State

Contcnfnco Creel, a tributary ol tbe Neu»e, wot uted lor navigation by the corly scttlert ol Greene, ond lotcr lor borging borrelt ol turpentine. It it ttill a tixcoblc tfreom, ond valued recreotionoi retouree. — i Photo by 8ob Aiken' GREENE COUNTY County No. »» in The State's “New Geography of North Carolina." Grccnc County, on the central coastal plain, is one of the most thor¬ oughly agricultural counties in the South. The small (265 square miles) county has an annual farm income of around $21 million. Aside from a few small factories, there is virtually no industry in the county. A drape and curtain factory, a tape mill, garment plant, dog medi¬ cine plant, sawmill — complete the list. The other business establishments relate to farming — they are engaged in trade with or service to agriculture. They arc in the county's three incor¬ porated towns, of which Snow Hill, the county scat, is largest (population I,- 013). There is some non-agricultural in¬ come. In common with similar eastern Cirolina counties. Greene imports a payroll from industries in nearby towns, notably Farmville and Kin¬ ston, but also from Goldsboro and Greenville. It is only 14 miles to Farm¬ ville from Snow Hill and 15 to Kin¬ ston. and this is no distance at all on 14 the good highways. Greenville, Wilson and Goldsboro are close by. Most From Fanning But the contribution from these out¬ side jobs is relatively minor. Out of the population of 16,741. all except 4.300 lived on farms in 1961. an ex¬ ceptional distribution of population, even in the agricultural coastal plains. And to further emphasize the rural- farm composition of Greene, only 614 of the farm population worked 100 or more days off the farm. This is in severe contrast to Piedmont counties, where in many instances more than half of the farm working force have jobs off the farm. Of Greene’s land. 160.000 acres arc in farms, 65.000 acres in cropland and 12.000 of the cropland in tobacco. These 12.000 acres — less than a fifth of the total cropland — produced 75 per cent of the farm income — around $16,000,000 in 1961. But a long list of products contribute, too. and offer hope of expansion. They By Bill Sharpe include corn, swine, cotton, wheat, pea¬ nuts. soybeans, sweet potatoes, cucum¬ bers, broilers, beef, pulpwood. lumber. Home of Curer The county's specialty — tobacco — did lead to some enterprises, but they arc gone. Snow Hill once was a to¬ bacco auction town. And the oil curer, which revolutionized an important phase of production, was invented at Maury by Lawrence Moye. Maury also was the site of the Mayo curer fac¬ tory. Both arc gone — Reuben Mayo consolidated with another firm and moved to Farmville, and the Moye plant has closed. The area was known from earliest times for its suitability for agriculture. Although it is 65 miles from the sea, the climate is described as oceanic, which means less susceptibility to sud¬ den changes. The sandy-loam soil is good for tobacco. Superlative It is not surprising, then, that this was the home of the world’s largest individual tobacco planter. C. L. Hardy of Hookcrton was a farm boy Woltlonburg's Melhoditt Church THE STATE. JULY 15. 1965