June 03, 1999 - An invitiation to an 'open pasture'4A • The Suffolk Times • June 3, 1999
An invi
tati AC
U.11 to
Having written Focus for many
years I've often thought it would be
nice to meet some of you. I know you
are out there for I often get letters
and telephone calls from those who
want to share their experiences with
me, and so this coming Sunday, June 6
(rain date the following Sunday), I'd
like to open my pasture gate at 2
o'clock and have
you come and FOCUS
walk with me
around our place. ON
We'll leisurely NATURE
stroll about and
see some of the by Paul
things I've writ- Stoutenburgh
ten about through
the years and just get acquainted.
How to get here is simple. Driving
east or west on Route 25, turn down
Skunk Lane, which is about two miles
east of Cutchogue, drive south for
about a mile until you come to Lupen
Drive. You will have passed Eugene's
Road on your right and Leslie Road
on your left. Turn up Lupen and drive
to the end where it meets Billard
Road. Our pasture gate is to the left.
Hope to see you there.
Now what about some of the tele-
phone calls I received this week? One
was about the amazing antics of two
starlings. At first it was thought a bird
had fallen from its nest and lay
injured on the ground, but when our
inquisitive observer went to investi-
gate she found what she thought to be
one bird was in fact two adult starlings
locked in what looked like a death
battle. At this time of the year birds
fight over territories. Usually it winds
up by one yielding to the other and
the loser flying off, leaving the spoils
to the victor. Not so in this battle.
Neither bird was going to give up. The
result was that the two exhausted star-
lings hung on to each other and lay
there completely exhausted, so
exhausted and involved that neither
bird noticed our observer walk right
up to them as they lay there prostrate
on the ground in front of her. I've
seen this kind of fierce fighting but
never to that extent where one could
walk up to them and not be noticed.
Another lady called me about her
concern for a pair of mallards that had
nested in a flower box along River -
head's busy Main Street. I remember
years ago a lady in Southold called me
and told me of the same thing hap-
pening, only her flower boxes
were right under her window
where she could observe the
mallards without disturbing
them. All we can hope for is
that the inquisitive public will
keep their distance and she'll
hatch her brood. Ducks have
their young hatch all at one
time and almost immediately
leave the nest to seek food.
Let's hope her exit will be
when there's a lull in traffic
and she can make her way to
the Peconic River in safety.
Another call came from
someone who has a killdeer
nesting in her front yard.
Years ago when there were
more fields and open ground
about, killdeer would nest
there but seeing we've invad-
ed their habitat and they still
need a place to nest they've
adapted to our yards, parking
lots, etc., or any other place
they feel secure.
Have you noticed the
pollen in the air? Who could
escape it? It's everywhere. It
sticks to your car. It lies on
water surfaces. There's a
mantle of it everywhere and
then there's the effect on
one's physical body. My eyes
run more, my nose drips and
it even seems to sneak up and
grab you in the throat. It's all
part of nature's way of mak-
ing sure that its precious
pollen messengers hit their
mark. It's sort of like the buckshot
method of hitting the target. If you
shoot a lot of buckshot, you have a
better chance of hitting your target
than if you use a single shot.
Each tree and plant has its flower
that performs this service of pollina-
U open
tion. Right now it's the oak and hicko-
ry pollen that's causing all the discom-
fort and extra work of washing your
car and sweeping off the patio. Few of
us in our busy lives take time to notice
the small flowers of these two trees
but they are there. Eventually, if polli-
pasture'
flower. You and I are caught in the
crossfire of drifting pollen and thereby
wind up with stuffy noses, runny eyes
and the extra work of cleaning up
after the bombardment.
Not all trees resort to this primitive
buckshot approach to fertilization.
More advanced trees use col-
orful flowers that attract bees
and other insects that in turn
do the job of transferring the
pollen from plant to plant.
The attractive color and per-
fume attracts these busy little
bees to investigate this new-
found castle of color and
scent and seek out the nectar
hidden inside. In so doing the
pollen rubs off on the insect's
legs and back. Then when the
bee flies away, seeking other
nectar or sweets, some of the
pollen rubs off and is deposit-
ed on the new flower's vital
organs, thereby completing
the pollination.
The wild cherry or sour
cherry is a perfect example of
this flower fertilization.
