ATTENDING MARVELS A PATAGONIAN JOURNAL

I MET Pedro Werber Carlton aka Huevos de Carton, of the Hebrew persuasion, from Argentina, in Northampton, MA, in the eighties. Perhaps the best conversationalist
ever. Tall, ugly, swam like a fish, often in a great mood with stories about Peron, Evita,
Maradona, Piazzola but not Gardel, the humor of his compatriots Hebrews and gentiles. Also certain scorn for
other Hebrews, particularly those from USA, they are different, a little more stiff and certainly clannish...I know because I was popular among Hebrew ladies and got to
know the culture, eating habits, growing attached to them during the season.

At any rate. The tittle? It is a book written by George Gaylord Simpson, about paleontology, yep, believe it or not... As the tittle goes, a marvel of writing in my opinion. And Pedro? It was a present, since we often talked about Patagonia. I
have mentioned my strange attraction for any south, USA, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. When you look at Patagonia it has some weird, out of this world, beauty, landscapes and scenery hard to explain....but often reminds me of the moon...

If I could write well, this style would be one of my influences. I have chosen this passage arbitrarily, that some may find refreshing after reading my rough on the edges sentences and paragraphs... The subject it not really pertinent. Even if you do not care about dinosaurs and such, it is a fun book that I have read
more than five times in twenty years..

The first day out of Comodoro, we saw that the land rises from the sea
in a series of steep and very irregular terraces to the high, barren, windswept Pampa de Castillo. We went down the far side of this into
the broad Valle Hermoso, a more sheltered tableland little over half as
high. Across the Valle Hermoso the land raises again, much more gently,
then drops abruptly to the basin of Lake Colhue-Huapi, part of the great
depression known as the Sarmiento Basin, Cuenca de Sarmiento. This scarp south of Colhue-Huapi forms a belt of badlands, about six or seven
miles long in its principal part and continued eastward and westward by
somewhat similar carps. This is the great "barranca south of the Colhue-
Huapi," nameless but famous.

The shore of the lake itself is forward in part by broad white dusty flats flooded at high water, in part by low, steep banks of clay and soil, and in part by higher vertical cliffs of rock brilliantly streaked red and white. Beyond these shores lies a strip of gently rolling land covered by sand and gravel dotted with barren knolls of somber shale. Above this rises the irregular line of the forecliff, vividly banded and spotted in crimson, orange, yellow, and white. It is clearly stratified, in some places horizontally, and in others at steep angles. Beyond this bright and rugged
forecliff is the main barranca, rising to over four hundred feet from its immediate base and nearly eight hundred feet above the take at its culminating point. It is formed by a great series of beds of volcanic ash, white or delicately tinted yellowish or pink except for a few outstanding strata that have weathered or an orange color.

This reminds me of the cliche, a picture is better that a thousand words. I have my doubts. It depends on the subject. This is one of those books, like a good movie
can be reviewed a lifetime, in my intercontinental humble opinion...Time to go.

TRANSGENETIC SEEDS UPDATE

AlcantarillaAlquimica.blogspot.com/

War of the Seeds
Monsanto Vs Farmers
by BEATO


An excellent article with references, on the subject for the
serious, curious on horticulture/agriculture/gardening
theme. Do not miss it!

GARDENING UPDATES GUERRILA GARDENING

WHEN you visit the guerrillagardening.com site, you realize that it is not
in the tropics...Actually, I am one in a small group in the blogosphere, virtual or real, practicing it regularly, at least with the adequate reports and systematic observation.

Today it rained rhinos and orcas down in Puercorico, USA. I decided to spread some Cosmos sulpherous, Merremias, Clitorias and to take advantage of the trip, the New England like light cloudy day conditions to
observe and plant a maguey, to share with lazy chair readers and gardeners alike.

The original guerrilla act with Tamarindus indica, Thevetia peruviana, Maguey and Cosmos by the train station, has survived. Only the
Thevetia looks like manure.. However, it is amazing the amount
of Cosmos that have tolerated the 15/20 days without water. I counted 65.
That means that at least 50% will bloom and self seed, before the next
municipal executioner trimmer squad make their appearance.

For this reason I decided to move the operations to the San Carlos abandoned building. There will be no trimmers. In my previous post,
I mentioned what was planted, only Cavalinna maritima, is new, planted yesterday. That is that in the guerrilla department...Imagine what you could do with two or three people with similar vision in your own country.

Good news edible/juiceable wise...The oranges in pictures, to the right of the blog were collected today...The quality of the juice has not been determined, yet. The lemons are coming along...The papayas will be ready pretty soon....But not the sweet Capsicum, apparently attacked by some virus...One of the interesting vines, a DK, with intense fragrance virtues, has departed.

As mentioned a week ago, the white flies kept coming no matter what I did. Even after I spread the secret insecticide among the Ixoras and Tecomas next door, left and right. I got sick of it. I have mentioned that
gardening should be a pleasurable activity, particularly on our free time.

I pulled out the trunk of this vine and put it in a pot, but I have not much
hope due to the woodiness of it...If it survives fine...This vine is one of those that I find in my collecting trips...Probably from Guanica, my favorite place to run away from noise, cellular in hand chatting foolishly natives and imported Dominicans, in the island of concrete/asphalt: Puercorico USA. Time to go.

