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February 16, 1984 - A Hint of SpringPage 14 The Suffolk Times February 16,1984 A Hint of Spring By PAUL STOUTENBURGH Fifty and 60 degree temperatures in mid February -- what's going on here? I was out in the garden yesterday and all the frost in the ground has left. I cut raspberries back and dug Jerusalem artichokes up. By the way, if you don't have any of these tasty tubers in your garden, I suggest you get some for they are great in salads, require little care and can be dug any time the frost is out of the ground. It's time to bring in branches of forsythia and pussy willows with their swollen buds so they can slowly unfurl and brighten our winter mood. The soft, unfrozen earth will begin giving up its solid buttress of cold now and slowly become invaded by life once again. The earth worms that kept to their unfrozen territory below now have room once again to move upward. Even my chickens have taken to scratching among the thawed leaves to pluck a morsel that once was trapped in winter's grip. It would be nice to think that the back of winter is broken but knowing Long Island weather we better not count on it just yet. Nevertheless the inevitable signs of change are everywhere. Those coming home from work can see the difference in the amount of daylight. The sun moves further north each day as our days grow longer. Wildlife Feels the Breath of Spring The friendly mallards we see in the creek already have started to pair off and the ducks in the bay have started their spring courtship antics. Courtship, as most of us know, can create unbelievable shows. The red - breasted merganser is typical of our winter ducks. Males with their gaudy white and black and iridescent green hues throw their heads high and back as they show off in spurts of grandeur in front of their ladies Photo courtesy Bill Quinn 50 YEARS AGO - -On Feb. 11, 1934, four Greenport men walked across the frozen bay from Fifth Street to White Hill on Shelter Island. The four, Bill Quinn (above), Jay Deale, George Laub and Ted Fiedler, had a tough time making it back -- they were caught in a driving snowstorm. The bay hasn't been as completely frozen since that time, Mr. Quinn says. AARP MEETS FEB. 21 QUIOGUE -- Eastern Suffolk Chapter 367 of the American Association on Retired Persons will meet Feb. 21 at 1 p.m. in the Parish Hall of the Westhampton Presbyterian Church on Meeting House Road. John Bechtel, assistant state director of the AARP will discuss aims and advantages of the association. Visitors are welcome; refreshments will be served. ftQLfl� ow U�n,QmTq fair. And like many ladies fair, they pay little attention. With much splashing and rushing about, the courtships go on. Not only here but all along the way north to their nesting grounds. Then like a seed when the location, time and temperature are just right, nesting will take place and the cycle that has kept our world going through the ages will again bring forth a new generation. All but our mallards and a few black duck will leave our shores to nest in the north country. Most will build down -lined nests on the ground in hidden places but some like the buffle -head and golden -eye will seek out cavities in trees to bring forth their downy chicks. Some ducks like our eider duck have been exploited for their downy nesting material. In the far north, natives seek out the down that the female plucks from her breast to line her nest and collect it for market. Hopefully they leave some which the bird will add to so she will have a true insulated nest to lay her eggs in. This eider down is the most expensive of all downs and is found only in the best down jackets. Like everything else in today's world, down has been watered down (no pun intended) and if you look at the label of less expensive down jackets you will see a percentage of feathers, thereby diluting the insulation factor. At one time our Long Island duck growers, I am told, actually made more money Photo by Paul Stoutenburgh GREY SQUIRREL - -Let the temperature warm up a bit and this busy fellow will be out looking for new sources of food. from the feathers and down of their ducks than they did from the ducks themselves. Is Spring Far Away? With all the signs of warmer weather ahead I still see the grey squirrel on my front lawn busy collecting and husking the hickory nuts so that he may bury them for later use. All day long he digs, covers, pats down and tosses leaves over his hidden treasures. Is he telling us there's still much winter ahead? On the other hard, I see the squirrels involved in the chasing game, preparing for the day when their young will be born Let's