AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, February 26, 2000
OPINION
In The Hands Of Enemies
We saw in the news this week, that truck drivers are
taking convoys of their rigs into Washington D.C. to protest
the high price of fuel. Diesel and gas prices have skyrock
eted almost overnight, and truckers want government to do
something about it. They say they can’t make a living at
these prices. Last week, many of the independent truckers
simply let their trucks set because it didn’t pay to work.
To anyone who follows the farm scene, this kind of cry is
all too familiar. Farmers use a lot of fuel too. But they have
had to cry for at least the last 10 years. Milk prices are at
1978 lows. Hog and beef prices are so low, farmers are going
out of business. We suspect that every small business, and
that includes farmers, has a tough time with the bottom line
these days. In the publishing business, the rise in paper and
postage costs almost takes your breath away.
Many business enterprises are being forced offshore and
into Mexico. For food production, this means our dinner
tables are more and more filled with food that comes from
places where sanitation laws and food safety requirements
are nil. The American consumer should receive a warning
lesson here from this sudden rise in oil prices and the threat
to our economy and our livelihood. We depend on oil that
touches the lifeblood of every American enterprise in com
merce and industry. And we depend on foreign sources for
that oil. Our enemies control many of these foreign sources.
You don’t need to be a rocket scientist to figure out this is
not a good way to run a business, or fill our dinner tables.
But with the anti-farming regulations and taxation laws
that are quietly being put into place in America right now, it
will not be long before our food sources will come from the
same sources as our oil, controled by our enemies. Don’t be
surprised if America is taken over by a foreign power in our
lifetime, an enemy who controls our food source. If they
control both our oil and our food they will be able to do the
job without a shot being fired
Marketing Food for Profit Semi
nar, NEIR Facility, Mayfield.
Northeast Regional Christmas
Tree Meeting, Chateau Resort
and Conference Center,
Tannersville, 8 a.m.-3:30 p.m.
Northwestern Pa. Grazing Con
ference, Clarion University,
Gemmell Conference Center,
9 a.m.-4 p.m.
Lebanon County Livestock Ban
quet, Lebanon Valley Expo
Center.
Corn Silage Processing Preserv
ing, Fermentation Quality
Program, Ag Room, Penn
Valley High School, Spring
Mills.
Dairy Research Analysis Work
shop, Harrisburg, thru March
Mounting A Successful Repro
duction Program, Westmore
land County Cooperative
Extension Office, Greensburg
Tri-County Agronony School,
Gratz.
Tri-State Conservation Tillage
Conference, Radisson Hotel,
West Middlesex, 9:20 a.m. -
4:30 p.m.
Commercial Tree Fruit
Grower’s Meeting, Carriage
Corner, Mifflinburg, Union
Co., 9 a.m. -3:30 p.m.
Is Dairy Expansion For Me?
Edgewood Restaurant, Troy,
9:30 a.m.
Pa. Grazing & Forage Confer-
ence, Holiday Inn, Grantville,
thru March 2.
Mounting A Successful Repro
duction Program, Bedford
County 4-H Center Fair
grounds, Bedford.
Southeast Regional Potato
Meeting, Schnecksville
Grange, Schnecksville.
Bucks-Montgomery County
Crop Day, Family Heritage
Restaurant, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Perry Co. Holstein Association
Banquet, Messiah Luthern
Church, Elliotsburg, 7:15 p.m.
Poultry Progress Days, Farm &
Home Center, Lancaster, 8:30
a.m.-3:30 p.m.
National Potato Council Chip
Seminar, Buffalo, NY, thru
March 4.
Mounting A Successful Repro
duction Program, Walker
Township Building, Pleasant
Gap.
Blair County Weed Service
School, Morrisons Cove Me-
morial Park, Martinsburg,
8:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Crop Master’s Farming After
The Drought, Holiday Inn,
Phillipsburg, NJ, 10 a.m. - 3
p.m.
Central Susquehanna Valley
Turf & Ornamental Meeting,
Best Western Country Cup
board Inn, Lewisburg, 8 a.m. -
3:30 p.m.
Computer Basics, Huntingdon
Co. Cooperative Extension
Office, 9:30 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Photoperiod Management Meet
ing, New Franklin Ruritan
Community Center, New
To Look At Corn
Maturities
Pennsylvania corn farmers
experienced extremes in heat and
dryness last year. Early
projections for the 2000 growing
season suggests last year
experience will be repeated again
this year. Extreme heat and dry
conditions during corn pollination
can sizzle corn yields. Com
specialists suggests that to protect
against weather stress, poor
pollination and to ensure the
highest yields, farmers should
plant several different corn
hybrids of varying maturities. By
planting several varieties which
mature at different times, the corn
will silk at different times
avoiding the possibility of all the
corn pollinating at times during
adverse weather conditions. This
strategy will also spread the
harvest period over a longer time
period.
To Utilize Corn Maturities
In extremely hot weather, silks
will emerge later than the tassel
with the possibility of missing
pollination. Pollen may die in hot
weather before it reaches the
silks. It is best to plant different
maturing varieties in different
fields.
Mixing varieties in the same field
wilLonly help the pollination of
the early one. The later variety
will not be helped. In 30 years of
study. University of Wisconsin
research by Paul Carter has found
no advantage of mixing two or
more hybrids together. In his
studies, the yields of each variety
grown alone was almost always
better then when grown in a
mixture.
To Prune Tree Branches
Warm days in February and
March send many homeowners
outdoors to start preparing the
yard for spring, according to Dr.
Tim Elkner, Lancaster County
Extension Horticultural Agent.