GARDENING GUERRILLA VERSUS SHITTY GRAFFITI

PERHAPS a month ago, down by my new guerrilla theater, the former San Carlos Hospital at the end of Bouret St. and Ponce de Leon Avenue, one graffiti high school drop out 'artist' uprooted a Tabebuia. Some species are beautiful, not one of my favorites since they self seed all over the place in any crack. My anger was intense since I could not figure out, why would any one do such a thing.

I kept wondering. The next day I went to check how the Pithelobium, Cosmos, Pumpkin, Merremia, Clitorias seeds, planted the week before were doing and voila, looking at the wall I discovered it... The drop out pulled
out the one year old because it got in the way of his GRAFFITI.

That ancient way of leaving one's trace has always been something silly,
adequate for adolescent minds refusing to become adults with all the virtues and defects it takes. In my critical eyes.

Have you dear reader developed any criteria about this subject? IN every imaginable ghetto in any part of the world New York, LA, Paris, London
the fonts are similar, the tags marking territory as animals do with urine.
When I see graffiti in Puerco Rico, what I see behind, what I imagine behind those often immigrant/illegals minds is revenge at the rejection
they certainly receive, perceive. The bigger the font/lettering the greater
the frustration.

Screw them. Only when I see on television ART, with graffiti, you know
composition, focus, perspective I appreciate the ART within..TAGS are
the work of the feeble minded and drop outs. By the way, those spray cans cost $10.00, they deface any wall in abandoned buildings or those
with their usual residents. Some really illiterate use sixteen inch wide
paint rollers to tag their nicks in TWO colors... And some fools think,
write, talk about graffiti as ART. As if art is anything that any retarded
outcast paints on the wall of his arbitrary predilection.

The jerks into graffiti should convert into Guerrilla Gardening. It is less
expensive. Last longer, you may get real beauty with plants, trees, vines and or edibles. This eliminates that feeling of hostility and anger, frustration, that shitty graffiti from underdeveloped minds in Puerco Rico create.

It is pathetic that government agencies allow graffiti as the ones described
here to become visible on its properties. It provides an anything goes vision on these sick minds. If they can do it, anyone can....on any surface...

Moons ago, during the sixties, a graffiti/mural fever covered the whole island with TAINO motives. Some people here think/believe that WE are TAINOS, Ricardo Alegria and company, the Cultural Institute of Puerto Rico, even though they
disappeared shortly after the arrival of Spain, the Mother Country. Even if I think that was also shitty, a fad...That was art, even if did/do not like it. Done by recognized artists. There was theme, perspective, focus, composition, no ghetto territory marks tags. Screw them again!

Graffiti is visual pollution, repetitious and hostile. It is my perception. Gardening guerrilla is useful in many ways, even
when most people do not really see/perceive/care about vegetation, it
creates, instead of destroying. Time to go...

THE WORLD IS A GHETTO

THAT IS THE tittle of a song by WAR, a group with a short life span from CA, moons ago. Nice music to smoke a joint or to have a scotch with/without a chaser.
The term has a few definitions. You pick. I mean a state of mind fossil like, always the same, blindfolded. Evidence that history, the study of it, is a waste of time since every
mistake I can think of, has been repeated all over the world regarding any possible issue, problem, difficulty. It goes beyond air, water, soil.. for now I will stick to insects.
However, the simplicity of understanding the WHOLE, does not require a rocket science education. That is what irritates me. It keeps yours truly in a constant cranky philosophical attitude, seldom mitigated. Stupidity rules!

FROM
Bugs Of The World
by George C. McGavin
Cassell plc, London
pages 180-181

PLANT FEEDERS

The world's human food production is based on a mere handful of plant species.
Many are grasses, grown in vast uniform stands, (monocultures) and, in developed
countries, largely sustained through the use of huge quantities of fertilizers and pesticides. The domestication and improvement of these species has in many cases
led to their becoming a better nutritional resource (for both human and insects), but
with fewer chemical and physical defences against herbivores. Monocultures contain far fewer beneficial insect species, which might control the number of pests, than are present in more complex habitat.

Phytophagous insects in general and many bug species in particular are superbly suited to using these crops as food plants Many bug species only became pests when
their preferred food plant suddenly became abundant, and many others have switched from wild plant species to cultivated ones. On account of their phenomenal
reproductive powers, pest like aphids and scale insects can adapt very quickly to take advantage of new opportunities and develop resistance to man-made insecticides. It is therefore not surprising that nearly one fifth of the world's crop production is eaten by insects.

In the Hemiptera, all the sterrnorrhynchan superfamilies, the Psylloidea, Aleyrodoidea, Adelgoidea, Aphidoidea and Coccoidea, contain notable plant
damaging species. While the worldwide economic damage and losses that plant
feeding bugs can cause is immense, the vast majority of species are not pests. Of the several hundred of aphid, probably no more than 150 are notorious crop pests. Similarly, of the 2,500 known species of armoured scale insects (Diaspididae) in
the world, fewer than 150 are of economic significance and of these perhaps fewer
than 50 could be called serious pests.

That being written you may take a look at your garden/indoor plants and see if the insect families causing most of the problems in your installation are mentioned above. That proves
my contention about gardens with common place nursery offerings, palms and hedges. YOU
will have to deal with similar problems.

