(Continued from Pago 1) necessarily service. We have much to learn about real ser vice from the Europeans and others. In France, for example, service is a skilled, respected career. In fact, what is so re nowned about expensive French restaurants, besides the food, is the service. There is none of the proverbial French snootiness. The entire staff greets you by name at the door. You feel like a wel come guest, not a customer. This attention works as well in New York as in Paris. Following a $lO lunch near Roscoe, the French proprietress thanked my wife and me personally and shook our hands. Did I remember that effort and will I go back? What does this have to do with marketing agricultural products? Am;v Asi wrmjus Farms. Inc, v PERSE/ MALE H/BRID ASPARAGUS Seed and Crown Varieties featuring Jersey Giant, Jersey Knight, & W*Jj) Jersey Supreme Yielding *Qualitv Spears * Better fasting * Disease lolerant *C rown (ironing Contracts available for the vear 2002 Ss hH) RIGHTS TO 411 IFRSn MAH- H]HRII>\ RAWBERRIES^ •Quahlv Plants ! ips'Plugs Chandler lor the •I arge Hasortul Bernes Pla-siiqiliure Svsiem & •1 ow Puces •Disease lokranec Jersey Avalon BLUEBERRIES •Highbush Varieties •featuring •excellent I lavoi Additional varieties It (f YlCkhntl including 1 and Jersey Call cr WrHc ter a TREE Catalog Dept. K 105 Porchtown Rd Pittsgrove, NJ 08318 Ph 800-499-0013 Fx 856-358-6127 jaf@jafinc.com www.jerseyasparagus.com 7 7 7 r ( L 7 7 7 Farmstand The universal point is that we all like to be fussed over, to be made to feel important. This is true whether we are buying a fancy dinner, a truckload of tomatoes, or a single cucumber. Here I am not referring to the proverbial joking of the salesman, but to working at being considerate of your customers. Try to remember some thing personal about them; preferences, family events, sports teams followed. If this does not come readily, then write something down when a transaction is completed and study your notes in idle minutes. Instilling a real ser vice mentality in employees is difficult, but remember that example is the best teacher. Perhaps what really char acterizes service is sincerity. If I serve you because service and your satisfaction are im portant to me, that is sincere. (Contlmwd from Pago 10) ready discovered this benefit of black mulch and use it to produce many vegetables for the early market. Researchers in New Hampshire found no differ ence in early tomato yield be tween plants grown on red and black mulch. However, when they laid white mulch between the row middles for both mulch colors, they ob served higher yields with black mulch. This was only for one year and the study was going to be repeated but it points to a possible method of increasing yields using re- If I put up a purchased sign saying, “Our Customers Are Number One,” and everyone around me has the same sign, that isn’t sincere. And, all in all, sincerity is tough to fake. Service, real service, is good business. It just needs to be done and to be felt, not only talked about. Hesston Disc Mower Conditioners Model 1340 lake a 12-foot swipe thiough )oui toughest uop Cut square comets Cut on either side of the tiactor Mancmei around obstacles You can do it all while making qualify hay with the Hesston" 1340 Disc Mowci Conditionei Quick moves for quick hay makins. While the center pixel design of ihc 1340 gixcs )uu unmatched maneuxeiability, 16 high speed swmgaxvay knives keep you mox mg thiough damp hay and tough STOLTZFUS FARM SERVICE, INC. Rts 10 & 41, Cochranville, Pa 215-593-2407 ZIMMERMAN’S FARM SERVICE School Road, Rt 1, Bethel, Pa 717-933-4114 D. W. OGG Frederick, MD - 301-473-4250 Westminster, MD - 410-848-4585 C.J. WONSIDLER BROS. Finland Rd , Quakertown, PA 215-536-1935 / 215-536-7523 Rts 309 & 100, New Tripoli, PA 610-767-7611 /570-648-2088 Grower end Marketer, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, December 9, 2000-Page HortiCountry fleeted light. Hopefully, fur ther studies will see if this effect is repeatable as well as if it can be increased further using different colors and, if so, if it is economically feasi ble. There can also be a reduc tion in diseases and insects from selecting different col ored mulches. I mentioned earlier that tomatoes grown on red mulch had a lower in cidence of early blight. Re searchers in Florida reported increased yields of tomato grown on silver mulch be cause of a reduction in tomato spotted wilt virus. Other researchers have ob served less virus infections on squash grown on silver mulch. This is believed to be a result of the mulch confusing the insects that spread the virus because of its reflective properties. Instead of landing and feeding, the reflected light causes them to continue flying past the crop. Yellow is known to attract Cut comers without cutting quality. spots 'uni 11 cut dicing time too with the long 1 10-mch conditionei lolls Save maintenance time, too. hom the sptculh designed geaihox lo ■-Ailed aitlcrhcd Ixanngs to icuisihlc knius the 1 340 is designed loi low niamienaiue C ome in loda) and see how the 1340 uils lough haying |ohs down lo size A Nobody knows hay like ± HESSTON MARSHALL MACHINERY, INC Honesdale, Pa 570-729-7117 HERNLEY’S FARM EQUIPMENT. INC. 2095 S Market St, Elizabethtown, Pa 717-367-8867 STANLEY’S FARM SERVICE RD 1, Box 46, Klmgerstown, Pa 717-648-2088 UMBERGER’S OF FONTANA, INC. RD 4, Box 545, Lebanon, Pa 717-867-2613 some insect pests and has ac tually been used in IPM pro grams in squash. The outer rows in a field are planted on yellow mulch and then only these rows are sprayed since insects entering the field are drawn there. Researchers have reported significant saving from reduced spray applications using this method to “trap” insect pests. The researchers in Bel gium also used colored mulches treated with glue to capture thrips in their study on leek production. They found a lower number of thrips on leeks grown on treated mulches of colors at tractive to insects (yellow and blue) than on leeks grown on bare soil. On a related note, re searchers in Israel reported that by using various-colored plastic shade nets they were able to obtain dramatic ef fects on growth and flowering of several types of cut flo wers. This technology might eventually find a use in the production of vegetable transplants. [iM^ m 199