Look Back 75 Years Ago February 13, 1909 Objects to Kissing: The following, concerning a summer resident of Shelter Island and the owner of the launch "Scud," is of interest: "I am thinking of starting an Anti - Kissing Society," said the Rev. Dr. John L: Scudder, pastor of the First Congregational Church, Jersey City, the other day. "I may import Dowie, Jr., whom his father described as `The Great Unkissed,' as a distinguished figurehead for my new cult." Then, with great seriousness, the progressive clergyman amplified his views on the pernicious habit of kissing. "Kissing is a pretty custom, but there is such a thing as kissing a person to death," said he. "If the kisser has tuberculosis or diphtheria, there is great danger that the disease will be communicated to the kissee. "In this way diphtheria has carried off its thousands and tuberculosis its tens of thousands. Many a little one has been sent to the grave by the loving kiss of a consumptive mother. Many people have caught tuberculosis by kissing consumptive dogs and cats, canary birds, parrots, and other household pets. It is time to start anti - kissing leagues throughout America, and if I could be the agency for this new departure I should consider myself a public benefactor. The whole land should ring with the cry, `Quit your kissing.' "Any mother must be demented who permits a stranger to kiss her child," concluded Dr. Scudder. "For mark you, a man may have consumption in an early stage and not know it. Yet it is communicable. Even kissing the Bible in the courts should be abolished, for court Bibles are nests and breeding places of bacilli." Then the preacher added, thoughtfully, weakening his argument: "I have never been much of a kisser myself." 50 Years Ago February 16,19:14 Commercial Fishermen Unite to Fight Detrimental Bills: Commercial fisher- men on Long Island are uniting to fight the various bills introduced into the State Legislature, all of which are decidedly detrimental to the commercial fishing industry. Under the leadership of the Middle Atlantic Fisheries Association, the Long Island Fishermen's Protective Association and the Eastern Long Island Fishermen's Association was combining to fight legislation that would mean ruination of their business. With the exception of Bill No. 431, introduced by Assemblyman Hall, the other seven bills were introduced by Assemblyman McCreery of Brooklyn. The bill introduced by Mr. Hall would prohibit all commercial fishing in the waters of Long Island. The bills introduced by Assemblyman McCreery would place the marine district under Conservation Department jurisdiction, limit the taking by angling of weakfish to ten in any one day prior to July 1st and to fifteen thereafter, would include beam trawls in the definition of nets, license nets and set up regulations for their use in the marine district, prohibit the taking of more than 50 striped bass, bluefish, porgies and eight other species, prohibit and then nursed in a warm dry hollow of a tree or high up in a treetop leaf nest. Everything is so perfectly timed in the natural world that as the young squirrels emerge from the nest, the trees with their soft tender buds will just be coming out. It is this time they leave the nest and sample their first solid food of buds and twigs. So it is the circle has swung once more and we all look forward to spring once again. the use of nets of all kinds in Great South Bay and Peconic Bays and adjacent waters west of Shelter Island, and prohibit the taking as use of shrimp as bait from January 1st to May 15th. 25 Years Ago February 13, 1959 No. Fork Promotion Plan: Last week, the Mattituck Chamber of Commerce held a special meeting at Kay's Kountry Kitchen for the purpose of considering a proposal to join forces with the North Fork's other two Chambers of Commerce in a joint promotion and publicty campaign. Mr. Herbert Lieblein, chairman of the Promotion Committee of the Greenport - Southold Chamber of Commerce, was invited to outline the proposal to Mattituck members. Mr. Lieblein briefly described the results of the publication, in 1958, of the first North Fork booklet and the advertising campaign which succeeded so well in making possible the effective distribution of the booklet. He went on to explain the reasons why the Greenport - Southold Chamber felt that it would be advantageous for Southold Town, as an area, to join forces in one united promotional effort. He proposed the formation of a committee, to be known, tentatively, as the North Fork Promotion Committee of Southold Town's Chambers of Commerce, said committee is to be made up of two members from each of the three existing Chambers.