This will bring your humble servant to the following issue. Trans genetics....They were created by the friendly people of Monsanto and five/six other kind scientists, thinking not on PROFITS, but our well being.

The story was to implant resistant genes to specific diseases from lets say, peppers,
to tomatoes. But the real intention is to destroy the seed banks that generations of
farmers around the world had kept within their families, to impose/sell/license seeds
of whatever one can think of. Destroying in the process the independence these
traditional farmers had, with their own seeds, resistant to their particular soil/climate/temperature conditions.

Think of corn, rice, wheat whatever, the intention is the same. To destroy the farmer ways to SELL, theirs. One should present, discuss this stupidity, scam, rip off at all times.

Now if you are the kind of UH-AH gardener, digging the whole, placing something in it to admire a flower later, do not worry.... It does not concern you.

However, if you really want to kick some ass in any spot with words/example, plants,
or practice, put in place wise gardening habits. Not being a fool,when your environment is saturated with that type of people, learning to differentiate the minds behind it, will offer occasional relief, satisfaction.

When you make a little effort, you take little baby steps in that direction. Jaha bilingual laugh. Time to go....

STRICTLY GARDENING

YESTERDAY was turning the compost pile day. If I did not mention it, lets do it now. I keep mine in one of those ugly common big orange plastic pots that hold a hundred/two hundred pounds, and most people use to plant big creatures. The pile is composed of shredded newspapers, dry/green leaves from the garden, some dog poop, hair, coffee grounds,
onion/garlic skins, recycled soil from other pots and sandy soil from the garden.

I noticed the color is turning dark brown, enough earth worms, and some minuscule insects that move pretty quick. The smell is not sour, meaning
a good balance of the parts. If your pile is too wet it will smell of sulphur or mangrove like. If it is to dry/hot, most living creatures will pass away.

For the last week or so I have noticed dreaded white flies on the Calliandra, Murraya and a DK vine. I had killed most with my secret concoction (antigonum's hot sauce and uncolored dish soup), yet every
morning I kept watching them flying away from my water spray.

I was getting irritated. Decided to monitor around the abandoned house to our right, and the house where the vampires live in our left. There they
were, the culprits, tens of them hanging in beautiful Tecoma stans. I gave them the bitter/hot medicine and moved up the street...What did I find
on the hated Ixoras? Hundreds of the same....I gave them what they deserved using the whole bottle between the two raids.

Moral of the story. Tecomas and Ixoras are prone to have this pest. If you have either one planted in the wrong situation, be ready to spend the rest
of your life in that silly activity, killing the enemy.

Most of the problems in the garden, with over 120 species, are always the same, the one mentioned, snails, brown beetles and two odd looking and
rare specimens mentioned in the past. Damage by biting, chewing is never, in my view, as bad as the sticky infestations of sap sucking ones.

If you do not catch the criminal in the act, the chewing/biting kind will
be invisible..The damage is not aesthetically nice, but still it does not bother me as much. It is no accident that in a wider scheme of things that could go wrong, mine are really a few and never chronic.

It is simple. When the gardener keeps different species around, it is difficult that insects/pests will jump to vegetation relatives. Example
there are some roses that keep some insects during a part of their life
cycle at home, when the time is right the insects move to the orchard,
to the apple trees and there goes, your apple pie, if you do not stop
them in a timely manner...The problem is solved planting resistant roses/apples.

Finally, I made some compost tea. Will not get into it. If you go
to the web and research, you will see why. At any rate, I gave of that nectar to roots, and foliage. Everybody happy as a clam. If that is possible. Later, I planted six seeds of Mirabilis siciliana, a nice small
plant with bright fragrant flowers.

The garden requires stamina and planning. Some activities can be postponed, insects....never...and that is that...Time to go.

THAT'S ALL FOLKS

JUST finished watching on rtv.es, El Escarabajo Verde, 'Cabo Polonio, El Ultimo Refugio', down there in the south of America. Sea wolves, whales, and such, not much
else, except some fishing, little water, some tourism, nice/picturesque scenes you know, the ocean/sand kind, no electricity/water, sewage treatment or septic tanks, as always not mentioned.

THAT, explains the tittle. For some time I have shared my views, often odd, even, contradictory, abrasive, irrational, angry, blunt about many different issues, things affecting my life, the virtual/the real. This documentary presents as most of the time,
with most environment documentaries from SPAIN, the sad pathetic reality, reproduced in any confinement of the world one can think of.

PEOPLE without understanding the forces, principles that rule NATURE. I can not see why any reasonable person, without any schooling or with lots, would insist on living in such a precarious environment where there is NOTHING, to survive except for the tourist season.

The fishermen blame the sea wolves for their little fishing. Having to go further in the ocean to catch whatever. It is the 'enemy' according to the stupid looking fellow interviewed. In the past they used to kill the sea wolves, hacking them on the head for their skin/oil, something done until recently, up in the north.

People building illegal houses, made out of wood in just eight hours at night, are spreading like spores, to have a place to enjoy the summer time....

Meanwhile the GALAPAGOS are going the exact or worse way, since they have more
tourists and ten times that population. In brief, all the words said written or spoken
to save the earth, particularly the GLOBAL WARMING CULT, is a LOT of HOGWASH.

