ROANOKE TIMES 
                      Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times

DATE: Wednesday, October 9, 1996             TAG: 9610090039
SECTION: VIRGINIA                 PAGE: C-1  EDITION: METRO 

NOT-SO-GREAT PUMPKIN PATCH

LENGTH: Short :   24 lines
ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO:  AP. 1. Donald Hunt surveys his pumpkin crop as he walks 
          through a field at Hill Pleasant Farm Inc. in James City County. The
          rainy, cool summer has left a shambles of Virginia's leading 
          pumpkin-growing county. This is the second straight year for a local
          shortage of pumpkins. ``It was dry weather last year. This year it 
          was wet weather,'' said Herman Hohlt, an extension vegetable 
          specialist with Virginia Tech. Some fields were so wet that farmers 
          couldn't spray fungicides to control diseases that damage the vines 
          and leaves. Water stood in soggy fields and rotted the roots of the 
          plants. 2. A pumpkin (right) has rotted on the vine on Charles 
          Davis' 10-acre lot in Eltham. Davis said the crop this year is a 
          "complete disaster." color.