AlO-Lancastw'Farming, Saturday, May 13, 2000
OPINION
We’ll Starve!
The statement is true. People
with their mouths full of food
should not criticize the farmer
who produces it. This becomes
even more evident as unscientific
environmental restrictions are
placed on farmers.
We’re talking about restric
tions that have no scientific way
to prove the need or basis to form
regulations. The latest of the
“can-you-believe-this” regulation
proposal is a push to put a re
striction on how much ammonia
a chicken may emit
Of course, if you could de
termine how much she does, you
could make the restriction low
enough so you could not have
Saturday, May 1 3
Western Pa. Sheep and Club
Lamb Sale, Mercer County
4-H Park, Mercer, 6:30 p.m.
Northeast Production Select IX
Sale, Hereford Sale, Coopera
tive Extension, Morrisville,
N.Y., 12:30 p.m.
Old Bedford Village Spring Cele
bration and Plow Day, 9 a.m.-
5 p.m.
Farm and City Day, North Mu
seum, Lancaster, 9 a.m.-S p.m.
Mother Earth at the Market,
Reading Terminal Market,
Philadelphia, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
Sunday, May 14
Willowdale Steeplechase, Ken
nett Square.
Nature Walk at site of future ar
boretum, Penn State, comer of
Bigler Rd. and Services Rd.
near Penn State Hort Trial
Gardens, 1:30 p.m.
PennAg Industries Spring Poul
try Banquet, Hershey Lodge
and Convention Center, Her
shey.
EtaiEl
Current Advancements and Is
sues In Equine Health, Holi
day Inn, Phillipsburg, N.J.,
9:30 a.m.-4 p.m.
Chester County Cattlemen Meet
ing, New Bolton Center, Ken
nett Square, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.
Lancaster County Honey Pro
ducers meeting, Alva Martin,
Millersville, 6:30 p.m.
Twin Valley FFA Banquet, Twin
Valley High School, 6:30 p.m.
Lancaster Farm and Home
Scholarship Awards Ceremo
ny, Farm and Home Center,
6:15 p.m.
Wednesday, May 17
Horse Pasture Management
Workshop, East Hanover
Township Municipal Build
ing, Shellsville, also May 24.
Twilight Fruit Meeting, Heilig
Orchards, Richwood, N.J.,
6:15 p.m.
Small Grain Twilight Meeting,
WREC, 6:30 p.m.
chickens on your farm. The next
step would be to include pigs,
cows, cats, dogs and then get rid
of all people on the earth except
those making the regulations.
The world should know that
our nation has become great not
in spite of farmers’ ways, but be
cause of it They work hard, in
vest millions of dollars to do a
good job of feeding people, and
for generations have allowed the
rest of us free to pursue other oc
cupations and lifestyles. Farmers
are a big part of everyone’s exist
ence. So, let’s not regulate them
out of business. To do so, is to
starve.
Land Use Farmland Preservation
Conference, Logan Grange
Hall, Pleasant Gap, 1:30 p.m.-
4 p.m.
Thursday. May 1 8
Strawberry Twilight Meeting,
Wye Research and Education
Center, 6 p.m.
Friday, May 1 9
Gettysburg Fair, thru May 21.
Saturday, May 20
Lebanon County Rabbit Conven
tion, Lebanon Fairgrounds.
Capitol Area Beekeepers Short
Course on Basic Beekeeping,
Milton Hershey Farm Confer
ence Center and Apiary, Her
shey, noon-5 p.m.
Sunday, May 21
Summer Camp Open House,
Lindley G. Cook 4-H Camp,
2:30 p.m.-5 p.m.
Monday, May 22
Sheep Scrapie Information Meet
ing, Lancaster Farm and
Home Center, Lancaster, 7:30
p.m.
Public Meetings On Dairy,
Speaker Pete Hardin, pub
lisher of The Milkweed, Lan
caster County Farm and
Home Center, 8 p.m.
