The Rural Voice, 2002-10, Page 38DAVID E. GREIN
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Wheat, Barley,
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34 THE RURAL VOICE
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important trees to our wildlife. In
Ontario, over 50 animal species rely
on them for shelter, nesting and
rearing sites. Better yet, these hardy
oaks are living cavity trees that serve
generation after generation of
wildlife and can do so for centuries.
In my time alone, I've witnessed
families of owls, squirrels, raccoons,
and opossums all take up residence in
my old oak tree.
While generations of other
tree species have lived and
died in its presence, this
fruit -bearing tree also provided crop
after crop of acorns — and for a
surprisingly wide variety of wildlife.
These fruit
bearing, or
mast trees, not
only attract
feeding
squirrels.
raccoons and
opossum, but
they also feed
white-tailed
deer, wild
turkey, pheasant, bobwhite quail, and
even fox. And not to be left out,
cottontail rabbits join in by browsing
on the fallen twigs.
I recall another resident, the
honeybee, which inhabited another
hollow old oak on our farm. This
grand old oak was unfortunately cut
down in my youth for firewood. It
also yielded a labyrinth of
honeycombs that reached some 15
feet up into its hollow trunk. This
experience prompted my dad to recall
his boyhood when the search for a
"honey tree" was an annual winter
event. Once located, the tree would
be cut down for its firewood – and
the prized harvest of honey obtained
under the protection of freezing
temperatures. While I too enjoyed the
taste of wild honey that mom boiled
from bucket after bucket of combs
from our fallen tree,
1 must confess that I
now wish this
second old oak —
the type valued by
generations of
forest residents —
was still standing
too.
And with some
tree planting to do,
why not consider the native oaks.
Slow growing as they are, if left to
nature's own devices they just might
still be enjoyed by our descendants in
another 450 years or more.0
The acorns of the oak attract
squirrels, raccoons,
opossum, white-tailed deer.
wild turkeys, pheasants,
bobwhite quail and even
foxes
Other woods also had a
reputation for toughness
While oaks were favoured for timber beams and rafters because of their
enduring toughness and strain resistance, hickory was often chosen
specifically for "sumpter" or supporting beams where toughness and
elasticity made for a better combination. Of course hickory's tough,
bendable, and shock resistant nature made it ideal for tool handles. At one
time one of the more abundant trees growing on the clay soils in our area,
old-timers tell of railroad cars loaded with hickory spokes or pegs leaving
the hamlets of Southern Ontario destined to the U.S., supplying much of the
market of the day with good hammer and tool handles.
In fact, the properties and the best uses of the various tree species would
have been simply practical knowledge to any early pioneer worth his salt.
For example, an elm might be purposely chosen for an anvil block because it
was highly resistant to shock and its interlocking grain made it hard to split.
But Elm didn't stand up well to periods of wet and dry, so a sycamore block
might have been chosen for a butcher block. Sycamore is Iona lasting and
also has interlocking grain that makes it very difficult to split — a very
important quality with all that meat to chop. And for the wear and tear on the
frame of a sledge or a yoke for the oxen, a pioneer might prefer the hard and
dense qualities of a birch.
Yet, a bit of this knowledge still lingers. While making a scythe handle or
a large hayfork from single piece of wood may not be something most of us
have to face, the strong and elastic ash which is easily bent maks a good
choice for today's racquets and hockey sticks.0