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Times-Advocate, 1985-04-17, Page 29EXPLAINS PROGRAM — John Schwindt, Conservation Services Co- ordinator with the Ausabte Bayfield Conservation Authority explains the benefits of tree planting to students participating in the Camp Sylvan Conservation Program. To John's right is a backpack sprayer used for spraying hand -planted trees with a herbicide. "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore". That was the battle cry in the movie Network and a posthumous Academy Award was given to Peter Finch who played the part of the announcer. Well, I'm getting madder by the day. We have dealt with the same bank in our home town here for 30 years. When we first opened the ac- count, it took a couple of years before the manager decided we were honest people. Then, for the next 28 years, we were trusted customers. If we wrote too many cheques on the account, we got a little notice to the effect that we were being charg- ed for an overdraft. At least two of the managers over the years were per- sonal friends. All of my cheques were honored because management at the bank knew me. But a couple of years ago, things began to change at that bank. Managers came and went about as fast as the seasons. Assistant managers. too, came and went eypn faster. They were fresh -faced young men, for the most part, right out of college or university with dollar -signs in their eyes and handshakes about as sincere as a KGB apology. Friendly. yes, but phoney as a three -dollar bill. Kirkton 4-H pick officers On April 10. the Kirkton 4-11 Beef Club held its first meeting of the year at the home of Beef Club member Sean Porter. This year the Club has 10 members, with four of them being first year members. At this organizational meeting elec- tions were held, meeting places for future meetings determined, and a judging demonstration was held. The president of this year's club is Paul Vanneste: vice-president. Scan Porter: secretary Mike Conlin: treasurer Scott Stephens: and press • reporters Pete Conlin and Jason Bickel'. It was the computer. too, that took away the personality of our bank. When numbers and figures are fed in- to a computer, it doesn't remember that you taked with the manager or the chief accountant at the hockey game last night. It doesn't give a damn that you helped the chief teller's daughter put on her skates for the figure skating lessons Friday night. It just simply does not give a damn. Ml this is leading up to - you guess- ed it - a cheque of mine that bounced last month. I have not had a cheque bounce since I first started working more than 40 years -ago. I have been reading in the last cou- ple of years about how tough some banks have. been on farmers around this country. In his book, Farm Gate Defense (NC Press Ltd., Toronto ), Allen Wilford, former president of the Canadian Farmers Survival Associa- tion, relates some hair-raising ex- periences he has had with bank of- - ficials and policemen acting under orders from the bank. I found some of them difficult -to believe when 1 read the book but now that my little $40 cheque was bounced by an uncar- ing, unfeeling institution that used to trust me, I can believe Wilford's ac- cusations against the banks when amounts are far, far higher than my $40. If they can be that callous over $40, then for half -a -million, they could be murderous. But I'm mad as hell about this lit- tle indicent. It is another example of the I -don't -give -a -damn attitude prevalent- iri some of our major in- stitutions today. The computers spit oul their garbage and some picayune official initials the spit and a portion of my reputation goes down the drain. Certainly. I owed the money. The account did not have enough in it to cover the cheque. But all it would have taken was a phone call to transfer a few bucks from one ac- count to another. Just as soon as 1 get that demand loalf paid off. 1 intend to transfer all my accounts from Canada's biggest hank to a trust company that trusts me. Fabulous! Affordable! (YaRD-MaN) TRANSAXLE Lawn Tractors SIDE DISCHARGE MODEL 698 NOW iN STOCK; REAR DISCHARGE MODEL 699 FAA Grass,Leat Catcher Available 38, Twin -Blade Deck Gomm. Twin Chute Rev Conect,on System Included' ted. 40" TrI-Blade Deck Authority provides assistance Trees provide By Daniel C. Kennaley As John Schwindt, Conservation Services Co-ordinator with the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority hikes across the farmer's field towards the tree planting crew, he absent-mindedly checks the spac- ing on the row of newly planted spuce seedlings he is following. The regualr six foot intervals are ideal and will en- sure that this farmer will have a good windbreak in just a few years. The crew, using a mechanical treeplanter, is half way back across the field with its second row of trees as John reaches them. He asks about the mechanism mounted on the treeplanter which enables the trees to be sprayed with a herbicide as they are planted. Hearing that it's work- ing well, John continues on to where a municipal drain cuts across the back corner of the field. This corner of the field cut off by the dram is an area the farmer had ask- ed about the last time he was in at the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority's office. John and the farmer had looked the location over on an air photo and then using the dJ h • 11 H.P.Synchro-Balanced Engines! • Key Electric Start' • "In -Line" Transaxle Drive' • Comfort 8 Convenience for every family member • Paris in stock "We service what we sell" Farts Supply Limited Sales and Service - Repair 22 Main St., Zurich Phone 236-4934 236-4321 tions, John had recommended a'small while pine plantation. The farmer had mentioned a wet portion an o n was now double-checking to see if a few white cedars might also be adf visable. He made a note to have the farmer add a few hundred cedar to his tree order and then headed back to where he had parked his truck. John's job at the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority is to en- courage farmers and other lan- downers to plant trees. And last year, he was successful to the tune of over 210,000 trees on the land of 260 landowners. The farmer in the above example is typical of John's tree "customers". The farmer had originally called three years ago about getting a wind- break planted around his farm buildings. The farmer planted the two rows of windbreak stock himself and had been pleased with how well these large (1 metre or 3 feet) Norway spruce and white cedar had grown. So the previous summer he had been back to see John about the field wind- break and the small plantation. All of the people planting trees through the Ausable Bayfield Conser- vation