Milford chronicle., 1959-10-30

HOW are crops IN the tr1-StaIo
area of Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
and Delaware? Pretty good says
county farm agents, but prices are
too low. Most of the complaints
about prices concerned poultry
men and vegetable farmers. Dairy
men with excellent field crops and
our tobacco growers appeared to be
in the strongest position. How
ever, living expenses and product
ion costs have increased for all
farmers. They are in the middle of
two-way squeeze. The outcome:
a strong possibility that farm in
come may decline this year, in spite
of good crop yields.
Farmers Had A Good Growing
Season
Weather conditions over most of
the 1859 growing favored substant-
ial yields of generally high-quality
crops. There were some exceptions,
like the rains that from time to
time plagued vegetable growers in
New Jersey and short periods of
dryness which temporarily retard-
ed other crops in Pennsylvania.
Actually, about the only widespread
damage that could be blamed on the
weather was the freezing of grain
planted last fall. These losses
occurred over the winter in the abb
sence of adequate snow cover. A
large part of this acreage was re-
planted to spring crops which
matured nicely. Pastures provided
plenty of feed for livestock over the
entire season to mid-September,
when a cold spell ended the growth
of most grasses.
Field Crops Ran To High Yields
Corn for both silage and grain
seems to be the most promising of
all field crops Some county agents
say it is the best they have seen in
long time. This crop matured in
the hot, humid weather of late
August, thus minimizing the danger
of frost damage. Hay was another
large crop this past season, with
farmers in some areas making
third and fourth cuttings. Above
average yields are reported for
early and late-summer potatoes,
but production may be somewhat
less than a year ago because of a
smaller planted acreage. Quality is
said to be high in the leading
growing areas. Soybeans, an in
creasing important crop in Della
ware, may at least equal the high
yields reported last year.
Pennsylvania Tobacco Is An Ex.
cellent Crop
Lancaster County farmers, who
grow nearly all of this tobacco, are
looking for record or near-record
yields this year. The September
estimate indicates a harvest of
about 55 million pounds. This
would be an increase of 8 per cent
over year ago and IA per cent
above the 1948-1957 average. Be-
cause of a high moisture content,
some difficulty was experienced in
curing the early CROP Later tobac-
co is being harvested under more
favorable weather conditions. Last
seasons crop was sold early at
good prices and it is expected that
this situation will be repeated. The
growers seem to have been fort
unate this season, as little or no
damage from hail or frost was re-
ported to this highly vulnerable
crop.
New Jersey Cranberry Growers
Are Optimistic
An estimated 10000 barrels of
cranberries, mostly in Burlington
and Ocean Counties, may be pro-
duced this year. This would be a
crop nearly one-fourth larger than
the one harvested in 1858 and
would exceed the ten-year average
by about % per cent. Current re-
ports indicate that quality is high,
the berries are large, and they have
colored nicely. Although product
ion in competing states also is
much larger than year ago, the
carry-over from last season is said
to be small, so the marketing pros
poets should be bright. Blueberries,
another small fruit of consequence
in this area, did not fare so well.
1t was too wet at harvest time and
considerable trouble was expert
enced with mold after the berries
were boxed and Grated.
Vegetable Growers Had Their Pro-
blemS
Early season vegetables grown
chiefly for the fresh market are
said to have been high in both
yield and quality. Sweet corn, part
icularly, seems to have been a good
crop. But some of the later vege-
tables, including tomatoes for pro-
cessing, were a disappointment to
many farmers. Frequent rains in
July, followed by high tempera-
lures and excessive humidity COM
bined to reduce the yield and quail
ity in some areas Harvesting oper-
ations were interrupted and we
heard many reports of increasing
difficulty in controlling insect pests
and plant diseases. Conditions
seemed to vary widely among veg
etable growers in this district, but
those in New Jersey and Delaware
Farm Cash Income-7 months