Page 16 - SUSQUEHANNA TIMES
Typical farmers?
John and Sandra Yocum pose with the evaporation meter in their weather station. The
meter simply allows measurement of how far the level has fallen.
John Yocum appears to
be a typical farmer. He and
his wife Sandra live, with a
dog and their two daugh-
ters, in a typical farmhouse
near Mount Joy. John
plants, harvests, and sells
crops.
But John Yocum isn’t a
typical farmer. For one:
thing, he maintains his own
weather station. For an-
other, his cornfield is cut
into blocks by wide paths.
His tobacco plants have
paper bags over them, and
he keeps so many records
that he needs a computer
to keep track of them.
John Yocum farms all
right, but the point is not
to raise crops. John is a
salaried, non-teaching pro-
fessor of the Pennsylvania
State University, and all his
sowing and reaping is done
for one purpose —research.
As he drives along the
rectangular plots of corn at
the Southeastern Field Re-
search Laboratory, John
explains to a reporter, .
‘“This one is part of a gen-
etics experiment... this is
an insect control plot... and
this block checks disease
resistance. We start the
disease in the middle and
see how far it spreads.’’
John’s 5000 corn plots, 70
varieties of tobacco, 20
strains of grapes, soy-
beans, flowers, potatoes,
and other plants, exist to
help farmers and increase
the food supply, by decid-
ing scientifically ‘the value
of chemicals, methods, and
genetic strains. (The har-
vested crops are sold as a
sort of fringe benefit,
except those treated with
experimental chemicals.)
Many of the experiments
carried out at the Field
Research Laboratory (one
of five in the state) are
designed by John himself.
Others are planned by
other professors at the
Penn State campus in State
College, and carried out by
John. Either way, it’s a lot
of work. In addition to all
the tasks required to run
any 88-acre farm, harvests
must be carefully weighed
and measured, the data
recorded, and extensive
files kept. When an exper-
iment is complete, and the
statistical analysis done,
papers must be written for
publication in journals, or
reports prepared for agri-
cultural agents. John
spends his winters catching
up on deskwork. (He also
lectures 20 to 40 times per
year to local clubs.)
Besides John, there are
two full-time technicians
and two part-time techs
(one is Jeff Zimmerman of
Mount Joy RD), and
Sandra, who acts as a
sectretary at times.
John, raised on a small
farm near Bloomsbury,
never expected to end up
in a research position when
he was an agronomy stu-
dent at Penn State. But six
months before he graduat-
ed in 1961, he was offered
the job of running the
station, along with the title
of ‘‘instructor,”” and took
it. He married Sandra three
months later, and since
then has acquired a
Master’s degree in agrono-
my and become an ‘‘assis-
tant professor.”
‘‘1 guess they gave me
the job because I was one
of the only two people in
my class who came from a
farm background,’’ he
says. Under questioning,
John admits that he also
had very good grades.
John’s work requires a
knowledge of many fields:
botany, chemistry, enty-
mology, plant physiology,
statistics, and, of course,
farming. ‘‘Industry pays
more,’’ he says, ‘‘but I
don’t know if I'd like it or
not. My work here is
extremely varied —I might
be breeding corn, chopping
tobacco, and running a
statistical analysis all in
one day.”
John finds that the
public (with the exception
of farmers) tends to be
confused about just what
his station does. ‘‘Many
people call us for garden-
ing advice,’’ he told us,
‘but sometimes we get
stranger inquiries. One
man wanted to know if we
were interested in buying
human cadavers. 1 suppose
he saw the ‘research’ in
the name of the place and
gave us a try.”
AN ENCOUNTER ON THE STREETS OF MARIETTA:
Three citizens: ‘‘Hey! Take our picture.”
Photographer: ‘‘Have you done anything newsworthy?’
Citizen; ‘‘Are you from the Susquehanna?’’
Another citizen: ‘‘Look at these muscles. My muscles
around here.”’
Photographer: ‘‘Well...”’
