LOCAL THISTLES

Donald A. Windsor

Four thistle species live in Chenango County.  Ranked in order of the most common to the least, they are:  Canada, Bull, Pasture, and Welted.  Note that, of the four, only the Pasture Thistle is listed as native by this authoritative reference.

Mitchell, Richard S. ; Tucker, Gordon C.  Revised Checklist of New York State Plants.  Albany, NY: New York State Museum.  1997.  400 pages.  The exact page numbers appear in [] below.

 Canada Thistle  Cirsium arvense  Alien  [242]

Bull Thistle  Cirsium vulgare  Alien  [242]

 

Pasture Thistle  Cirsium pumilum  Native  [242]

Welted Thistle  Carduus crispus  Alien  [240]

We also have Sow Thistles, which are not true thistles. 
Here is the Spiny-leaved Sowthistle  Sonchus asper  Alien  [264]

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Stone Pile Site Discovered in Smithville

Donald A. Windsor

A most amazing stone pile site was discovered by New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYS DEC) foresters, Andrew Goeller and Christopher Sprague, in August 2011.  The site is on state land, west of the Ludlow Creek, in the Town of Smithville in Chenango County, New York.

This site is about a mile from two other sites and about three miles from another.
Here are three photos taken by me on Sunday 6 November 2011.





 

On our hike Sunday 6 November 2011, we counted 17 stone piles in a zigzag line.  On our hike Sunday 13 November 2011, we counted an additional 6 piles about a quarter mile from the 17, for a total of 23 stone piles.  There may be more.  Some smaller and disheveled piles may be buried under leaves and may have been missed.   This high number ranks up with the site in Afton, which has about three dozen piles and the site in Masonville which has about two dozen.

More investigation is intended for this winter, after the hunting gun season.

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Earliest Documentation of Tomatoes Grown in Chenango County

Donald A. Windsor

Tomatoes are native to South America, in the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, and Ecuador.  They were introduced to Europe in the 1500s and to North America via Europe, probably in the 1700s (1, 2).  Although Hedrick claims that the Indians had been growing tomatoes (3). 

After reading Diame Hamblin's book on historical recipes from Chenango County, Made Nine Pies, I noticed that no recipes included tomatoes prior to the Civil War (1861-65) (4).  In my article, "Tomato Time", I sent out a plea for anyone with earlier documentation to notify me (5).

Dale C. Storms, former County Historian, found such a reference in the diary of Henry Van Der Lyn.  On July 11, 1839, he wrote:

"Garry put supports by the tomato's." (6).

This single sentence documents that tomatoes were growing here in Oxford in 1839.  Moreover, its matter-of-fact simplicity indicates that they may have been growing here much earlier.  Thomas Jefferson grew tomatoes in Virginia in 1781 (1).

My request still stands.  If anyone can document a date earlier than 1839, please let me know.


1.  Kline, Roger A. ; Becker, Robert F. ; Belluscio, Lynne.  Tomato.  In: The Heirloom Vegetable Garden.  Gardening in the 19th Century.  Ithaca, NY: Cornell Cooperative Extension Information Bulletin 177.  Page 24.  

2.  Mann, Charles C.  Prologue.  In:  1493. Uncovering the New World Columbus Created.  New York, NY:  Alfred A. Knopf. 2011. Pages xiii-xiv.

3.  Hedrick, Ulysses Prentiss.  [Tomatoes]  In: A History of Horticulture in America to 1860.  New York, NY: Oxford University Press. 1950.  Page 22.

4.  Hamblin, Diane, Editor.  "Made Nine Pies".  A Compilation of Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Recipes from the Collection of the Chenango County Historical Society and Private Collections.  Norwich, NY: Chenango County Historical Society.  2004.  52 pages.   

5.  Windsor, Donald A.  Tomato time.  In:  Souvenirs of Yesteryear.  Exploring Chenango County, New York. Norwich, NY: Self published. 2010. Volume 3, pages 45-46. 

6.  Van Der Lyn, Henry.  11 July, 1839.  Diary.  Oxford, NY.  Volume 4, page 240.

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