Tuesday. May 23
Horse Pasture Management
Meeting, Westmoreland
County extension office, 7:30
p.m.
PennAg Industries Divots For
Degrees Golf Tournament,
Foxchase Golf Club, Stevens,
7:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. (double
thru June 3,
Friday, May 26
Penn Jersey Extension Program
Crop Field Day, Forage and
Small Grain, Fred Clucas
Farm, Oldwick, N.J., 9:30
a.m.-ll:30 a.m. and Farm
View Farm, Easton, 2 p.m.-4
p.m.
To Sign Up
For Programs
This week at the Lancaster
Chamber of Commerce and In
dustry’s Agricultural Committee
meeting, Jay Clark reminded ev
eryone the deadlines for signing
up for Act 319, Clean and Green,
and farmland preservation pro
gram are approaching.
Clean and Green is Pennsylva
nia’s preferential tax assessment
law that allows agricultural land
to be assessed at agricultural
value rather than fair market
value. The deadline for signing
up for Clean and Green is June
1.
The farmland preservation
program allows the landowner to
sell the value of the development
rights to the county. To partici-
OFTEN ‘DOWN’
BUT NEVER ‘OUT
Background Scripture:
2 Corinthians 4.
Devotional Reading:
2 Corinthians 6:1-10.
Recently I celebrated my 70th
birthday. Unknown to me, in
preparation for that event, my
wife, Valere, asked a hundred or
so of my friends and associates
over the years to make a brief
written contribution to a “Book
of Memories” she was compiling
for me. One of the responses
came from a former parishioner
who, when I had been his pastor
40-plus years ago, was a high
school student.
On March 21, 2000, when she
presented the book to me and I
read these “memories,” his letter
in particular staggered me. Al
though I well remembered him
as a fine young man active in
leading our church’s youth fel
lowship, I had no recollection of
influencing his life in any special
way. In his letter, however, he
ticked off a long list of ways in
which he said I had helped him
none of which I remember and
closed with a tribute that I will
never forget.
What made this testimony so
special to me was that during
that period of my life I was
“fresh” out of seminary strug
gling in a church facing some
seemingly overwhelming prob
lems. Losing heart at an alarm
ing rate, I was “down” and close
to being “out.”
BEYOND MY CAPACITIES.
I was “down” because I had
found myself confronted by con
flicts and challenges which seem
ed to be quite beyond my capaci
ties. I had held very high
pate, the farm must be enrolled
in an agricultural security area.
If your farm is not in an agricul
tural security area, you will need
to petition your township super
visors to have your farm added
to the township’s agricultural se
curity area. The deadline for
signing up for the farmland pres
ervation program is Sept. 1.
To Look At
Soybean Fertilizer
The question: will nitrogen fertil
izer improve soybean yields?
seems to come up each year.
Robert Anderson, Lancaster
County extension agronomy
agent, reports researchers have
looked at this question.
Tests were conducted during a
two-year period at Dallastown
and Felton. Overall, those plots
with no nitrogen outyielded those
with nitrogen. The average yield
of all the plots with nitrogen was
42.25 bushels per acre compared
to an average yield of 42.75 bush
els per acre for the plots without
nitrogen. The plots without ni
trogen had a yield advantage of
0.5 bushels per acre.
Research has also shown that
when soybeans are grown with
nitrogen fertilizer added, they do
not nodulate and produce their
own nitrogen. This approach will
result in very little nitrogen for
the next crop.
To Adjust
Hay Conditioners
The amount of time that hay
needs to dry depends on many
things, including air tempera
ture, wind speed, relative humid
ity, and the equipment used to
mow and condition the hay,
expectations of myself in the
ministry. But, in that pastoral
situation I began to realize slowly
too slowly, I’m afraid no
matter how hard I worked and
prayed, I was unequal to the
challenge. It was then that I real
ized that my ministry did not de
pend upon my personal qualifi
cations alone. I began to learn to
acknowledge my limitations and
turn the situation over to God for
him to resolve according to his
plan and purpose.
