Madison County Farming
(Continued on Paget
be went ahead and it's worked
out"
Garrett Hensley told about
bow Johnny wanted to order
7,000 plants right away, and
how Garrett talked him down
to 6,000 because he wouldn't
get enough customers. "I
plowed it up and turned him
loose on it," recalled Garrett,
"and he had so many people
up here picking strawberries
you could hardly Tight your
way through 'em."
Members of our tour group
then broke into questions, and
both Garrett and Melba
Hensley did their best to
answer. The Hensleys fight
their mold problems with
chemicals, spraying with Cap
tan two to three times a week.
They also use chemicals for
weeds, mostly Enide and Dac
thal, but also "lots of elbow
work" pulling them out from
between the plants
themselves. They spray the
borders of the field with 2,4-D.
Most years, the climate is
well suited to strawberries
and the Hensleys get as much
as 2,500 gallons off their half
acre. This year there was a
late frost and picking was
delayed, but normally the ber
ries are ripe for a month of
heavy picking.
And there's no problem with
marketing, reports Melba
Hensley. "We've had 65 people
in here at one time," she said.
"We have *o many we have to
control how they walk ao they
don't step on all the plants. We
aak them not to croaa back and
forth over rowi, and we don't
let in children under 10. Next
year we'll have another two
acres of berries, and we'll pro
bably have plenty of pickers."
According to Wiley Duvall,
there are about two dozen
commercial strawberry
operations in the county, and
the Hensley's is the largest.
The county helps all the
growers order 40,000 to (0,000
plants each year, getting a
better price by ordering in
bulk. About 75 percent of these
plants go to small, backyard
patches.
Our caravan wound back
down the hard road, then on
over to Highway 212 and up to
Billy and Virginia Barron's
house, which they built
themselves, under the
guidance of Jerry Shannon.
All three are from South
Carolina, where they were
friends, and Billy and Jerry
are now farming together.
Virginia took the group
through the house, pointing
out the local fieldstone, pine,
cedar and poplar used for the
chimney, floors, walls, stairs
and bannisters. Because Billy
and Virginia are both tall peo
ple, the counter-tops in the kit
chen are an extra-high 40 in
ches.
Our last stop was at the
farm nearby, where Billy and
Jerry Shannon were both
Weary -eyed from long days
picking tomatoes; this year's
crop is a heavy one because of
all the rainfall. Earl Wise,
standing among rows of lush
plants, said: "These folks
have got more to do than they
can get done, so I'll tell you a
little about them. Jerry was
living up by Hot Springs until
January a year ago, when he
bought this farm, and since
then he's built two houses
here, plus the Barron's house,
and put in all these crops, so
evidently that man can get
things done more than the rest
of us.
"This is his second drop of
tomatoes, five acres of them,v
and it is one of the better crops
in the county. He and Billy will
get about 30 tons of saleable
tomatoes per acre, in spite of a
little trouble with gray mold.
This crop will probably bring
about )6,000 an acre in profit
this year because the price is
up. Last year it was down;
very bad. These boys have had
the energy to work hard while
the price is up and they'll do
well this year."
In addition to tomatoes,
Shannon and Barron are try
ing a number of experimental
crops including rhododendron,
hemlock, mountain laurel,
doghobble, and balsam. "A
couple of other counties have
been leading the pack in grow
ing Christmas trees and other
ornamentals," said Gary
Ealey, the Extension agent
handling these new crops.
"But we think Madison is just
as good a place to grow them.
Here they are being grown
from seed in these buckets.
The seed goes into shredded
bark with some urea com
pound and phosphate and
that's it ? they don't need '
anything else. We'll just give ;
them water and pinch 'em
back and let 'em grow and
take the money in about three
years and go on vacation.
That's really all they need,
and the total expenses per
plant are only about SO cents,
compared with a price of $5 to
$10. So we'd like to see more of
our farmers trying these
plants."
Gudger Holds Meeting
(Continued From Page 1)
already been passed by
Congress into law. Carter
asked for a program to
produce synthetic fuel from
coal, said Gudger, and two
weeks later the synthetic fuel
bill was passed.
Also, Carter said he wanted
the power to ration gasoline,
and Congress responded by
passing a bill giving him that
power.
Gudger said that one of his
own special interests was in
reducing the number of
commissions and agencies in
government by streamlining
operations. He recalled the
bad flood of 1977, when the
French Broad River hit Hot
Springs, washed out Cane
River, and destroyed many
homes.
"It was a mess," said
Gudger. "But the mess was
not only caused by water.
Forty-two separate federal
agencies came down here
after the flood to help out.
There were so many of them
they had to have a big
meeting in Asheville to decide
who would do what. After that
Carter vowed to reorganize
some of these agencies, and
he has done that.
"He has also asked for a
separate Department of
Energy, and he got that; he's
asked for a Department of
Education, and he's got that
through the House and a
slightly different bill through
the Senate, and it looks like in
September he'll have a
department similar to what
he wants."
Gudger defended the
concept of a Department of
Education, saying it would
not usurp local power but
would reinforce and coor
dinate local educational
policy.
He said that streamlining
bureaucracy was easier
pledged than done. There are,
for example, 5,000 people in
the Department of Health,
Education, and Welfare who
do nothing but write
regulations. But he cited the
Paperwork Commission as an
example of a commission that
can do what it's supposed to
do and "then Just disappear,
tike it said it would. Most of
these groups Just keep
trowing once they start. The
Paperwork Commission was
founded in 1973, and was
Repairing
Al Mijor Applmon
hotfSnl I
GENERAL ELECTRIC |
WHIRLPOOL
supposed to exist for just
three years, and it did. It
made its report and went
home."
Gudger strongly defended
the North Carolina university
system against the
segregation suit brought by
former HEW Secretary
Joseph Calif ano. "When the
state in turn sued for a stay of
that suit, it produced one of
the best-written documents I
have ever seen. It points out
that North Carolina has made
greater steps in university
integration than any other
state in the nation. The fact is
that fantastic progress has
been made in meeting the
needs of the minority race
over the last 10 years. Our
only problem is that we have
five universities out of 16 that
are heavily black. I think only
6 percent of the students at A
k T are white. But five years
ago it was only something like
2 percent. So we are making
progress.
Gudger then spent over half
an hour answering questions
from the audience Leonard
Gosnell asked if the par
doning of draft evaders was
setting a precedent; William
Tisdale worried about cut
backs in veterans' services.
Superintendent of
Education Robert Edwards
said that HEW pressure on ;
Madison County to provide
complete access facilities for
handicapped students was
unreasonable, due to the
small budget here and the
great expense of these
facilities (one elevator, he
estimated, would cost some
<80,000 to install). He also
pleaded that if the draft were
reinstated, it be done in audi
a way as not to interrupt the
education of 18-and 19-year
olds.
Charles Tolley, manager of
French Broad EMC, wanted
to know about federal
assistance for people unable
to pay their energy bills.
Gudger said that there would
"definitely be $400 million in
emergency fuel available,
and I think that's going to
have to be increased by 90
percent. He also said there
would be stamps for the
elderly to purchase elec
tricity.
Robert Carter, of the
Department of Social Ser
vices, said that a four-day
work-week would help save
energy and wondered what
was being done about it. "I
wrote the president a nice
letter," he said, "and he
wrote me a very nice reply,
but he didn't use my
proposal."
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