Authority's tree planting pro- grams are going to enjoy the many direct benefits associated with trees, but equally important; the rest of us benefit indirectly from an improved natural environment. Lets take a more detailed look at the benefits of tree planting. The farmer or landowner who plants a windbreak around his farm buildings can reduce his heating costs Jr. Farmers get to travel twenty-six Junior Farmer members from across the province were awarded travel scholarships at the annual March Conference. On Saturday, March 23, travel scholarship winners were announced during a banquet at the Constellation Hotel, Toronto. Ten provincial Junior Farmers will be travelling overseas representing the Junior Farmers' Association of Ontario. Mary Peterson, Middlesex; Mary Lynn MacDonald, Frontenac; Bill Dunbar, Perth and Wayne Yellowlees, Durham East, will travel to the United Kingdom sponsored by the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. Sue Leach, South Simcoe and Wayne Marshall. Wellington county, will participate in a scholarship, co- sponsored by the United Co- operatives of Ontario, to Australia and New Zealand. Two new exchanges, one to West Germany and another to Holland were also awarded. Peter Kennedys, Peterborough and Helga Strenzke. • Waterloo Region will travel to West Germany and Chris Gooyers, Mid- dlesex and Art DeSnoo. University of Guelph will be the delegates to Holland. Other travel scholarships winners include: Allan Kelly, Brant; Noreen Hughes, South Simcoe; Carol Gilbert. Middlesex and Aubrey Ritchie. Iluron, to Indiana. Mary Ann Reynolds. South Simcoe, Lloyd Drummond, Perth, Jeff Waldroff, Stormont and Anne Craig. Bruce county will be travelling to Manitoba. Two people, Jeff Morrison. Gren- ville and Dave Shoemaker, Haldi- mand, will travel to Alberta for two weeks. Delegates to the Great Lakes Recreation Leaders Laboratory in Michigan include: Karen hill, Mid- dlesex; Anne Alton, Huron; Kathy McArthur, Wentworth and Mark Ryan, Huron county. The Junior Farmers will also be sending two people to Prince Edward island, Allan Cole. Renfrew and Nan- cy Rollands, Middlesex. The Junior Farmers travel scholar- ships give the association interna- tional exposure. Upon returning home. delegates are able to speak to their clubs and communities about their travelling experience. Oppor- tunites such as these. truly promote the Junior Farmer motto of "Self Help and Community Betterment " Times -Advocate; April 17, 1985 Page 13A y benefits for farmers and control snow drifting in the winter. The windbreak will also shelter part of a farmer's field which has been proven time and time again to improve crop yields while preven- ting wind erosion. The trees will also improve the look of the farm which may add to the farm's value. When it comes to a field windbreak the farmer rally begins to benefit from tree planting. Increased crop yields and reduced wind erosion become very important because of the larger area protected by a field windbreak. These windbreaks also provide wildlife habitat and act as a barrier helping to keep eroded sedi- ment out of drains and watercourses. This latter characteristic is especially significant to the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority because of the Conservation Authority's concern for water quality. Tree plantations can produce a wood crop which, although it matures more slowly, compares very favourably with more traditional field crops. In the meantime a plantation provides wildlife habitat and again, especially when located along a drain, n o s • • iment entering the drain. In addition, plan- tations planted on especially steep slopes might be the best use for other- wise very erodable land. The math benefits associated with tree planting have led to the provision of several different types of tree plan- ting assistance by the Ausabte Bayfield Conservation Authority. For windbreaks around farm buildings the Ausable Bayfield Con- servation Authority will provide the larger windbreak tree stock at a cost of between three and six dollars a tree depending on the species: The lan- downer plants these trees himself. Norway spruce and white cedar are the most common trees used in this kind of windbreak and are purchas- ed in bulk by the Conservation Authority from private nurseries. Field windbreaks and plantation planting involve the use of seedling stock at a cost of two and a half cents a tree plus ten dollars an order. The landowner can plant these trees himself or can have a Conservation Authority crew plant them at a cost of fifty dollars per thousand. In a plantation, the seedling stock would be planted a thousand trees to an acre. Trees available include pine, cedar, spruce, maple as well as smaller quantities of other deciduous trees like oak and walnut. The tree seedlings are obtained through the Ministry of Natural Resources from Ministry nurseries. In 1985 for the first time, the Con- servation Authority is also offering a program where Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority staff will maintain field windbreaks and plan- tations at a yearly cost of twenty-five dollars per thousand trees. This ser- vice which is already proving to be very popular, includes yearly applica- tion of a herbicide and re -planting if some of the trees die. John Schwind( reports that "the herbicide's function is to reduce weed competition and can significantly improve the growth of the trees." While the Conservation Authority's tree planting programs are very popular with area farmers, John is worried about the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority's ability to continue supplying the trees. He says "the Ministry has had an unwieldly system for processing tree orders from the Conservation Authority. This year's programs are going to be hurt by the ordering system and by budget constraints. The Ministry has promised to improve the ordering system in part because the Ausable Bayfield Conservation Authority developed a short-cut that made the Ministry realize how inefficient the old ordering system was. 1 only hope that Ministry of Natural Resources can move quickly enough to have a new y tem in place for 1986." —If you would like to order trees from the Conservation Authority or want more information about tree planting John says to call right away. "Already we have a waiting list of over a year in length but the sooner we hear from an interested individual the sooner we will be able to get the trees in the ground." TORN ROOTWORM CALIBRATION CLINIC A hands on demonstration to show the proper pro- cedure for insecticide calibration on Corn Planters: Co -Operators: CYANIMID (Counter) Place: W.G. 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