The independent. [volume] (Elizabeth City, N.C.) 1908-1936, 1923-09-28
PUTTING COLOR
into FARMING
"Dud" Bagley Growing Gamma
and Other Bulbs For
Market

Acres OF cannaS, SladlOluSeS,
| tubcrroScS, aStors, dahliaS, sum
flowers. caladium; fields ablaze
with the voluptuous scarlet
flowers of the bronze lcafcd
canaS, rcddcr than the poppieS
1of Flanders ficldS-and rcddcr
than that. That's the latest
horticultural enterprise at
Moyock.
! Dudley W. Bagley. of MoyOck, is
carrying on an interesting expert
mcnt in the growing of roots and
bulbs for market, on his farm mile
/ from that place. He is doing SOME
thing new in this part of the state
and if he aCcompliShcS nothing else.
he has certainly thrown Il riot of
color into Il landscape that has
known little else but corn. cotton
and potatoes for two hundred years
or more.
When young Mr. Bagley and his
wife settled down four years ago to
farm the $50 acres that WAS the
farm of his father X. q. BaSlcy,
they decided they might as well
make farm life interesting. Mr..
Bagley is Il collegc-bred man and
not one to be content in doing the
same old thing forever in the samt
old WHY. The best part of the farm
he put into corn and soy beans for
seed: but few choice acres at the
front door of his cottage he put into
cannaS and other bulbouS plants.
Thus has he added. variety To his
farming and made for himself
place of beauty that satisfies his
own eSthctic needs and cheers the
whole country side as well.
Mr.. Baglcy finds Il ready market
for his bulbs, selling direct to deal
erS only. He finds the cultivation
of flowers not more ardrouS than
the cultivation of any other crop.
Indeed. CannaS and such things are
cultivated about like corn and re-
Uuirc about the same sort ot fertlii-
ger. The only real trouble is ell
couutcrcd in carrying the roots thru
the winter. sThcy have to be stored
about like sweet potatoes and kept
at the right temperature.
Once last winter Mr.. Baglcy left
home. OH Il balmy day ana WAS away
for several days. That night the
weather changed and the tcmpera-
ture dropped below freezing. But
Mrs. Baglcy is quite rs interested
in the flowers as her husband. 1t
was nearly midnight when she sen
Scd the danger to the stored bulbs.
But she got ont into the cold night,
rounded mp some friends and went
INTO the SlDIt-HOuNt Nli'l' '7iiN NJ ~
fire going until morning. The
bulbs were saved.
Mr.. Baglcy is not satisfied WITH
Just growing popular varieties OF
cannaS and the like: he is striving
for new varieties by hybridizinS
and has hopes of yet producing that
despair of all horticulturiSts, pure
white Gamma.
In the meantime young Mr.. Bag,
ley is not ncglccting established lines
Of farming and is specializing i'll
the production of Southern White
UOrSc-TOoth Corn for seed. This
particular variety of corn can be
grown successfully for seed pur-
poses only in Eastern North Caro-;
lima and Virginia. 1t is Identified
hy Il little rusty spot on each grain.
This spot disappears when this corn
is grown anywhere else. 1t is a
corn that grows largely to stalk and
foliage and is recognized as the best
cnSilagc corn on earth. German
farmers discovered its great ensilaSe
value years ago and Germany alone
provides Il steady market for the
seed of this corn since the Germans |
grow the corn for cnSilage and not |
TO seed. c. Il. Van de Carr 4 Co..
of MoyOck, have been buying this,
particular variety of corn up and
down the Norfolk Southern r. X,
for years, but very few have known .
that it was bought largely for Ger
many.
While Mr.. Bagley's Gamma farming
is new to this section, it is not new
to North Carolina, tho the fact is
little know, the biggest Gamma farm
in America is located near Will
n. c., where hundreds OF
car loads of Gamma and other bulbs
are produced annually and sold to
northern seedSmen who ship a lot
of them right back to North Caro-
lima for the retail trade.