Agriculture
African daisies offer spectacular color
One of the most exciting border
plants around is Qerbera
Jamesonii, or Transvaal, or Afri
can daisy. Native to Madagas
car, Asia, Africa, and Indonesia,
the flower is downright flamboy
ant. The large, wooly leaves
form a background for four-inch,
daisy-like blooms that range in
color from cream, pink, and gold
up to salmon and shrimp tones,
and on to a neon flame, with red
or yellow centers.
Gerberas were mainly grown
in commercial greenhouses for
cut flowers. Hie past few years,
however, have seen gerberas es
cape glass houses and nestle into
southern borders.
They can not survive frost, but
wintering them over is an easy
matter. First of all, it may be ad
visable to grow gerberas in pots
which can be taken directly out
of the ground. This method would
make this species feasible for
coastal gardeners, because mois
ture and mulching could be bet
ter controlled
Before threat of frost, lift pots,
An ever-changing
rural America
People who live in the metro
politan areas of the country por
bably have an outmoded percep
tion of rural America. Hiey tend
to think that rural means farm
ing and ranching, declining pop
ulation, isolation, lack of serv
ices, poor educational
opportunities, and so on.
The facts are quite different.
? The past 20 years have witnessed
unprecedented increases in em
ployment and population in cit
ies, small towns and open coun
jjHry of rural America. Viewed as
whole, nonmetropolitan or ru
ral areas have become much
more similar to metro areas, yet
they are far more diverse among
themselves.
Economists and rural sociolog
ists at the U.S. Department of
Agriculture have come out with a
report on the social and eco
nomic structure of rural Amer
ica that divided the 2,443 nonme
tro counties into seven
classifications, rather than
looking at them as a whole. Actu
ally, between 1970 and I960 pop
ulation increased 16 percent in
those counties? about twice the
rate of metropolitan counties.
Counties dominated by farm
ing number only 702, less than a
third of the nonmetro counties
and only 13 percent of the nonme
tro population. It is in these coun
ties that farmers have the most
political clout; but they rep
resent a small minority of con
gressional district.
EHospital continues
"as referral center
Albemarle Hospital, named by
" the federal government as a ru
?wal regional referral center, con
' tinues to be one of only a handful
^Tof hospitals in the state and
...southeastern United States to be
^&o designated.
??"* The status, granted to rural
*J hospitals which meet rigid gov
ernment criteria, indicates serv
ice to a broad area, a highly spe
Z cialized medical staff, and
'? proficiency in handling severe
illnesses. Albemarle was named
I*. as a rural regional referral cen
j, ter late in 1984 at a time when
xrnly 20 hospitals in the southeast
~ern United States, and eight hos
^-pitals in Nprth Carolina qual
ified. Government officials said
" last week, that now 45 hospitals
-in the southeast, including nine
?? hospitals in North Carolina are
approved for the status.
"I would say that it is difficult
? to achieve, looking at the number
Il^-of rural hospitals out here and
?5comparing it with the relatively
small number who qualify," said
- Mark Rogers, an Atlanta accoun
!!!""tant with the Health Care Fi
" -nancing Administration of the
^Department of Health and Hu
.X man Services, the federal agency
ZTwhich hospitals in the eight-state
"southeastern region.
Albemarle Hospital's Comp
" ' trailer, Mike Linker said, "This
is an indication of how important
we consider our entire service
area. Albemarle Hospital serves
a wide band of counties in the
northeastern part of North Caro
lina. That includes Pasquotank,
Camden, Currituck, Dare, Per
quimans, Gates and other coun
ties in the Albemarle area. With
out demonstrable service to such
a wide area, we would not have
qualified for this referral center
designation." Linker is the chief
financial officer at Albemarle
Hospital. Linker explained that
one of the benefits of the referral
center designation is that it al
lows rural hospital like Albe
marle to receive federal re
imbursements at a higher urban
rate.
Hospital Administrator, Rob
ert Jeffries said, "We are partic
ularly proud of this referral cen
ter designation, because it
reflects the high caliber of Albe
marle Hospital's medical staff
and our commitment to our en
tire service area.
