form. For first-timers it's quite ad¬
visable to make a trial run — a week¬
end 10 to 15-milcr, say. before under¬
taking a more serious junket of several
days. While you're at it, too. find some
locale where you’ll be doing more
downhilling than climbing. Descending
hikes are no lark at all — as you will
quickly discover. But they are still less
exhuasting for the un-initialed than the
generally equal up-and-down run of
the route would be. By advance inves¬
tigation you can usually find an entry
spot that crosses the Trail at a near
peak or ridge crest, from which the
path drops generally some miles away
to a river or gap.
Those Little ‘Extras*
Again, in an effort to avoid over¬
lapping the authority of the trail-
tested experts' guidebooks. I’ll restrict
this section to an assortment of per¬
sonal preferences and incidentals you
might otherwise overlook — in effect,
a grab-bag of lake’em or leavc’cms. I
am personally dedicated to a few ex¬
tras, while I also feel that total pack
weight should not exceed 30 pounds.
(The common sense dictates of in¬
creasing experience will probably re¬
duce this total. ) Weight and equipment
are significant decisions. I heard of a
veteran Trailer who hollowed out the
handle of his toothbrush to conserve
weight. As for myself. I like the luxury
of a deck of cards, but skimp on weight
by leaving out the joker.
Tough as they are, I have observed
that many of the most seasoned hikers
still pay obeisance to creature com¬
forts by packing in the extra two
pounds or so that an air mattress
weighs. I go along with this decision,
and also the choice of toting a couple
of pounds extra in the form of an arti¬
ficial stove and its fuel — gasoline,
alcohol, or Sterno. This brings about a
tremendous saving in cooking and
clean-up lime, despite the extra back¬
ache it also contributes.
Technique is Significant
The technique of hiking is some¬
thing you will have considerable time
to dwell on in the weary privacy of
your own soul. What I mean is that the
simple act of taking a step, and then
another and another really is a much
more sophisticated decision than it
might seem.
The kind of step you take and the
pace you set on the downhill side of
the mountain is more involuntary than
you’d imagine. Gravity pulls relcnt-
( Continued on iiage 29)
m
The
Pumpkin
Man
It's a Halloween Har¬
vest at Elmo's Pump¬
kin Farm.
By T. II. PEARCE
Half way between Raleigh and
Rocky Mount, an attractive brick home
sits about one hundred yards off busy
Highway US 64. in the midst of one of
North Carolina's best tobacco growing
sections. This isn’t the home of just
another prosperous tobacco farmer
however, but the farm home of Elmo
Tant, known locally as The Pumpkin
Man.
Tant is one of those farmers who
took the advice about diversified farm¬
ing quite literally a few years ago and
started looking for crops other than the
usual cotton, corn and tobacco to grow
on his Franklin County acreage. Hav¬
ing grown pumpkins, more or less as a
hobby, it was only natural that he de¬
cided to go into it on a larger scale.
The venture was a success from the
Toni po»c» with the creom of hi» 1971 pumpkin
Cfop. Weighing in ot more Ihon 190 lb*, this
specimen isn't os lofge os his oil lime giont ol
210 lbs.
Growing pumpkins used lo be
о
sort of hobby for
Elmo Toni, but il’s his big crop now; ond they
ore selling foster Ihon he con grow them. — • All
photos by T. H. Pearce. I
start. The land devoted to the gourd
and pumpkin crop has increased every
year until the 1971 growing season
saw twenty-four acres planted in pump¬
kins and two acres in gourds. His pro¬
duction methods have proved so suc¬
cessful with the crop that he has
harvested one pumpkin that tipped the
scales at 210 pounds and giant gourds
that go over fifty pounds. Pumpkins
of this size, while spectacular and good
for publicity purposes arc really too
large for much commercial use. After
all, just how many kids could manage a
210 pound jack-o-lantern on Hallo¬
ween?
While his top size specimens have
been grown from seeds of his own
hybridizing experiments, known as
the Big T variety, Tam is currently
experimenting with cross breeding to
develop a good shape and color along
with a more marketable size. His 1971
crop gave ample evidence that his ex¬
periments arc succeeding.
Not too many years ago, pumpkins
were considered to be mainly a crop of
the northern states, but the Franklin
County farmer reasoned that there was
no reason why they couldn't be grown
equally as well or even better in North
Carolina soil. No one can argue with
this point of view after a visit to his
farm.
The large growing varieties arc
spaced eight feel apart in every other
row, while the small growing ones,
THE STATE, October 15. 1971