Another is the dogwood with
its white petals that are actu-
ally not a flower at all but
part of the leaf, colored white
to attract insects. The true
flower of the dogwood is in
the center. Some trees use
clusters of tiny flowers to
achieve the same results as a
single large flower. The wild
black cherry is a perfect
example. Its clusters of
creamy white flowers can
reach three or four inches
long and when properly polli-
nated will produce clusters of
small black cherries. They are
edible but most find them
bitter. Only when they are
dead ripe are they truly palatable and
then the fruit has a pit half the size of
the cherry.
One of my favorite flowering trees is
the Paulownia or princess tree. It puts
out its profusion of light - purplish flow-
ers before the leaves emerge. It has a
delightful fragrance and its clusters of
flowers so cover the whole tree it
appears to be one purple mass. This
color is quite rare in trees. Originally
Paulownia came from China and quick-
ly found its way to Japan, where it was
much admired. In ancient China it was
so revered that a whole book was writ-
ten about its uses, from its leaves that
were believed to prevent wrinkles, to
washing one's hair in its leafy waters in
order to keep it from turning gray.
Some of these beliefs can still be found
in rural China today. The leaves are
heart- shaped and huge, some measur-
ing over a foot in diameter.
Another large- leafed tree but with
big whitish flowers is the horse chest-
nut tree. Everyone knows this tree,
from our youthful days when we col-
lected the shiny, brown, leathery -look-
ing nuts to today when we can admire
and appreciate its blossoms from a
distance. Originally the horse chestnut
came from the Balkans and it is now
found throughout the temperate zone.
It has become a roadside and park
tree in our own town.
There is another species of the
horse chestnut that has red flowers
From these beautiful clusters of creamy Paul
soms will come the prickly case of the horse chestnut,
revealing inside one of nature's finest looking but most
Inedible nuts.
LET'S LOOK BACK
75 years ago
May 30, 1924
Spelling bee winners: At the preliminary spelling
contest held in the Greenport school for the selection of
two representatives from the schools of Southold Town
for the county spelling bee at Riverhead, Miss
Catherine McMann, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. William
McMann of Greenport, a student in the eighth grade,
and Miss Anne Lupton of the Oregon School were the
victors and will represent Southold Town next month at
Riverhead, where the county contest will be held. The
winner of the county contest will go to Syracuse, where
the state spelling bee will be held.
Town officials get raise: The Supervisors have
increased the pay of members of the various Town
Boards in the county from $4 to $7 a day. The increase
will affect all of the justices of the peace, town clerks
and the supervisors themselves, except while attending
meetings of the Board of Supervisors.
50 years ago
June 3, 1949
Classified: East Marion —Five rooms and bath, open
fireplace, wooded area, private beach, furnished:
$6,250.
Mattituck— Seven -room, year -round home, large plot,
all improvements, convenient location, price $10,500.
nated by wind, insect or bird, they will
develop their various nuts and acorns.
Naturally the odds of the pollen hit-
ting its mark could be slim and so bil-
lions of pollen particles are released
by the flowers of the trees with the
hope that they will fall on the correct
Advertisement: If you like fresh fish — ocean fresh,
that is — then visit Reiter's Seafood Barge on the Bay,
Main Road, Southold. Here's where commercial fisher-
men unload their catch daily, and a dollar behaves
itself. We also have lively lobsters, full of meat; deli-
cious clams for steaming, jumbos for frying. For 50
cents enough clams on the half for a few meals. Also
chowders; jumbo soft crabs, three for $1; bay scallops;
shrimp that's out of this world. We are open Sundays,
too. Come down and give yourself a treat.
25 years ago
May 30, 1974
Helicopter hijacking: Neighbors of a 22- year -old
Greenport man were shocked to see his name dominat-
ing the news last Thursday when, armed with two guns,
he hijacked a helicopter from 34th Street to the Pan
Am building in midtown New York.
... The story told by police and reported widely over
TV and radio had the young man taking over an execu-
tives' helicopter at the 34th Street heliport, demanding
$2 million to be delivered by a bikini -clad girl and then
$.hooting the pilot as he jumped out of the plane on top
of the 59 -story Pan Am building.
Another hostage in the helicopter suhdued the man.
... He was arraigned in federal court and ordered held
in $100,000 bail on charges of air piracy.
See Focus, next page