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The Lucknow Sentinel, 1982-08-11, Page 7news Lucknow Sentinel, Wednesday,August 11, 1982 -,Page 7 Predicts average yields for farmers By Stephanie Levesque Huron and Perth county. farmers will probably have average yields this year. Corn crops in the two coun- ties look pretty good, accor- ding to Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food (OMAF) officials. Art Lawson from the Perth ' OMAF office said corn is growing ahead of normal. A lot of corn is not maturing thouh, and: that is expected. to affect the yield. Both Mr. Lawson and John Heardof the Huron OMAF office said the.amount of corn planted is down this year. "It's expensive to plant," said Mr. Heard adding corn acreage is down five. to 10 per cent in Huron. Besides being expensive to plant, there wasn't a good price for corn at planting time. More farmers planted cereal grains because of lesser production costs, but Mr., Heard said prices . for those commodities aren't so good now. , There isn't much root worm damage in the corn crops, said Mr. Heard, which could be because farmers sprayed more or there just isn't as much infestation this year. When asked about thesap beetle (or beer bug, the small, pesky, black bug that always lands in your drink when you're outside), Mr. Heard said it doesn't go after corn, rather it is attracted to rotting foods. On corn, it is after the silk tassels. Some of these beetles have been spotted in bean crops and are after the dead flowers.. White beans are growing ahead of schedule compared to last year in Perth County. Mr. Lawson said good grow- ing conditions have con- tributed to that. ' Mr. Heard agreed with his: counterpart saying the bean crops in Huron look good. He has heard of the pro- blem of white mould on the beans in at least one area in Huron. He cited the perfect condition of hot, humid weather which will bring on white mould. When deciding whether or not to spray a bean crop, Mr. Heard said there are a ,number of feel. tors to consider. These in- clude a dense crop, which doesn't allow for good air circulation and a history of white mould in a field. Mr. Heard suggested farmers look closely at all the factors together and spray the crop if necessary. It's expensive to., spray he said, at $25 to $30 per acre, but if white mould conditions are there, it could mean the difference in having -or not having a crop. Cereal crops such as oats and. mixed grain are suffer- ing some problems of ir- regular growth said Mr. Lawson. He added there have been a few isolated cases of spraying for army worms and the insect leaf hopper has affected some alfalfa crops. Wheat in Perth County is not quite up to the quality of last year. Mr. Lawson said the winter .was tough and the cropwas put in under poor conditions. In Huron County, =there is still some . wheat to be harvested, but Mr. Heard said there has. been a good yield, with 60 to 65 bushels per. acre. There is a good quantity of hay, but the quality has been affected by frequent' wet spells,. Mr. Heard said. . Investigate errors in agricultural brochure An investigation into how typographical errors were in a provincial brochure on chemical use has been ordered by Agriculture Minister Dennis Titgbrell. The investigation, follows several . reports of killed crops because of over- application in the Perth County area and in eastern Ontario. Barry . Mahon of RR 2, gaffe lost 45 acres of alfalfa in May of this year, after he ''oiler -applied MCPA and Em - birth* in the early s ring. Mr. Mahon admits: his is a unique situation as he had the . chemicals for several years,and it was the first year he mixed the- : two together. He had nothing to refer to for mixing directions as the labels were off the chemical containers, so he used the provincial guideline. "I had no other thing to refer to," said Mr. Mahon. The guide,' called Publica- tion 75 Ouide to Chemical Weed Control, had typographical errors .with. some reports saying four er- rors and other estimates saying 50 to. 100 errors. In Mr..Mahon's case, therror resulted in him applying 10 times the normal amount. The publication is put out annually, but for the first time thisyear was put out solely in metric measure. It included a recommendation for. mixing Embutox and' MCPA. The publication call- ed for 35 kilograms of MCPA per h(;ctare instead of 35 grams or .7 litres per hec- tare instead of .07 litres, and 9.8 kilograms per hectare of pmbutox instead of the cor- rect .8 kilograms per hec- tare. The, Ministry of. Agriculture and Food .sent out the publication in March and corrections were sent' out to its extension offices and to seed and chemical dealers which -had distributed the 67.0000` manuals. . In Perth County, there have been three confirmed reports of crop damage. Huron County has been luckier with no reports . of crop damage. Since the damage was I' done in May, Mr. Mahon has replanted an alfalfa: crop, but the .setback. has .cost him an'. estimated.'