AlO-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, June 15, 2002 OPINION Modernization A Necessary Fact Of Life Penn State is working to showcase its new University Park facility con struction, along with upgrades to roadways at Park Avenue and the Rt. 322 bypass. Dean Robert Steele spoke in York recently during a meeting of the College of Agricultural Sciences Alumni Society and the Penn State Agricultural Council. The construction off the Rt. 322 bypass, the 1-99 project under way at Park Avenue, will now be considered the “front door” of the university, allowing access from the turnpike south from Bedford and north to 1-80 yet still pro vide a first-class perspective on what a land-grand university is all about: agri culture. The areas nearby also being developed include Ag Hill, near the Ag Arena. A new facility construction project comes to more than $l5O million, which includes the building of a new Food Science and Creamery building to house the Forest School resources and arboretum components, along with the Col lege of Business. Construction is under way from an “holistic” approach, noted Steele when he spoke to about 100 alumni and friends during the meeting at the York Hol iday Inn. The plans were under way in 2001, with this year signifying a design phase. The shovels should go in, said the dean, next year. Completion is scheduled early 2005 if everything goes right, Steele said. “This is a very, very exciting time,” he said. This will bring a “first-rate, cutting-edge facility” to the college. Though interstate construction will mean losing 80 acres on campus, in the past five years, he said, Penn State’s added 600 acres to the college land build up, including areas at the research farm at Rockspring. The University Park campus will have a contiguous 2,500 acres. Steele noted the success rate of students who graduate from the college. “If they want a job, they’re finding a job, even in these tough times,” he said. The facility will go a long way to keeping Penn State competitive and fight ing the “brain drain,” or the movement of talented and brilliant students to other colleges outside the state. It could even prove attractive to students from other states. Penn State houses 80,000 students at 24 campuses throughout the state. There are 40,000 at University Park alone. The college is faced with the fact that expansion and modernization are a way of life. We in agriculture fully realize that. Go Penn State! Saturday, June 1 5 Lancaster Farmland Trust’s 30-mile bike ride in East Don egal Twp., start 8 a.m. at Riv erview Elementary School, River Road, Marietta. Southeastern Ohio Hay, Ohio Ag R & D Center, Caldwell Branch, Noble County, Ohio, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m., (740) 432-9300. Hay Day, Eastern Ohio Resource Development Center, Cald well, Ohio, 9 a.m.-2:30 p.m., (740)432-9300. 4-H Dairy Quality Assurance, ex tension office, Towanda, 9 a.m. 4-H Dairy Days, Shores Dairy Farm, Hombrook. Cattlemen’s Summer Field Day, Dayton Fairgrounds, Indiana County, 7:30 a.m. Sunday, June 16 Forest Stewardship Tour, Central Susquehanna Woodland Own ers’ Association, (570) How To Reach Us To address a letter to the editor: • By fax: (717) 733-6058 • By regular mail: Editor, Lancaster Farming P.O. Box 609,1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 • By e-mail: farming@lancnews.infi.net Please note: Include your full name, return address, and phone number on the letter Lancaster Farming icscrves the light to edit the lettei to fit and is not responsible lor returning unsolicited mail 387-4255. Monday, June 17 Schnecksville Community Fair, thru June 22. Cumberland County 4-H Speak out Night, First United Pres byterian Church, 7 p.m. Penn State Advanced Bug Camp for Kids, ASI Bldg., Penn State, thru June 20. Tuesday. Juno 18 4-H Camp, Camp Shehaqua, thru June 21, (717) 270-4391. Ag Science Camp, York County Bair 4-H Center, 12 p.m.-8 p.m., (717) 840-7408. Golf outing, Penn State’s Depart ment of Dairy and Animal Science, Penn State Blue Course, (814) 865-1362. Beef Quality Symposium, Yod er’s Restaurant, New Holland, 10 a.m., (814) 863-3661 or (717) 394-6851. New Pa. Grape Growers’ Semi nar, Farm and Home Center, Lancaster, 8 a.m.-5 p.m., (717) 394-6851. Washington County Wool Pool. Organic Agriculture in S.E. Pa. Farm and Pasture Walk, Green Haven Farm, Fleet wood, 7 p.m. Nutrient Management Field Day, J. Daniel Faus Farm, Sun bury, 10 a.m.