Bo
August 10, 1977
are good news for the girls
A citizen: ‘‘Here’s a story for you. I work for CETA and somebody’s been stealing
our gardening tools. Tell whoever’s doing it that he better knock it off or I'll knock
him off.”’
Another citizen: ‘‘Yeah, put that in the paper. That’s big news. Now will you take
our picture?’”’
Fun day planned at Catholic church
Attention, all children
and young at heart in the
area! Plan to enjoy a
fun-filled day, Saturday,
August 13th, from 3:00
If you’re interested in
learning how to cut down
on the amount of money
you spend for household
energy, a new free home
survey program now being
conducted by Pennsylvania
Power & Light Company
may be able to show you
the ways to save.
Herb Nash, of PP&L
says, ‘Our energy consult-
ants are checking things
like the amount of insulat-
ion in attics, caulking
around doors and windows,
weatherstripping, heating
systems, hot water heaters
and several other important
p.m. till dark at the
Assumption BVM Church
yard, New Haven Street,
Mount Joy. A variety of
games (Battleship, penny
pitch, toss games, etc.) and
items.”’
When the survey is
completed, the PP&L
consultant will make specif-
ic recommendations on how
to make the home more
energy efficient and will
give an estimate of how
much energy can be saved
if the recommendations are
followed.
The free survey is avail-
able to all homeowners
served by PP&L regardless
of the type of heating
system in the home.
Nash said, ‘‘Customers
who are interested in
having a home survey can
Jaycees raise money for
Lancaster Countians will
have a chance to get
involved in a Help Raising
Fund for muscular dystro-
phy when the Lancaster
County Jaycees hold a fair
in the mall at Park City
Shopping Center, Lancaster
on Friday and Saturday,
August 12 and 13.
According to county
organization chairman,
Terry Wallace almost all of
the county’s twenty-six
local Jaycees’ chapters will
be taking part by having
carnival-like stands set up
in the mall. Local Jaycees
will also take part in a
program called ‘‘Rent a
Jaycee’. Patrons shopping
in the mall will be able to
rent a Jaycee for a certain
period of time to carry
packages, watch children
and help with shopping.
-A jail house will be set
up with Mayor of the
various Jaycee communi-
ties in jail with a set
amount of bail. Terry
Wallace stated that the
entire profit from the
muscular dystrophy fair
raised by the county
Jaycees will be given to the
Jerry Lewis telethon held
annually over the Labor
Day weekend.
The muscular dystrophy
support project was endors-
ed by the United States
activities have been arrang-
ed. For summer fun, come
to the church yard, be a
winner, and have a great
time.
S Free PP&L home survey can save you energy
call the nearest PP&L
service center to make
arrangements. Or they can
complete and return a
coupon attached to adver-
tisements which the
company is currently run-
ning. in newspapers
throughout our service
area.”” (The Susquehanna
Times of August 3, 1977,
published this coupon.)
While surveys are set up
by private appointment,
homeowners are neverthe-
less encouraged to ask for
positive PP&L identification
when the energy consultant
visits their home.
MS
Jaycees as its number one
priority this year. Chairman
Wallace went on to say that
by bringing all the chapters
in the county into one fund
raising event, more funds
could be raised for this
important cause. He
concluded by saying as
Jerry Lewis says, ‘‘they are
all his kids’.
Make the Art scene!
Like to make a scene? If
you have an artistic bent,
you can make the scene at
the 9th annual Lancaster
Sidewalk Art Exhibit and
Sale, on September 17th.
On display will be paint-
ings, sculptures,
prints, but no crafts or
photos. Artists must be at
least 16 years of age to
enter.
and
Last year over 100 artists
from the area took part. If
you’d like to exhibit this
year, write to Downtown
Art Exhibit and Sale,
Lancaster Assoc. of Com-
merce and Industry, 30 W.
Orange St., P.O. box 1558,
Lancaster 17604. Your reg-
istration form must be in
by Sept. 1st.
Raindate is September
24th.