. $3,500. He didn't have insurance on the crop, Mr. Mahon said. "We've never lost an alfalfa crop ... usually it is risk-free," said Mr. Mahon. Mr. ' Mahon said the Ministry's investigation might help some, but he feels figures should be left out of the brochure. He doesn't knew if, or how he is going to be compen- sated for his loss, but Mr. Mahon said his lawyer wrote a letter. to the Ministry on Junes 25, but there has been no reply yet. Launches membership drive for federation VANASTRA A .member- ship drive. Trying to organize one for the follow- ing week is no simple task, but the number of members is important to a lobbying group such as the Federation of Agriculture (OFA) . Twenty -seven-year-old Blaine Stephenson has the job of . overseeing the - drive along with several Volunteers. It is currently oc- cupying most of his time, as fieldman for both the Huron and Perth Federation of Agriculture: He has. been fieldman since this past spring and obp' viously enjoys his work as he thinks of possible volunteers to recruit for the drive. When. he applied for the job, he thought it .looked attractive as it requiresmeeting.people. and is in the agriculture field. He explains his job is mostly acting as a : liaison between OFA in Toronto and membershere in Huron and letters tothe editor. 1111111111111., Perth. Enthusiastic about the benefits of a federation membership, Mr. Stephen- son explains an extended health ' plan is offered to farmers. There is also a full- time lawyer working for OFA in Toronto, whose ser- . Turn to ,page 18• ' July 29, 1982. Hon. James Snow, Minister, Transportation and Communications, TORONTO, Ontario, Dear Mr, Snow: Yeterday; Bell Canada reported that its profits for the first six months of 1982 were $303 million -- 19% above the same period in 1981. By itself, thatkind of profit increase is a serious matter because it comes from the excessive user rates and charges permitted bye. the C.R,T,C, last year. However, coupled with Bell's 105% increase in its 1981 profits, it is licenced gouging of consumers to a degree unexcelled in modern times, On October 1st of last year, I asked you to 'appeal the C.R.T..C. award which gave Bell $440 million of the $550 million rate increase requested. You said you were making a review and "if it appears that an appeal is warranted, 1' will consider taking action at this time You did nothing. Early this year, when Bellreported profits of $559 million (25% higher than ever before), I wrote to you requesting that you make application to the C.R.T.C. for orders providing one month`s free service by Bell to its customers and preventing the propos- ed May 1st increase of 8% to Metro users. Again, you took no action.. Now Bell . is asking for another overall revenue increase of 15,1%, including a 25% rate 'increase , to residential users. , It's time that this rapacious fat cat telephone company was belled! ,„By what rationale is this giant monopoly permitted to isolate itself from the depressed economic conditions of all other segments of society? Governments have full authority over utility rates. Surely, you . must recognize that the unbridled escala- tion in these rates is making a mockery of the inflation fighting posture of your government and the one at Ottawa. Now, the public will further judge your government`s sincerity by your action or inaction on the current rate hike applications by Bell.. Specifically, 1 call on you to: 1. Make a public statement that the rate increase's requested . are 'unreas- onable and should not be permitted. 2. Apply to the C.R.T.C. and the federal government for a minimum six month hoist of the hearings and imple- mentation date on Bell's new rate application, Hearings should proceed, in fact, only when Bell's' profits are down to the average of other compan- ies. 3. Provide a massive defense of the consumers' interests whenever the hearings are held, May 1 have a positive response from you on these requests. Yours truly, Mel Swart, MLA Welland - Thorald. SUMMER WORSHIP SERVICE JOINT PRESBYTERIAN —UNITED CHURCH SERVICES ugust 15 lO A.M. Lucknow.Presbyterian Church Rev. Terry Triter; Bluevale 22 10 A.M. South Kinloss Presbyterian Church Ito be announced) 29 10 A.M. South Kinloss. Presbyterian Church. Rev. Robt. Currie, Owen Sound Sept. 5 10 A,M, South Kinloss Presbyterian Church. . . Ito be announced) Sunday, Aug. 1st Parable Service ".THE ONLY TRUE FOUNDATION" EVERYONE WELCOME All Services iO:010 a.m. a�. LUCKNOW JAMBOREE '83 LOTTERY Draw mile every second Wednesday Winners to date: Joe McMillan Allan Irwin Chris Kuntz NEXT DRAW AUGUST 18TH TICKETS STILL AVAILABLE 11.7"ra...64lex BUSINESS FORMS ■ RUBBER STAMPS B' PRINTING ■LABELS/DECALS ,1 ADVERTISING SPECIALTIES . PENS • CALENDARS • TRUCK DOOR SIGNS _ Wyl MATCHES • CAPS • ETC. LUCKNOW, LARRY COWAN - 6211.2730 . tl Barn Painting We use "Korzite" paint,: one of the best for long life and durability: FREE ESTIMATES W. -Adamson and Son CONTI4ACTINt3'LTD. Lucknow . 5211-2113 CUSTOMWORK Custom .COMBINING (2 Combines) 'SWATHING •TRUCKS & AUGERS AVAILABLE T & A MITCHELL FARMS PHONE 39502447 o 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 NOTICE Ripley -Huron Veterinary Clinic wishes to announce that Mrs. Landry of H & 8 Discount [Sears], Lucknow, will be dispensing our medication for the conven- ience of our cis tont ers. Regular store hours Tuesday to Saturday 9:00 a. m, 6:00 p.m. i zsss �� u w► _y Via.