People are destroying everything in sight. In the water, fishing all they can no matter what. On the ground, burning destroying forests to cultivate for 3 years, moving to the
next plot..Polluting/destroying both. People procreating as rabbits. This madness is on an individual, group or multinational mode, everywhere you can think of...

IN consequence all discussion to save the EARTH, is a bunch of crap. I do not see any
hope, real, reasonable, plausible hope...All is left is the silly, irritating one: FAITH.
Time to go....

WHAT THE WORLD NEEDS NOW IS LOVE

COULD you think, remember anything more stupid to say, or write? Tina Turner would reply: "What's love got to do with it"? When I herd on BBC, that Dubai will pay 60 cents to the dollar, I thought that is that for speculators, bankers, securities, insurance and such. Well deserved...

On the other hand, Jakarta twenty years ago comes back to mind, and closer to home,
Puercorico, USA. When I walk (something less and less fun) as the graffiti, abandoned buildings, posted bills on every possible wall with the next concert, commercial and private residences, foreclosured ones, garbage, highway/roads, streets moonscapes full of filled up uneven craters spreading as kudzu dominate the URBAN scenery, it is hard to be focused. UGLINESS RULES!

However when you read the everyday, getting worse shitty newspapers, it seems that only CRIME, worries the editors and staff. What is the big deal if less than a thousand islanders kill each other annually? After all, in South Africa the murder rate per 100,000 is 31.7, Central America 29.3,
West/Central Africa 25.9 and the Caribbean 18.1. According to Wikipedia. Therefore is a world trend, we are not special, that no ONE, is going to stop, JERKS.

So, I would suggest to stop taking the numbers out of context, publishing it in the first pages as they were from the Football Champions League in Europe. People kill themselves or the other for passion, madness, or drug trafficking. Why would anyone think that it is possible to reduce such statistics with more police or National Guards in the streets...If one is going to kill without possibility of remorse, one just waits.. If the geniuses in TV and Printed Media want
to do something original, place a ranking as it is done in sports...I believe Jamaica got the gold
medal.

Changing the subject, I declare some irritability at some blogs with the easy way out tendency
to publish photos of snow in the prairie, roof, on branches, icicles as if it is really something beautiful ALWAYS. For your humble servant there is no point..What would be the difference if living in the dessert, one would shoot SAND? With photos of sand in shoes, sandals, rug, by the windows, yard.... What is the difference? Even worst, why so many
people in cold places go and post about the same thing? Cold and SNOW. I am sick of it.

THEN what? Then is spring, the beauty and blooms.... Wonders the reader from FAR away lands..Which reminds me...all those new countries in the former Soviet Paper Tiger Empire, with the AKINOSTAN, ALLINOSTAN, ACANOSTAN, similar names are thinking? Just saw a documentary on the ancient SILK trade routes and saw for the first time, those immense, flat, devoid of trees lands without much beauty...It seems that some are Muslims and others are not...Enough reason to kill each other for worth less lands, moving the frontier line here or there..Why not get together to raise the cows/sheep, plant somethings to eat. COOPERATE,
have they heard of the European Community? How much stupidity is unbearable.

If anyone thinks what is wrong with our islander hero? Is he taking acid? NO my fellow intercontinental friends/foes, I am just sick of world stupidity and the insular, closer to home...
What about Venezuela, with all that oil, with electricity cuts, no water, no milk, nothing and getting worse..At least they elected their own Attila.. Following that train of thought, what is the big deal if Cuba has a Fidel Castro not elected, Mugabe is still down there, Chavez not far from here? The results are exactly, or almost the same, for the population in general.

Moving to the garden after this rant. The Pithelobium dulce was taken out of the pot
to reduce in one fifth the bottom root system. It is in a 18" by 20" plastic pot, measuring 6'. About two years old, planted from seed. Did not show much
stress after the radical surgery.

The Cyperus went into a deeper pot, a ten gallon. The Pandanus went the oppossite,
into a five. Some weeding activity was performed to allow the Cosmos more sun,
hidden from the Chinese violets..Two dwarfs Sanseverias and Rhoeo spathacea
are now keeping company to the Bouganvillea shown in some pictures to the right.
Now is time to go..

MANURE ENCORE

EVERYONE as usual, talks and writes about those poor islanders not far away after the earthquake. They need this and that. Yet I do not see any

systematic plan for the long run. It is just love, bababing and bababang...

They need 18, 000 portable toilets...But no one says, think, fine but they
have to be cleaned. The waste has to be disposed safely. Here is an example of what to do with it, intelligently. I propose to use it to restore
the soil, destroyed after decades of eliminating most of the vegetation to
make charcoal.

COW, PIG, SHEEP AND HEN

A dairy cow, weighing 1,000 pounds, produces one-half more weight of manure in year than a horse, the percentage of water being much higher. The amount of nitrogen in the year's production of solid manure is practically the same as in case
of the horse; that in the liquid manure is greater; and the total amount is 156 pounds.
There is a little less phosphoric acid, but the potash runs up to 117 pounds, of which 108 are in the liquid manure. Using the scale of prices for normal times, the valuation
of the year's product is $29.00, or 2.19 per ton.

The pig usually is a highly fed animal, and 1,000 pounds live weight produce annually,
30,500 pounds of manure, containing 150 pounds of nitrogen, 114 pound of phosphoric acid and 128 pounds of potash, with a total valuation of 30. or $1.97 per
ton.