Paul’s advice in 2 Corinthians
4 was especially helpful to me be
cause I came to see myself as one
of the “earthen vessels” of whom
Paul was writing: “. . . we have
this treasure in earthen vessels,
to show that the transcendent
power belongs to God and not to
us” (2 Cor. 4;7). My problem was
that I was forgetting that I am
only the “earthen vessel,” not the
“treasure” itself.
We human beings are like
common clay pots carrying with
in ourselves the priceless treasure
of the Good News of Jesus
Christ. Whenever we have the
opportunity to witness, it is to
witness for Christ, not ourselves.
As Paul puts it, “For what we
preach is not ourselves, but Jesus
Christ as Lord” (4:5). And if we
are able to bring light into any
one’s darkness, we must remem
ber that “. . .it is the
God . . . who has shone in our
hearts to give the light of the
knowledge of the glory of God in
the face of Christ” (4:6). We do
not create the light; we only re
flect it.
NOT LOSING HEART. Be
cause the light and the power
come from God, we can perse
vere regardless of the outward
circumstances of our lives. Physi
cally, mentally and spiritually we
may be worn “down,” but we
will be “out” only if we allow
ourselves to be “out.”
As Paul said, “So we do not
lose heart. Though our outer na
ture is wasting away, our inner
according to Robert Anderson,
Lancaster County extension
agronomy agent.
Hay producers cannot control
the weather, but they can make
sure their equipment is properly
adjusted so the hay will dry as
quickly as possible in order to
achieve the goal of getting the
hay baled before the next rain
storm. Hay conditioners are de
signed to crush or crimp the
stems of the forage crop so the
drying process is speeded up.
A properly adjusted condition
er may cut drying time in half
compared to no conditioning of
the hay. It speeds the drying of
the stem so that the stems dry
closely at the same rate as the
leaves.
When properly adjusted, a
conditioner will crimp the stem
every three to four inches. There
are two basic adjustments on
most conditioners that will affect
this action. They are the space
between the two crimping rolls
and the pressure on the rolls. The
proper adjustment of the rollers
is to be as close to each other as
possible without touching each
other. You should check this ad
justment at several locations on
the rolls. There should be enough
pressure on the rolls to crimp the
stems without damaging the
leaves. Less than five percent of
the leaves should show damage
after going through the condi
tioner.
Feather Prof, ’s Footnote:
“Countless, unseen details are
often the only difference be
tween mediocre and magnifi
cent. ”
nature is being renewed every
day.” (4:16).
Thes? obstacles and defeats
are only temporary, for he calls
them ‘this slight momentary af
fliction.” The “glory” down the
road overshadows these tempo
rary defeats.
So, when we are discouraged
because of our limitations and
“down” because the challenge
seems far beyond our capacities,
we need to remember that, even
when we’re “down,” God can de
liver the “treasure” of Jesus
Christ using “earthen vessels”
such as ourselves and shining the
“light” of Jesus Christ into the
darkest nooks and crannies of
this world.
In that parish 40-plus years
ago where I felt nothing worth
while was happening in my min
istry, unknown to me, God was
able to use the “earthen vessel”
of that ministry to shine the light
of Christ into the life of a young
man. So he is able to use each
and every one of us and, no mat
ter how great the obstacles, we
may be knocked down, but not
out. “So we do not lose
heart . . .”
Note: In the Steps of Paul to
Rome and Greece, an 18-day
tour conducted by Larry and Va
lere Althouse, is scheduled for
April 2001. If interested, please
contact us at 4412 Shenandoah
Ave, Dallas TX 75205/e-mail: al
thouses@aol.com; fax: (214)
52109312.
Lancaster Farming
Established 1955
Published Every Saturday
Ephrata Review Building
1 G. Main St.
Ephrata, PA 17522
—by—
Lancaster Farming, Inc.
A Stemman Enterprise
William J. Burgess General Manager
Everett R. Newswanger Editor
Copyright 2006 by Lancaster Farming