One chore for this time of year is
Franklin, 9:45 a.m.
Potato Day, Schnecksville
Grange Hall, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Maryland/Delaware Peach
School, Wye Research and
Education Center, Queens
town, Md., 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Maryland Cattle Industry Con
vention, Four Points Shera
ton, Hagerstown, Md., thru
March 4.
Maryland Jersey Cattle Club
Awards Banquet, Libertytown
Fireball, 10 a.m.
Philadelphia Flower Show, Phil
adelphia Convention Center,
thru March 12.
Northeast Forest Landowner
Conference, PP&L East
(Turn to Page A 34)
pruning trees in the landscape.
Whether you are removing
branches damaged by this year's
snowfall or just improving the
overall appearance of a tree, be
sure to make your pruning cuts
the proper way.
A properly made cut will
result m rapid healing and
decrease the chances of disease
infection of the wound. Trees
resist the entry and spread of
disease and wood rotting fungi by
forming protective barriers that
isolate injured wood. Contained
within the branch collar (the
wider base of most branches) is
an important barrier or protection
zone that prevents the spread of
decay.
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THE SAME,
BUT DIFFERENT!
Background Scripture:
Matthew 27:62 through 28:20.
Devotional Reading:
John 20:19-31
A man challenged me, saying:
“Surely as a preacher you must
know that the resurrection ac
counts in the New Testament
are unreliable. They don’t agree
about who did what, when they
did it, what was said and done.
They don’t agree as to whether
the Risen Christ was a flesh and
blood person or a ghostly appar
ition. The gospel accounts sound
like four or more different expe
riences!”
Yes, I do know that the resur
rection experiences in the four
gospels are really in disagree
ment about many of the details
concerning the resurrection.
Matthew, for example, mentions
an earthquake, no minor detail,
(28:2), while Mark, Luke and
John do not. Matthew says that,
on the way to tell the disciples
the angel’s message that Christ
was risen, the women encounter
the risen Jesus. John records the
encounter but tells us that only
Mary Magdalene was present.
Luke and Mark say nothing
about this incident.
Diverse Forms
Yet, even apart from these de
tails, the risen Jesus they en
counter appears in diverse
forms: a recognizable physical
body in Matthew 28:9, a seem
ingly physical Jesus who goes
through solid walls and disap
pears in John 20:19-29 and Luke
24:13-25, an unassented body
that Mary Magdalene is in
structed not to touch (Jn. 20:17),
a physical presence they are in
vited to touch and in which he
joins them in eating some
broiled fish (Lk. 24:36-43).
Matthew, Mark and John agree
that the resurrected Christ in
structs them to go to Galilee,
while Luke speaks of his fare
well charge and ascension on the
Mount of Olives (Lk. 24:44-49).
Even more troubling for some
people is the fact that, although
the risen Christ is for the most
part represented as the Jesus
they knew and followed, there
are some who do not recognize
him right away-Mary Mag
dalene in Jn. 20:11-17, the two
disciples on the Emmaus road in
Lk. 24:13-35 and some unnamed
disciples of whom we are told in
Mt. 28:17-“And when they saw
him (in Galilee) they worshiped
him; but some doubted.”
The branch collar and the
raised strip of bark, called the
branch bark ridge, mark this
important boundary between the
branch and. trunk. Pruning cuts
that injure or eliminate the collar
destroy the protection zone,
leaving vulnerable tissues open to
infection.
Therefore, the proper
pruning cut is a cut made to the
outside of the branch bark ridge
and collar. Flush cuts must be
avoided because they destroy the
protection zone and leave large
wounds that are difficult for trees
to defend.
Feather Prof, 's Footnote:
"Clarity of purpose exposes the
foundation of the inner heart."
Yes, I acknowledge all these
discrepancies and others we do
not have space to pursue. But,
unlike the skeptic who con
cluded that these discrepancies
make the gospels “unreliable,” I
reach an entirely different con
clusion. If each of the four Evan
gelists had written virtually
identical accounts of what Jesus
said and did, I would be inclined
to regard them as contrived and
therefore unreliable. As a con
temporary illustration, I submit
that, although millions of people
were either present or watching
on television m the day that
President John F. Kennedy was
assassinated, there is a wide di
vergence of opinion as to what
happened when he was shot
down.
A Paradox
More than that, however, the
gospel discrepancies demon
strate that, although this event
took place in history, it was
much more than an historical
event. All the cameras, record
ing devices and scientific instru
ments in repertoire could not
have nailed down the details of
these experiences of the risen
Christ. In each of them there
was a faith element that cannot
be captured on film or recorded
by computers. Some people en
countered the risen Christ and
their lives-as well as the world
itself-were changed forever. As
a result of this encounter, some
ordinary men and women
became extraordinary disciples
of Jesus Christ. But some, whose
doubts were more powerful than
their apprehension of the risen
Lord, “doubted” and from then
freedom to doubt I gain the ca
pacity to believe in the one who
was the same Jesus they had
known, yet different.
Actually, that is a demonstra
tion of one of the key paradoxes
of Christian belief. The historic
church has declared that Jesus
of Nazareth was fully human
and yet fully divine. That is a
paradoxical formula that allows
us to hold two apparently con
tradictory beliefs in a creative
unity that describes but does not
define the nature of our risen
Lord. The risen Christ was both
the same as Jesus of Nazareth
and yet different. It is that dif
ference that has changed the
world and us.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 E. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
—by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Steinman Enterprise
William J. Burges* General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Editor
Copyright 2000 by Lancaster Farming