Sheep produces annually per 1,000 pounds of live weight 12,500 pounds of total excrement, containing 119 pounds of nitrogen, 44 pounds of phosphoric acid and
126 pounds of potash, having a value of $24.25 or $$3.88 per ton.

Pollito chicken, gallina hen... The manure from the chicken is very rich in nitrogen, averaging 1 per cent of nearly one-half more than horse manure. It also contains
eight tenths of one per cent of phosphoric acid, while horse manure contains only
one fourth of one per cent of potash. The high percentage of nitrogen and phosphoric
acid gives a valuation per ton of $4.40. And that is that.

So far one thing is evident, manure = money. Even when these stats are from 1917,
the only thing that may have changed is that one could get more money if the variables are kept. Even though my focus is gardening, ornamental and to a lesser extent edibles, the principles of cultivating crops for food are exactly the same. Healthy plants need nitrogen, phosphorous and potash or NPK.

Our neighbors in distress need food to sustain the population. Sterilization, abortion, condoms, to lower those abominable fertility rates, even with the high death birth rates per 100,000. They have to do it themselves, no one will. All that money, food will last a little longer, but will not forever, therefore, the soil, forest restoration and cultivaton has to start right away.

One suggestion that will not increase their nutrients in the national diet, or the mud
cookies, would be to plant massively Altocarpus altilis or BREADFRUIT. It will certainly provide starch during the whole year, contrary to other staples, that are
seasonal. This will not solve the problem, but will alleviate it. If it is not
part of the diet now, it is time to start planting now and enjoying it fried or boiled, later.

I am not your Mother Theresa stereotype, but I see too much sentimental crap about
every disaster. Check this out, one of those humanitarians, the despicable
academic kind, wrote something about the DIGNITY of the dead ones regarding mass burials. I have seen a lot of stupidity during my life...but nothing gets close to this. I could care less than a hogs fart about dignity after death. Dignity should be something perceived, felt when one is alive! The living conditions in many parts of the world are far beyond ANY imaginable DIGNITY. Lets do something with vision for the long run. Cut the sentimental crap now. Time to go.....

EDITORS NOTE

FOR ANOTHER VIEW ON THE USE OFHUMAN WASTE
FOR ENERGY
visit
Alcantarilla Alquimica.blogspot.com
by
BEATO

it will open your eyes/mind
a little more

DOWN BY THE ORCHARD

WHAT can I say? When I started planting three decades ago, edibles were not part of the scheme. Oregano, basil, capsicum, rosemary, fruits or tubers, none of it. In the ornamental department not everything got my attention or interest. I did not know then, anything except digging the hole, planting and watering. Unfortunately, it seems that most people seem satisfied about gardening and biodiversity, with just THAT.

Things have changed. Now I look at the whole picture. Bitching and critical, not necessarily based on aesthetics, but what is better for all. Flora and Fauna. A garden (Nature) should not be anthromorphised. Mine is thought in terms of variables regarding shade, heat, irrigation, resistance to diseases, insects, salt breeze and most important, avoiding common places in selection of plants. The beauty aspect of it, is taking a back seat, as time goes by, I care less about it.

The amount of lizards have increased thanks to over five types of vines in the north/south gardens. They have been mentioned before (vines), will not get into that. These vines attract small flies, the wise lizards escort them morning and afternoon when they seem more active.

Most lizards are not too afraid of yours truly, some hit the road as soon
as I get closer, most just hang and watch, I imagine a group may even recognize moi. When I water spray the foliage, unless the water hits them directly, will not move to catch the insects escaping the liquid. It is a real trip watching these fellows, always attentive to their surroundings. Cats and birds are their predators. Other than that, they live happily and well fed. Yet, it is worthy of mentioning that some handsome spiders are moving in. Their number has increased slowly and preferring the south
side, creating some competition. The way I see it there is plenty of food for all.

The lemon three is now on the third crop, something I would not imagine
when it arrived a year ago. It is not three feet high, healthy, except for the
attacks of different insects into the sap sucking mood. If you do not monitor constantly, the ugly, sticky damage gets worse as time go by.

The orange tree, has had the fruits for a l o n g time...Still not ready. By the way, in a post from the past, I mentioned the ugly woman, a resident
of LOIZA, employee from the Environmental Quality Board, who came to measure the noise levels from Universidad Sagrado Corazon. This character asked me if these were pumpkins! Make what you wish about
that. But it is a sign of disconnection between people and nature (edible/drinkable). Or a feeble minded quality of some segments of the urban native islanders.

As usual, time to go, still happy after all....

WHEN MANURE WAS KING FROM A 1918 REFERENCE

SOME readers may wonder what the hell is going down, with such a tittle.
Nothing to worry. But you will probably not find another blog about gardening/horticulture with the subject, since most people live in cities and just use chemicals. However once upon a time there were none of these.

FARM MANURES

We cannot know the relative values of manures without some knowledge of their composition, and in comparing these values we must assume that the various kinds
of animals have been fed in a normal way, receiving a reasonable amount of nutritious
feeds. In these comparisons we must also assume that all of the liquid manure is saved with the solids. If this is not done, as is so often the case, the figures mean little to us, because, generally speaking, the liquid portion of the manure contains nearly half of the plant food, and the more valuable half, at that, since it is in quickly available form.

