING ANUARY 29 ADVERTISERS PLAN NOW TO RESERVE YOUR SPACE 717-626-1164 717-394-3047 The Official Publication Fcr The PENNSYLVANIA MASTER COB growers assoc. IN PHONE OR DEADLINE FRIDAY, ANDY ANDREWS Lancaster Farming Staff PARADISE (Lancaster Co) Sometimes com has a tot more uses than you can imagine You know (he standard uses corn flakes, beverage sweetener, alternative combus tion fuel, and others But there are more uses than you might have read about and (hat includes, of all things, entertainment farming Why not make a show out of die front five acres' That’s exactly what Cherry Crest Farm, operated by Jack and Donna Coleman in Paradise, did This year marked the fourth time in a row that die Coleman's pul up the “World’s Largest Attended Ma/c,~ in which every year a new “theme’’ for the com maze is selected The maze, taking up five acres, was planted tn the shape or the Keystone State itself, complete with the fair cities making up the comets (Phi ladelphia, Pittsburgh, Ene, and Scranton-Wilkes Bane) In the center is the shape of the Libet ly Bell, along with ribbons along the com row “paths’* of the maze painted a different color to represent a section of the maze (yellow for (he Liber ly Bell, green for the state out line, red the Paradise Star, and white the stars of tffc major cities) r The “Land of Liberty" theme proved especially attractive for area tourists Each day during Jeff Stoltzfua, Eastern Lancaster County (ELANCO) School District Adult Farmer Program advlsar, canter, spoke to about 60 farmer and agri-industry representatives In June during the third annual ELANCO Adult Farmer Prog ram Spring Meeting at the Eugene Martin Farm south of New Holland. See story pegs 3. Photo by Andy Andrew* 1999 the season the maze averaged about 1,200* I,soovisitors Last year about 50,000 visitors showed up to tour the maze, in the shape of Noah’s Ark The first year the maze was laid out in the shape of a locomotive and (he second year, a horse and At the top of the maze, north of the “gamehoard," was an America flag made up of (4,000 petunias According to Coleman, the one-third acre flag was planted the third week of May this year, contracted with Good Harvest, Strasburg The com maze itself, which opened July 2, was planted with Pioneer 32K62, a Bl hybrid, full season variety The com was planted May 5 in 30-inch r )w> The ma/c (heme outline was gndded (ml and, when (he com was less than eight inches (all, a crew worked a hoc to shape A few aerial photo graphs were taken before the final shape could be finished The drought emergency this year had an effect on some of the tourists but luckily, accord ing to Coleman, enough rain had fallen In mid July, two irrigations were needed to keep the com stalks from turning brown and brittle 71k maze employs about 15, mostly youth, from around the region The Colemans also care for 60 cows on their dairy, in addition to 50,000 broilers under contract with Tyson The ma/e is open Sept 1 through Sept 18 Friday and (Turn to Psg# 12) ► COMMERCIAL HYBRID REPORTS » PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE . more effective ipm • CROPS CONFERENCE PREVI • FARM FEATURE RN TALK VANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC. toaster Farming, Saturday, October 9, 1999 —.manta, gl. .op, and weekly special eventa. This yt, ,sy> nia Master Corn Growers Association and Penn State Extension Service also had a corn products stand at the maze. From left, Jack Coleman and right, Del Volght, Lebanon County extension agent, at the stand Photo by Andy Andrews PENNSYLVANIA MASTER lORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION Between The Rows T ——- " '■* : j Dr. Greg Roth Penn State Agronomy Aesoclate Protestor AN END TO A VERY LONGYEAR I’m sure the 1999 growing season had as many days and hours as previous seasons but for manv of us it sure seemed like a longer than normal vear For many, Mother Nature threw a few curvebalU that resuited m some dreadful corn crops being produced around the stale Fortunately, this kind of season is a rare occurrence that we hope does not reoccur for the remainder of your careers I thought I might be good to revisit a few of the issues we ran into this summer and (Turn to top <>
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