TREE TIME: We hear from E. Lindemuth of Bradford who suggests a
topic for RTS: trees.

“Since the recent storm I have been more aware of all the big,
beautiful trees in the city. Does anyone know which tree is the
biggest, the oldest or the tallest tree in the city?”

BEE-WARE: Could the honeybees be-e on the comeback trail?

Sandy McClintick of Bradford phoned recently that she has begun
to see bumblebees and honeybees on her flowers – but noted that
they seemed to have made their appearance later in the summer than
normal.

BERRY NOTE: John J. Cummiskey of Bradford, a longtime berry
picker, tells us he’s also had hard luck this year with the
blackberries.

“This year, went to a patch off Droney Road – found nothing. Had
not been there in five years. Prior to that, for 15 years, it was
pretty good, not a great one.”

“For many years – late 1920s, sometimes in 1950s – a number of
good places in Lewis Run etc., then often golden rod and ferns took
over. They sold for 10-15 cents a quart in the 1930s-’40s.

“When people worked in numbers on leases, often a scythe was
used and bad items cut down and berries held up good. If anyone
knows where they are, they won’t tell you and maybe around there
they cut down stuff to encourage the berries.

“Last 15 to 20 years, have seen virtually no red raspberries or
black and no single-stem teaberries at all.”

SNAKE STORY: Another local reader vividly recalls encountering
rattlesnakes during the construction of the Kinzua Dam.

After the dozers and pans were shut down for the night, warmth
of the machinery made a good place for snakes to congregate, he
said.

“We were warned coming in to work to check the dozers.”

As many as a dozen rattlesnakes would be on the machinery at a
given time.

One worker reportedly was operating machinery when a couple
snakes climbed up from beneath his seat.

The workers reported killed a lot of snakes by pouring fuel oil
and gas into their dens. The location he recalls was at the curve
just past Casey Bridge.

After hearing the warnings, one worker said to the other: “I
hear there’s jobs over on Route 6. Want to go there?” And thus
ended our reader’s adventure in Rattlesnake Land.