Horse manure. Accepting Van Slyke's estimates of production and value, a horse produces about 18,000 pounds of manure annually for each 1,000 pounds of live
weight, to which there should be added the bedding, which has its plant food made
rapidly available by mixture with the manure. The manure (not including the bedding) contains 128 pounds of nitrogen, 48 pounds of phosphoric acid and
108 pounds of potash; and of this amount the liquid contains nearly two fifths
of the nitrogen and more than two fifths of the potash.

If we place a cash valuation upon this manure on the basis of prices prevailing before
the European War, the value of the manure produced annually by a horse per 1,000
pounds live weight is $23.60, or $2.62 per ton. Conditions prevailing during the summer of 1917 easily doubled this valuation, which is given rather for comparison
with those of other manures and commercial fertilizers than as the price any farmer

should put upon his supply.

from
FARM KNOWLEDGE
A Complete Manual of Successful Farming
Written by Recognized Authorities in All
Parts of the Country; Based on Sound Principles
and the Actual Experience of Real Farmers
"The Farmer's own Cyclopedia"

Volume II

PREPARED EXCLUSIVELY FOR
SEARS, ROEBUCK AND CO.
BY

DOUBLE DAY, PAGE & COMPANY

GARDEN CITY NEW YORK

This book was a present from Federico, one of those friends lasting
like one of those long matches for barbecuing...But the present will last
as long as I can hang around.

It is really rare besides being old, with impressive prints, works of art in miniature. Besides that, the information, considering the times, is really
advanced considering what one watches in television and read in different media regarding agricultural practices all over.

If you are a serious, rigorous gardener, you would study how manures can improve your garden. I have integrated to my compost,
dog poop and hair. If you follow the example given you could calculate the amounts of dog manure annually. With Diva, a dog of sixty pounds,
for argument sake, two pounds a week, for 104 total. In addition to dry,
green leaves, shredded newspapers, it will certainly reach over two hundred pounds!

Depending on your interests, how far you want to develop your knowledge, skills this type of reading may expand not only the views about up keeping your garden, but realize how much stupidity there
is all over the world regarding NATURE. Think of it.


To be continued...Cow, pig, sheep and hen manures. Farewell, words for thought. The feeble minded will often sing about the sweet smell of cut lawns, being around nature while playing GOLF, forgetting the irritable noise, pollution with gas/oil and smoke, destruction to the environment both create.

The book does not mention the intense smell of different manures. The worst in my humble, are pig and hen..Time to go....

IF YOU LIKE THIS
check
ANGLOSPANO REVIEW
THE
MICHAL BROWN

LOVE POSTCARDS

TO YOURS TRULY

circa 1984-85

anglospano review is another product of the 'intelect'
of antigonum cajan
but reproduced verbatim
from the actual postcards...

IRELAND REASONS TO BE CHEERFUL CONGRATULATIONS

WATCHING THE BBC was a little hard to believe. An agreement between
those who have been enemies for centuries has been reached after a marathon of conversations. A certain spark of happiness and hope invaded yours truly.

After all IRELAND provided the fundamentals for Boston one of the most interesting cities in USA, the Boston Celtics when they were ethnically correct or more of my liking, with Larry Bird and company. The NBA looks like some basketball league out in Togo, to name a country in the news. With some token pale players...I hate street ball, dunking a la Cirque de Soleil, and those ancient tribal gestures after a dunk/basket.
Oh, by the way all them NBA's carry the ball, and often run with it...

Sorry...IRELAND, other reasons why I have great affection for these chaps and ladies, is their Jameson and Guinness. Their music and that
weird dance with paralyzed arms. It is really something. I do not know
about the Bono, but what the heck. Congratulations to all Irishmen/women all over the world and those at home.

GARDENING IN THE BACKYARD

YESTERDAY, was mostly irrigation day. Two hours in the south side

with the drip kind, with final touches with a hose. The concrete/asphalt warming, that never mentioned warming is felt, already. Being so far away from June, sure sign is going to be hell, again...

PLANT relocation....Just made a quick research to provide the botanical for MAGUEY, but it is not going to be easy. Lets leave it at that for now. The Maguey along with the Pandanus had been planted for a year in the west side high bed shown
in some pictures.. The are ready to become part of the guerrilla gardening community and now happily in five gallon liners...I have kept 3 off shoots of each..

Pseuderantemum carruthersii went from north to west, in bed. A Gardenia from right to left in the same bed. An endemic Anthurium, from the front of the house,
to the north side. This plant was collected after some rain storm brought it down its
perch in the rocky/clay soil in the from Cayey to Guayama City. I do not care, about
these plants AT ALL. But looks cool among the others. This shows gardening flexibility. It is better to bend as Confucius mentioned, as some trees are capable of doing, than to break.

In Puerco Rico, USA,is fashionable now to add the English word city, to towns. Thus,
towns known for centuries just as Guaynabo, for example, the pioneer with this ridiculous trend, is now Guaynabo City. The politicians feel we get closer to mainland USA, becoming better second class American citizens. That way they may accept them/us in the Union, becoming the 51 state. Believe it or not. The street traffic signs also move in that direction. These show the national mental feebleness I always bring up, since what are the colors of a stop/pare sign, anywhere?

