THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, September 3, 1995 TAG: 9509010081
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ROBERT STIFFLER
LENGTH: Medium: 61 lines
EVER TAKE bean seed from an old snuff can and grow the world's largest green bean?
Faye Etheridge of Rocky Mount, N.C., did.
If you've ever been to Rocky Mount, you'll probably remember the town for two reasons: first, a mainline railroad track runs right through the center of Rocky Mount's main street; second, in the opinion of many, the town has the world's best barbecue.
But Rocky Mount is also noted for gardening records. The town's gardeners hold more world-record vegetable and fruit titles than any other town in the world.
Rocky Mount is home to the collard king, the count of cantaloupe and now the bean queen.
Etheridge is the town's latest record setter, having grown the world's biggest green bean in July. It measured 43 inches long. Etheridge says she used her grandfather's seed. It had been in her mother's refrigerator in a snuff can for 18 years.
``I asked mama last spring to let me have 'em,'' Etheridge said, ``and I told my husband to put them in the garden with some Miracle-Gro and see what came up.''
What grew was a bean stalk to rival Jack's.
When she realized she might be growing record-setting beans, Etheridge asked the county agent to measure them. ``That was on Tuesday, and the biggest one was 36 inches long,'' Etheridge recalls. ``Then it rained - and he had to come back, because by Friday the biggest bean was 43 inches long.''
Etheridge says her mother was going to throw out the bean seeds because no one really knew what they were, but she kept them because they'd been her father's. They produced a vine that grew ``right over the top and down the other side'' of Etheridge's trailer home.
``Papa called them cat gut beans, because when they start to grow, they puff up just like a gut,'' Etheridge said. She picked the beans and has two sacks tucked away in the freezer - ``one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas.''
Back in 1980 in Rocky Mount, Bobby Rackley grew a 62-inch wide collard, breaking his previous record of 59 1/4 inches. This past season, he grew one that was ``pushing 55 inches.''
He said he keeps his collards growing until Christmas, because frost just ``sweetens it up.'' He said his secret is the area's good soil, and, ``I just lay on the Miracle-Gro.''
Gene Draughtridge has lived most of his life in Rocky Mount, where he's grown three world-record cantaloupes. The most recent was a 62-pound beauty in 1991. This hot, dry summer was the worst growing year he has ever known. Nonetheless, he grew a 58-pound cantaloupe.
At least two other North Carolina gardeners hold world records. Eddie Adkins of Enfield grew the world's biggest peanut, at 4 inches long. Norma McCoy of Hubert set a world's record for lima beans when she grew one 14 inches long.
Tarheels can stand proud, because they set more world records for championship-size produce than any other state in the nation. by CNB