North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[Lucky Pittman <lucky.pittman@murraystate.edu>]

At 09:21 PM 12/7/2006, Donna wrote:
> Lucky didn't get the poem quite right, at least not the traditional version
> from Europe. It's donkeys, wives, and walnut trees that are said to improve
> from beating.  I don't know much about donkeys, will pass on that part.  I
> suspect you can get women to work harder by beating them, but it probably
> makes them a lot less fun to have around.
And, like the donkeys, it would probably make a wife more likely to 
kill you. Either right then, or at some later date, when you weren't 
expecting it! LOL

Seems like I recall an article, some years back, in either POMONA or 
the NNGA Nutshell, about someone who regularly mauled trees - really 
beat them up badly, for the purpose of producing wounded tissue that 
resulted in interestingly-figured patterns in the wood, which they 
then used for intricate wood inlays or turning bowls, etc.  Of 
course, this would probably have to be an ongoing project, with 
harvest and curing a number of years(or even decades) down the road.

Lucky