Now for the first time I leave. Happy, for the IRISH, and that is that...

ELEMENTS OF STIGMA/STATUS IN YOUR GARDEN

STIGMA VS STATUS, is part of the parameters of language in Linguistics.
The branch of knowledge involved in what else, language related issues.
It seems that all started with Ferdinand d' Saussure, moons ago, if curious
go ahead and research, you will probably go nuts finding out how wide is
this type of analysis, and how much court it covers.

For us, lets be brief...In the ideal SPANISH, the one only academicians speak, pronouncing R, S, where one is supposed to, makes you a status speaker for example, Arbol, Zapatos, Amor, Partido versus Albol, Zapatoh, Amol, Paltio.

As you see the first words 3 are similar in two things, typical of the CARIBBEAN, the R was changed to L, the S omitted, deleted. With the last example, partido, the word was transformed since the D, in the last syllable disappeared and instead of ido, we get io, instead of partido, paltio.
There is the less effort law. It takes less to pronounce L than R, or the S.
That is why I LOVE people from the Canary Islands, Andalucia, Spain, they are the most intelligent speakers regarding the issue.

In English, lets take the speak of Negros or Rednecks, just one example will suffice. Ain't got nobody that I can depend on. The use of that contraction instead of, I do not have anyone or I got no one, makes you an idiot in the ears/understanding of many pretentious people, paying attention not to the message or essence. In the Spanish examples the same is true. The extrapolations are infinite if you are into this field.

Can we apply the rule, concept to GARDENING/HORTICULTURE? I have. It is applicable to Puerco Rico, USA, but I am more than certain
that in the five continents, similar examples can be found. After all,
I spend most of the time thinking about this or the practical angle of it.

I have prepared this list of plants, bushes and palms that places 98% of
the population of Puerco Rico in the stigmatized horticultural spectrum.
Me? I belong to the little % left. As anything you may disagree. Warning.
If you do, develop your own writing/debate scaffold for the rebuttal since

this is not pulled from any sleeve.

STIGMATIZED PLANT SELECTION
BY ANTIGONUM THE HUMBLE

PALMS


Washingtonia robusta/filifera
Rhapis excelsa
Veitchia Merrillii
Ptychosperma macarthrurii
Roystonea regia
Phoenix Roebelinii
Pritchardia pacifica
Phoenix canariensis
Cocos nucifera
Licuala grandis
Coccotrhinax alta

Bismarckia nobilis

Here is the whole picture of the dull, lame gardening scene in
Puerco Rico through the palm infatuation imposed by every
imaginable JERK in the private/public sectors of
landscape installations, including private residences
with post stamp size yards.

EVERYTHING ELSE

Acalipha wilkesiana
Alpinias
Anthurium anoraenum
Bromeliads
Brugmansias suaveolens
Callistemon citrinus/viminalis
Dracaena fragrans
Eucaliptus deglupta
ALL FICUS
Cordias
Heliconias
Spathifphylum
Liriopes
Cheffera
Ixoras
Philodendron
Pothos
Strelitzias

IN ESSENCE, this list represents the universe of garden installations all over the island, the same crap, exactly in the same shape, way or form.
Thanks to 2uglas Kndelario, Edwin Gonzalez Bauza, Gabriel Berriz, Alberto Areces Mallea, and so many fools that will probably be as long as
one of my short posts.

You may question as to why one may be an intelligent speaker while using
stigmatized speech and a JERK if in possession of any of these plants in your back/front yard?

Simple, while one speaks one can not control the psychology, understanding of the listener. You know if the other is a feeble minded
character soon or later depending on your ability to grasp the nuances.
He may think you are the jerk not vice versa.

WITH A GARDEN, is not that difficult it is evident, it is front of your eyes.
IT does not depend on psychology. It is there. Is ugly, is everywhere.

The greatest stupidity in ANY GARDEN, if you believe there is C02, pollution and global warming, is to have a lawn, hedges and palm trees.
The all require use of polluting machines for their maintenance. Noise,
water waste and soil pollution in addition.

I propose a ban of lawns, hedges and palms...People who have, sell, install, them should be ostracized/fined, just as smokers are in many cultures. Place them in a corner. Get rid of these (plants) soon...The environment will be grateful. After all Nature does not need us. It will remain somehow when we pass away. Time to go.

FROM THE EDITOR

Some palms
are excused
Dates, Cocos Nucifera and
Phoenix canariensis, only
in the right contexts.
Perhaps the beef with palms is the
exagerated overuse, they are
the easy way out.

Food for thought:
HOW can any jerk
reduce the possibilities
to the ones listed
when there are thousands?

Reference

Tropicals
Gordon Courtright
Timber Press

CHRONICLES OF THE LONE GARDENER

SUNDAY

At the Plaza mall, dropped by to check an exhibition of classics, from those days when I was a child. Hordes of fat mothers, fathers and their children. It feels like Patagonia, among penguins, sea lions and killer whales, on the ground, walking.

At the bookstore nothing to read, except one coffee table one on trees of the world. Only Baobabs, old Olive trees and Dracaena Dragos from tropical regions really attract my attention.

