Capitol Region Agronomy Team SOIL TESTING: HOW TO TAKE GOOD SOIL SAMPLES Mark Goodson York County Agent Soil testing is an excellent method for estimating the fertili ty status of soil, and it provides valuable information for devel oping a sound fertility manage ment program. Because the fer tility status of a soil cannot be determined visually, a good soil test is essential. A soil test is no better than the care given to taking samples. Ephrata Fair Plans Tent City For many, the leaves on the ground aren’t the true sign of fall the tents in the park are. The Ephrata Fair begins on Tuesday, Sept. 26, and tents spring up in the Ephrata Park days before. The Ephrata Park is home to Tent City, part of the Ephrata Fair. Tent City features agricul tural and commercial exhibits, including livestock, grain, and scarecrows, in addition to nu merous contests and more. Fairgoers can check out a vari- Mahoning Outdoor Furnaces WORKS FOR X ▼ STANDARD CARRY FUEL NO ALL MODE! FURTHER THAN HERE! WOOD - COAL - WASTE O Mahoning Outdoor Furnaces 1 -800-692-5200 www mahonmgoutdoorturnace com Dealerships Available in some areas Follow the guidelines listed below for taking soil samples. It is very important to completely and accurately fill out the soil test information sheet that goes to the lab with the sample. For convenience in submitting more than three samples, a mul tiple soil sample form and kit is available, allowing you to send in up to 10 samples with one form. Mailing kits for submitting sam ples to the Agricultural Analyti cal Services Laboratory at Penn State are available from all Penn ety of exhibits and competitions in Tent City, including goat and swine judging, tractor driving, a pig chase, and good old-fash ioned tug-of-wars. There’s home made ice cream for sale and a great display of antique farm equipment, too. Make sure you check out the educational exhibit of hay bales displaying various sizes and techniques of baling. The Ephrata Area Young Farmers’ Association’s refresh ment stand offers delicious food Tuesday through Friday evening. They also conduct a special din- 3 YEAR STANDARD MO WOOD -C MULTI-FUEL MOI SAFER! LESS CHANCE OF HOME FIRE State Cooperative Extension of fices. Guidelines for taking soil sam ples: • Do not wait until the last minute. The best time to sample is in the summer or fail. • Take cores from at least IS to 20 spots randomly over the field to obtain a representative sample. One sample should not represent more than 10 to 20 acres. • Sample between rows. Avoid old fencerows, dead furrows, and other spots that are not represen tative of the whole field. • Take separate samples from problem areas if they can be treated separately. • In cultivated fields, sample to plow depth. • Take two samples from no till fields: one to a six-inch depth for lime and fertilizer recommen dations, and one to a two-inch depth to monitor surface acidity. ner on Tuesday night at 5 p.m. The public is welcome to take advantage of the Tent City Tour and demonstrations offered Wednesday, Sept. 27, from 9-11 a.m. The Cloister FFA will give demonstrations at various sta tions located throughout Tent City. The tour is packed with in formation about the agricultural community. To arrange group tours, call Carolyn Pfautz at (717)733-8172. A convenient and free shuttle bus will be provided for transpor tation from uptown to Tent City on Tuesday, Thursday, and Fri day. The bus will leave from the corner of south State and Frank lin Street approximately every hour on the hour from 4-10 p.m. The shuttle will also be available on Senior Citizen Day, Wednes day, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Bloomsburg Fair According to a book about the fair written by David R. Millard, historians have called it a “street carnival.” The men who first set it up called it an agricultural fair. That was back in the fall of EFFICIENCY RATING • Sample permanent pastures to a three- to four-inch depth. • Collect the samples in a clean container. • Mix the core samplings, allow to air dry, and remove roots and stones. • Fill the soil test mail-in con tainer. • Complete the information sheet, giving all of the informa tion requested. Be sure to include the soil name. Remember, the recommendations can be only as good as the information sup plied. If the area has been in no-till com management for two years or more, it is advisable to use a reliable field kit to measure the pH of the surface soil. Surface applications of nitrogen fertil izers and manure may acidify this layer rapidly and decrease herbicide effectiveness. Collect several cores less than two-inches deep from the no-till 185 S when Franklin Pierce was the 14th U.S. president and James Pollock from Northum berland County was the 13th governor of Pennsylvania. Co lumbia countians, about a thou sand of them, dug into their re spective pockets for the 10 cents that admitted them to this new adventure in Bloomsburg. How many others jumped over the rail fence will never be known. The big event was staged in Caleb Barton’s field at the lower end of Second Street, now Main Street. It all came about because of the enthusiasm of one man, Dr. John Taggart. He had visited a county fair in the northern part of Pennsylvania earlier in the summer. Impressed by the values to a community of an agricultur al exhibition, he convinced others of the benefits that could come from such a movement in Co lumbia County. Finally, five men held a con sultation and decided to under take an agricultural fair if they could find willing exhibitors of fruits, vegetables, and other farm HEAVY DUTY HOOF TRIMMING TABLES Endorsed by the International Hoof Trimming School of Wisconsin I • 12-year building experience in F'"7~ l " • chute measures 75 x2B 'x7s ‘ • 4” casters for cradle fold-up FOUR MODELS TO CHOOSE 1. PORTABLE 2. STATIONARY 3. 3-POINI HITCH 4. SKID STEER MOUNT Berkelmans Welding — RR 7, AYLMER, ONTARIO, CANADA NSH 2R6 (519) 765-4230 Lancaster Farming, Saturday, September 9, 2000-A27 area and mix thoroughly in a clean bucket. Remove a sample for pH measurement. Simple col orimetric pH kits normally are the most satisfactory for field use. If the pH of the surface soil is less than 6.2, take a standard soil sample for laboratory analy sis. Apply the recommended lime as early as possible before corn plantings. If this standard sample does not indicate a need for limestone and the surface pH is below 6.2, apply 2,000 pounds per acre of calcium carbonate equivalent. This amount should be adequate to neutralize the acidity created by the surface-applied nitrogen fertilizer. This article is adapted from The Agronomy Guide 1999-2000 published by Penn State. It can be found online at http:// AgGuide.agronomy.psu.edu/. products. Through personal so licitation, they found enough in terest to encourage them and proceeded with arrangements for an event that was to become The Bloomsburg Fair. The men who ventured all of this were Dr. John Ramsey, B.F. Hartman, Caleb Barton, William Neal, and I.W. Hartman. Much has changed since 1855, but it is still a county fair. Admission gates to the fair open daily 7 a.m.-9 p.m. Livestock animals are not re quired to be in barns until 8 p.m. Sunday. Agricultural, arts and crafts, educational, horticultural and in dustrial exhibition buildings are open daily 9 a.m.-lO p.m. Poultry and rabbit exhibits open daily at 9 a.m.-lO p.m. Fairgrounds are located off exit 34 of Route 80. Fair admission to grounds is $3. Children 12 and under ad mitted free all week. For more information, call the fair at (570) 784-4949 or contact them on the web at bloomsburgfair.com.
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