Re: [gardeners] cane
George Shirley (gardeners@globalgarden.com)
Mon, 19 Apr 1999 15:24:33 -0500
Allen and Judy Merten wrote:
> Hi George,
> I like living in a town like you do. People are willing to go out of
> there way to help. The town that I was raised in was like that. I
> remember when we could get the pharmacist to come open the drug store on
> Sunday to refill a prescription.
> The cane brake in Marshall had the biggest cane of any kind that I
> have ever seen in Texas or Louisiana. I'm not sure exactly what kind it
> was but it had the small leaves on it, the cane was beige color.
> I cut the cane that was in a mature stage, looked like a fishing
> pole ready to use. I did find green cane bends better. I found out that
> the green cane can be too soft and thin walled if it is too green. The
> semi green stage works best in my opinion. If you are building something
> rigid the older cane is best.
> I have never been snake bit so far. The closest was when I go hit on
> the bottom of my shoe by a cotton mouth, that was laying in a cut bank
> that I couldn't see. I found out that there is some disagreement on
> weather the Canebrake Rattler is just a sub species or regional morph of
> the Timber Rattler. Both have the "coon tail".
> We also have the Coral Snake here. Pretty snake, deadly if it gets
> you right.
> The weather sure warmed up. I don't appear to have any damage from
> the two freezes last week. I suppose that the temp didn't stay cold
> enough long enough. I have been weeding and side dressing with
> fertilizer this morning. I came back to the house to get some lunch and
> to change into a pair of shorts and a lighter colored shirt than the
> navy blue one that I have been wearing.
> One thing that I have been giving some thought to is getting a hive
> of bees. They are something that I know very little about. We have very
> few bees visiting the garden. Last year Bumble Bees had to do the job.
> The mouth and throat mites have decimated the wild bee population.
> Back to the garden,
> Allen
> Bastrop Co., SE Central Tx.
> Zone 8
Honey bees are finally coming back around here. We still depend on mason and
orchard bees to pollinate plus the big bumble bees but the Italian honey's
are making a come back. Saw several working the broccoli we let go to bloom
this morning.
IIRC there are a couple of bee lists and possibly a newsgroup also. Used to
keep a couple of hives when I was younger but the neighbors would holler if
I kept them in town. We've got enough woods around that the wild bees come
into the garden.
Sulphur isn't a real small town, has between 35,000 and 40,000 population
and the Standard Metropolitan Statistical Area of nearby Lake Charles is
over 750,000 in the 5-parish area. I10 runs right through the middle of the
parish and of this town. Got several drug stores, etc, etc, but still has a
small town air. I sometimes think the whole town is locked in 1952,
particularly during high school football season. ;-)
George