MOORE'S BOOKKEEPING MB INCOME TAX
'' " 7. i ? * ;
Complete Bookkeeping.
Computerized Financial Statements,
and Personal and Business Tax
Returns. Reasonable Rates.
References Available
PHONE 426-5168
' i w
brush dirt off carefully, and
bring into an area that can be
kept at 45 degrees. Alternatives
other than a cool greenhouse
could be an enclosed sunporch or
used bedroom.
Keep soil barely moist. Soon all
foilage will wilt and turn brown,
making the plants appeal quite
dead. Not so. They develop excel
lent root systems while in that
cold atmosphere.
In March, move plants to a
bright area that can be kept at 60
degrees or above. They may be
divided then, if necessary, al
though an eight-to-ten-inch pot
will usually support one plant for
four or more years. Vigorous
growth will commence as soon as
the plants feel warmth. From
then on, apply a weak liquid ferti
lizer or cow manure tea every
two weeks or so.
Gerberas may also be pro
poated by seeds started early
winter in a well-lit temperature
greenhouse. Or try your hand
next spring at cutting side shoots
to root in a mixture of soil, peat
mo6S and sand.
Varieties from Thompson and
Morgan include 'Dwarf Happi
pot,' eight to twelve inches, is ex
cellent for window boxes. Mardi
Gras, ' 18 to 24 inches is an early
bloomer, while 'T 4 M Black
heart Mixed,' 15 to 20 inches has
huge colorful blooms with a deep
brown center. This is one variety
that commands premium price
in major flower markets, the
seed company claims.
Burpee's 'California Mixed' is
a good combination of delightful
colors, at a not-so-premium
price.
New for 1968 is Park's 'Pa
rade,' a dwarf double type to
plant from seed.
It's 'Rainbow' series is basically
a pot variety, free-blooming, on 6
to 8 inch stem*, colors include
scarlet, yellow, race, pink, white
and crimson.
Pan American Seeds has intro
duced 'Gigi,' very tall with bright
pastel colors, excellent for cut
flowers, or in middle of a par
tially shaded border.
I ordered small 'starter' plants
from Blues tone Perennials, an
Ohio nursery, that were ex
tremely strong, and filled out
quickly.
Always cut, not break or pinch,
flowers at the stem's base. Re
move spent flowers promptly to
encourage more blooms.
After the soil outside has
heated up, pots may be placed di
rectly into the border in a pro
tected- spot that is mostly sunny.
Soil should be rich and well
drained.
With this minimum attention,
African daisies will reward you
with a spectacular festival of
color from May to frost.
Wayland Byrum of Hobbs no-till drill to local farmers at
Implements displays a new the no-till meeting.
Farmers attend
no-till meeting
A total of 40 Perquimans and
Chowan farmers attended a no
till meeting held at the ARPDC
Building on Monday, February
24th. Dr. John Van Duyn and Dr.
George Naderman of the North
Carolina Extension Service,
were the speakers at the meet
ing. Dr. Van Duyn discussed in
sect control and management in
no-till corn and soybeans. Dr.
Naderman discussed the effect of
mulch, erosion control, moisture
management and the improved
water quality associated with no- i
till and conservation tillage. The
meeting was sponsored by the
Perquimans and Chowan Soil
and Water Conservation Com
mittee and the Perquimans
County Extension Service.
LEWIS B. EVANS
Agency Mgr.
426-5636
Hertford
? FARM
BUREAU
Insurance
hi Farm |
PAT WARD
Agent
426-7401
Wildfires in our coun
try are a terrible waste. A
waste of natural resources.
A waste of natural, beauty.
A waste of money.
Yet every single year,
over one billion in tax
dollars goes up in smoke.
That's what it costs to pro
tect our nations resources
and fight wildfires.
So, think of these Alt#
:
famous faces next time
you're in the great out4
doors. And remember^
only you can prevent
forest fires. ' V.-'' ?'