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JANUARY 21,1999
The Official JK.blic.tlon
PENNSYLVANIA MASTER COB
GROWERS ASSOC.
IN
PHONE
OR
DEADLINE
FRIDAY,
ANDY ANDREWS
Lancaster Farming Staff
PARADISE (Lancaster Co)
Sometimes com has a lot
more uses than you can
imagine
You know the standard uses
corn flakes, beverage
sweetener, alternative combus
tion fuel, and others
But there are more uses than
you might have read about
and that includes, of all things,
entertainment farming
Why not make a show out of
the front five acres 7 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 the
Coleman's pul up the “World’s
Largest Attended Maa.,“ in
which every year a new
“theme" for the com tn*£c is
selected
The maze, taking up five
acres was planted in the shape
of the Keystone State itself,
complete with the four cities
making up the comers (Phi
ladelphia, Pittsburgh, Enc, and
Scranton- Wilkes Barre) In the
center is the shape of the Liber
(y 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 the Liber
(y Bell, green for the state out
line, red the Paradise Star, and
white the stars of llfc major
cities) r
The “Land of Liberty" theme
proved especially attractive for
area tourists Each day during
Jafl StoKzfin, Extern Lancaster County (ELANCO) School District Adult
Fanner Program adviser, center, spoke to ebout 60 termer and agrl-Industry
representatives In June during the third annual ELANCO Adult Farmer Prog
ram Spring Mealing at the Eugene Martin Farm south of New Holland. See
eloty page J. Photo by Andy Andnwt
the season the maze avenged
about 1,200-1,500 viators Last
year about 50,000 visitors
showed up to (our the maze, in
the shape of Noah's Ark The
first year the maze was laid out
m the shape of a locomotive
and (he second year, a horse and
buggy
At the top of the maze, north
of the "gamchoard,** was an
America flag made up of
14,000 petunias According to
Coleman, (he 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 »wn The maze theme outline
was gndded out and, when the
com was less than eight inches
Ull, a crew worked a hoc to
shape A few acnal photo
graphs were taken before the
Hnai shape could be finished
The drought emergency this
year had an effect on some of
the tourists, but luckily, accord
mg to Coleman, enough rain
had fallen In mid-July, two
irrigations were needed to keep
the com stalks from turning
brown and bnttlc
The ma?c 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 t
through Sept 18 Friday and
(Turn to Pag« 12)
• COMMERCIAL HYBRID
REPORTS
. PRESIDENT'S MESSAGE
• MORE EFFECTIVE IPM
• CROPS CONFERENCE PREV
• FARM FEATURE
RN TALK
VANIA MASTER CORN GROWERS ASSOC., INC.
toaster Farming, Saturday, October 9, 1999
>»cn«ve petting zoo, ...j, nay i
refreshments, gift shop, and weekly special events. This year the Pennsylva
nia Master Corn Growers Association and Penn Slate Extension Service also
had a corn products stand at the maze. From left, Jack Coleman and right, Del
Voight, Lebanon County extension agent, at the stand. Photo by Andy Andrews
PENNSYLVANIA MASTER
!ORN GROWERS ASSOCIATION
Between The Rows
Or. Greg Roth
Penn Stale Agronomy Associate Professor
AN END TO A VERY
LONG YEAR
I’m sure the 1999 growing
season had as many days and
hours, as previous seasons
hut for many of us it sure
seemed hke a longer than
normal Near
For many Mother Nature
threw a few curvebalK that
resulted in som< dreadful
corn crop* being produud
around the state
Fortunately, this kind of
season is a rare occuirena
that we hope docs not reoccur
for the remainder o( sour
careers.
I thought I might be good
to reviMt .i few of the issues
we ran into this summer and
(Turn to Pag* 4)