The British and Germans stole the show with their MG, Triumph, Austin
Healys, VW and Karman Ghia. FROM the USA, only Carol Shelby's,
Cobras really still impress me. I am writing about those models from 60/70's.

If you grew up around auto body shops, as your humble servant, you got some memories, but also criteria. When I think about those Fords, Chevy's and Chrysler's, I thought of living rooms on wheels. UGLY, TACKY comes to mind. On the other hand with one Chrysler you could probably build three MG's, saving tons of chromium, not to get into mileage, CO2 to the atmosphere, the elegance, sporty look.

But being endemismo what it is, lets get it on.

Guerrilla Gardening Act IV.

The new theater of operations is a big concrete parking space, in San Carlos, an abandoned building. There is a 100 feet long 24" wide space
of soil pretending to be a bed, for a garden. I imagine they ran out of concrete, and left the bare ground for whatever reasons, maybe a weeds garden.

I have planted the following seeds: Pithelobium, Mahogany, Ipomoea, Cosmos sulpherous, Merremia quinquefolia, Clitoria ternatea, Pandanus and Maguey. The last two, are plants about 3" tall, planted two feet apart and will have to be removed eventually. They can grow twenty times that, in adequate space, but it would take ten years.

Today I went to check the surroundings with my one gallon water spray,
covering every one mentioned above. The advantage of this site versus the
one by the train station is that no person with a trimmer has been on the premises. Therefore, their chances for reaching adulthood are theoretically higher.

Finally, orchard wise news at home.. The Carica papaya is very healthy. It is about 12' tall and 8" diameter trunk, many flowers and three promising fruits for March, about 6" long... The grafted lemon is on its third crop, fragrant flowers, the oranges still taking their time...

One detail not mentioned before, Cavalinna maritima, that sand/salt lover vine, has a great fragrance....Discovered recently, and that is that...

LETS BLAME SOMEONE FOR THE MALADIES OF THE WORLD

LOOKING at the world, while thinking by myself, with my right/wrong parameters, I declare that only when women STOP getting
pregnant at random, will the world be able to sustain its population.

Yesterday I saw some people in INDIA, living near by huge coal underground fire in a region/territory not different from the one I just read about in PA, in the USA.

Imagine a fire lasting over a hundred years, and poor people living close by. Why the uninitiated reader may wonder? In the case of India...the women/children/men live from the income provided by selling available coal. It is picked up with bare hands and carried on balanced bunches
on the head to the market.

When one watches with a critical focus, what goes on in your country, or
ours, an evident repetitious situation comes clear...People screwing for
biological needs, entertainment, boredom, getting pregnant...and then crying about poverty and not having enough to feed their children. Or migrating where they are NOT welcome for a "better future for their children".

WOMEN have to stop being just like donkeys, particularly those from cultures in which submission is expected/commanded at all times. Particularly Africa, Asia, and the Americas. Why should children and women be the ones carrying the whole weight of an IRRATIONAL system of sharing responsibility in which men have the easy way out always?

I am tired of watching women, not only delivering children as rabbits, but, having to fetch wood, food, washing/doing the cooking...If men can not resist the urge of on warm inviting vertical smile/prairy...., if your
will is strong but the flesh is weak, let them, just do NOT GETpregnant...Or pay the price...

As with women under those burqas, be a slave, obedient, following the herd, and do not complaint about your destiny or that of your children. time to go...And remember, in France no burqas allowed from now on
anywhere...

SPAIN THE ONE HUNDRED YEARS OLIVE TREES

ONE, IF NOT the only pleasure of watching cable tv is the chance to watch what goes on in other countries. In endemismo, the environment, landscape management, nurseries, parks and garden designs issues. Even movies in exteriors should be judged by the amount of greenery in the plot.

In this case, EL ESCARABAJO VERDE, or the Green Beetle, on the web,
cultural.es, present documentaries written and filmed a wise, honest, non romantic staff. This is the most intense program I have watched in a ages. It is not the first time. I invite ALL visitors to the blog to watch it. It makes no difference if you do not understand the language, get an interpreter.

This time different regions of Spain were presented and discussed regarding the trend of uprooting OLIVE TREES over a century old for what? To plant them in some rich guy/gal garden. The trees are sold to
nurseries, then sold to pretentious jerks and jerkettes.

As you know, any space with trees becomes a habitat for everything else
flora/fauna. When you uproot the trees with a backhoe, no matter how
careful you are not to damage the trees, you destroy everything else,
soil and biodiversity, something not mentioned in the program.

But age is no limit. Some trees over five hundred years were mentioned
as being uprooted and sold, including some a thousand and over. It is
MEN tendency to make profits out of anything imaginable related to NATURE without any other consideration. Fortunately, in some regions of the mother country,
there are stiff laws, regulations and penalties to stop this madness.

The reason to justify the destruction of these impressive olive plantations is that they are not 'productive' or there is no cheap labor. However a five hundred year old in the documentary produced 600 kilos of olives, versus the 20 kilos average for younger specimens. The difference according to the senior owner is that is harder to pick the fruit, because
of the height of the tree...But that is not a big deal for him.

In the USA, the trend moons ago was with SAGUAROS, very similar
to what takes place in Spain now...The program ended like a hammer in the forehead stress...A former great in its natural form Olive Tree, transformed in some ridiculous BONSAI pruned just like a damned wedding cake in a small town plaza.