-3 p.m., North umberland County Extension, (570) 286-7114, ext. 4. Integrated Pest Management for Teachers, Penn State ASI Building, Penn State, (814) 863-8884. Wednesday, June 19 Ohio 4-H Youth Expo, Ohio (Turn to Page A 27) To Welcome New Department Head David Sylvia, professor of soil mi crobiology at the University of Flori da, has been appointed head of the crop and soil sciences department in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences, effective June 21. “Dr. Sylvia has demonstrated leadership and professionalism in his scholarship,” said Robert Steele, dean of the college. “His work on mycorrhizae ( Editor’s note; the as sociation of the mycelium, or the vegetative mass of the plant body of a fungus, with the roots of a seed plant) is recognized interna tionally, and he is an award-winning educator who has contributed strong ly to the development of Web-based distance education. We are extremely gratified that someone of his stature will be joining us at the university.” Sylvia received his bachelor’s de gree in forestry from the University of Massachusetts in 1975 and a mas ter’s degree in plant pathology from the same institution in 1977. He SAFE AND SECURE Background Scripture: Psalms 23,80; 121. Devotional Reading: Psalms 80:14-19. Every month we get an invoice that is entered on our books as “Se curity.” It is what we pay each month for our monitored house alarm system. Is it really security? Well, we feel more secure with it than without it, but, no, it can provide us with only a measure of security. The same is true of our fire, auto, and life insurance. They do not give us total security, but they only reduce the risks to which we are all vulnerable. Boynton Merrill tells of a college girl who, beset with anxiety, came to him for counseling. But one day she said: “I see now that God does not save me on the outside. It is this way: when you are safe on the inside, you are safe on every side.” He con cluded, “She had found the only se curity that really counts.” This is the security that God offers us, the security that makes the 23rd Psalm second only to the Lord’s Prayer in popularity. It is interesting that this psalm should be so comfort Lancaster Farming An Award-Winning Farm Newspaper • Keystone Awards 1993,1995 • PennAg Industries 1992 • PACD Media Award 1996 • Berks Ag-Busmess Council 2000 • Recognized for photo excellence throughout the years by the Northeast Farm Communicators earned his doctorate in plant pathol ogy from Cornell University in 1981. To Monitor Sweet Com Worm Pests Dr. Shelby Fleischer and others in the Department of Entomology re port that using pheromone lures to monitor for the three “worm” pests of sweet com European corn borer, corn earworm, and the fall armyworm has been very effective. Proper monitoring allows growers to increase spray frequency when populations are high and decrease spray frequency when populations are low. Using trap counts to adjust spray frequency results in fewer total sprays, offering a benefit in terms of both dollar savings on pesticide and time saved by not spraying. A pheromone trap is designed to attract only males of the desired spe cies using chemicals that resemble in sect sex pheromones (sexual attrac tants). However, insect pheromones are very complicated blends of vola tile chemicals and similar species are often attracted to similar blends. If a lure does not have the exact chemi cals in the correct proportions, it may attract insects other than the insect you want to trap. It is these unwanted (although often very similar) insect species that are called nontarget captures. Non target captures artificially inflate the trap count, giving the appearance that there is more pest insects than is truly the case. When an error from nontarget captures is not corrected, it can result in recommendations to spray when sprays are not needed. For both the European corn borer and the com earworm, pheromone traps have been effective in accu rately representing the population by mostly capturing the desired species. Unfortunately, the current phero mone lure for the fall armyworm at tracts a few species besides fall armyworm. In the past, the most common nontarget capture in fall armyworm pheromone traps was an insect called Leucania phragmatidi cola, a moth without a common name. ing to so many because, as some crit ics remind us, the life of the shepherd is so remote from us today that it cannot possibly mean to us what it meant to ancient peoples. Yet, al though many of us have never seen a shepherd, the psalm, written at least 3,000 years ago, still is a great com fort to us. Like A Shepherd What is God like? “The Lord is my shepherd.” Why? Because he watches over us in the same way that shepherds faithfully watch over their flocks. “I shall not want.” He sup plies us with what we need, although not always what we want. The images of the psalm are essentially outward green pastures, the