Homestead mailing list

[Roy Morgan <k1lky AT earthlink.net>]

On May 27, 2008, at 8:25 PM, Gene GeRue wrote:

> Unable to determine pH or potential toxicity or other negativity of
> walnut catkins in garden beds or in compost. Anyone know?

Unable to pull from memory any meaning for the work "catkin".  Have  
half a bucket of black walnuts here from the lawn, intending to plant  
them at the new house in about a month or so.

Any advice on growing black walnut trees from the nuts welcome.

Related notes:
1.  Black walnut husks have been used to make ink.
2. The Constitution of the United States of America was written with  
"iron gall ink".  Iron gall ink may be related to black walnut husk  
ink, I dunno.
3. At one time, the folks in Puerto Rico (I think it was) wanted to  
put their constitution on permanent display outside in the sun.  The  
experienced folks where I used to work (NBS, now NIST) who have worked  
on two different display cases for our Constitution, strongly advised  
them that there was no way to protect a historical document such as  
that from the sun.
4. Newspapers from  prior to about 1900 are still in excellent  
condition because they were made on good paper.  Modern news print  
degrades within a short period of time and if left in the sun, yellows  
in a day or less.

Roy

Roy Morgan
k1lky AT earthlink.net
Lovettsville, VA 20180