dark valley, a rod and staff, a table and a cup that abundantly runs over but the real security is within: “he re stores my soul” and “goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life.” The true security God offers here is not divine intervention but himself: “I fear no evil, for thou art with me.” As Prof. Terrien observes: “... the poet fears neither want (vs. 1) nor peril (vs. 4) only because he recog nizes the closeness of God in his ex istence Evil is not ignored, nor even minimized, and foes are still in pursuit, but God-bronzed willpower enables him to look, not at his ene mies, but at his real pursuers, ‘good ness and mercy”’ (from “The Psalms and Their Meaning For Today,” Bobbs-Merrill, 1952). Evil is real, not imagined. Peril lies in wait for us at virtually every step. Some situations in life appear utterly unsolvable and even unbearable. That is a tact of life. But an even greater fact of life is that God is with us in the midst of tribulation, and his presence is more real, more lasting, more powerful than anything else. L. phragmatidicola feeds on grass and is not know to be a pest of sweet com. When a fall armyworm phero mone trap erroneously captures high numbers of L. phragmatidicola, it gives the appearance that the fall armyworm population is greater than its true size. This case of mis taken identity can result in unneces sary spray applications. Users of blacklight traps must be just as careful in their identification because the blacklight traps will cap ture most nocturnal insects, and therefore almost certainly have look alike species to the fall armyworm. The entomology department staff has developed a Web page with pic tures highlighting some of the char acters that can be used to identify the fall armyworm and distinguish it from L. phragmatidicola. You can find this Website at http:// www.ento.psu.edu/vegetable/ armyworm/armyworm.html. To Prevent Sun- Related Illnesses With the summer heat season upon us, it is important to think about protecting your health during the hot weather. Working outdoors during very hot periods can lead to heat stroke, heat exhaustion, heat cramps, and heat rash. These problems can be easily prevented with some planning and common sense. Wear a wide-brimmed hat to keep your head and face cool and protect ed from the sun. Baseball caps are not suitable because they provide little protection. Keep a source of water handy and take drinks every 15 minutes. Take a short break in the shade or a cool place during the hot test part of the day. Gradually modify your workload to adjust to the heat over a period of 10 or more days. To prevent sunburn and more serious skin disease, wear sunscreen with an SPF of 15 or high er. Quote of the Week: “Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.” John Wooden Hie Source Of Help In Psalm 121 we find the same as surance. Question: “From whence does my help come?” Answer; “My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth” (121:1,2). Some people make the mistake of thinking that the psalmist is saying that “the hills are the source of his help. Scholars disagree on just what the Psalmist does mean here. Some say that the mountains make him lift his eyes above the present situation. Others say that they symbolize the abiding presence of the Lord. Still others believe that it is a reference to the Canaanite shrines that were built on hilltops, and the Psalmist is say ing that his help comes not from those shrines, but from the Lord. It doesn’t really matter, because “My help comes from the Lord,” the God who created the universe, the one who watches over us and, unlike human protectors, does not fall asleep on the watch. And, unlike every other kind of security system, God’s security is eternal. “I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forev er” (23:6b). “The Lord will keep your going out and coming in from this time forth and for evermore” (121:8). Is it by chance or by design that Psalm 23 separates Psalms 22 and 24? For Psalm 22 is a cry of deep an guish “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” Psalm 24, on the other hand, is one of triumph. “The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory!” Psalm 23 acknowledges the dark valleys and makes possible the triumph with the safe and secure rec ognition: “For thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” Lancaster Farming Established 1955 Published Every Saturday Ephrata Review Building 1 E. Main St. Ephrata, PA 17522 —by— Lancaster Farming, Inc. A Stemman Enterprise William J. Burgess General Manager Andy Andrews, Editor Copyright 2002 by Lancaster Farming
Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers