AL FAXFIELDNATURALISTSNEWSLE TERdo Nova Scotia Museum — JANUftRY — MAY 19801747 Sumer StreetHalifax, Nova Scotia83H 3A6

Pt DEC 80

HALl FAXFIELDNATURALISTSNEWSLETTER

JANUARY — MAY 1980 NUMBER: 23

Meetings are held on the first Thursday of every month at 8.00 P.M.in the Auditorium on the ground level of the Nova ScotiaMuseum, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax.

Field Excursions are held at least once a month.

Membership is open to anyone interested in the natural history ofNova Scotia. Membership is available at any meeting orby writing to — Membership, Halifax Field Naturalists,do The Nova Scotia Museum. Individual membership isfive dollars yearly; family membership is seven dollars.Members receive the newsletter and notice of all excursionsand special programs.

Directors for 1980-81:President Anne GreeneVice—President Bill FreedmanPast President Joe HarveyMembership Secretary Marjorie WillisonTreasurer Erick GreeneDirectors Magi Nietfeld

Cohn StewartDoris ButtersRoger Cousens

Newsletter: . . Anne GreeneMike BurkeDoris Butters

Mailing Address: Halifax Field Naturalistsdo Nova Scotia Musevm1747 Summer StreetHalifax, N.S.B3H 3A6

HFN is a member organisation of the Canadian Nature Federation

HFN is incorporated under the Nova Scotia Societies Act.

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hfn news

SPHAGNUM MOSS EXHIBIT WINSNATURAL HISTORY PRIZE -

The fourth annual Halifax—DartmouthRegional Science Fair was held this yearfrom April 10 through 12 at GrahamCreighton Junior High School in Dartmouth. Students from Grades 7 through12, representing some 30 schools, enteredexhibits. Roger Cousens and MagiNietfeld acted as judges on behalf ofthe HFN and awarded a S25 book token,for the best exhibit in natural history,to Susan Hattie, a grade 7 student fromCunard Junior High School. Susan hadprepared an exhibit dealing withSphagnum moss , in which she indicatedsome properties of the bog moss (i.e. itcan absorb great quantities of water,tt alters acidity of bog water, etc),and illustrated many of the past andpresent uses of Sphagnum spp. Amongthe latter were such things as anabsorotive lining for old—fashioneddiapers, a cushion within slingssupporting fractured limbs, a humanpreservative, a plant potting mediumand a fuel source.

As a whole, the fair could certainly be considered a success in termsof student, parent, and sponsorparticipation, and I urge the HFN tocontinue sponsoring a natural historyprize in the years to come.

Magi Nietfeld.

There are a lot of birds nestingright in the city. This spring we founda new crow’s nest for example on VernonSt. As of May, the female was on thenest constantly, probably sitting onfive or six bluish—green eggs.

TREE SPRAYINGThe city council voted seven to

three against spraying the city trees,at a council meeting on 15 May 8:00pm at City Hall. All present were relieved, however the council is in needof facts on the issues of spraying andthe deseases of our common city trees.HEN has an important role to play inaffording this information to insurethat spraying do es not resume incoming years.

All those people who responded toour appeals for newsletter articles

WHERE ARE YOU ?

Don’t worry about formality, In—formal notes on what you have seenor done, accounts of recent fieldtrips, book reviews,are all appreciated.

PRESIDENT’S REPORT FOR 1979

lam pleased to report that we again had a busy year with atotal of twelve monthly indoor meetings and the highlysuccessful symposium on the Development of the Northlands,which dealt with the problems associated with seabed drilling for oil in the Arctic. We are one of the few societieswhich hold an indoor meeting every month of the year, andsince the demand is there I see no reason to discontinuethe custom. We had over 130 people attend the symposium,while the monthly meetings attracted an average attendanceof 38.

The subject of the talks andworkshops were immensely wide, including members’ slides, the aerodynamicsof bird flight, geography, saltmarshes, insect parasites, SableIsland, 2—4—5-T. and a planetariumshow among the offerings. Certainlywe had no difficulty getting attractive, enthusiastic speakers and wethank them all.

The field trips were equallyvaried - the year started with avisit to the N.R.C. Seaweed ResearchStation at Finck Cove, then we had atree walk, a bird trip to ConradBeach, a hike along the Old Annapolis Trail to see the old farm sitesand escaped Daphne bushes, springflowers at Smiley’s Intervale, CapeSplit (twice), the seashore atCranberry Cove, Pennant Point tosee the Arethusa, Uniacke for insectparasites, a walk across Cole Harbourvia the railway and a weekend at theWentworth Youth Hostel.

The weather was quite kind tous since only two trips were completelyrained off (Dollar Lake and a warblerwalk), with the fungus foray attracting only a hardy four in a heavydrizzle, and the twenty who walkedout to Cape Split were treated toglorious sunshine at the Split butpaid for it by a steady drizzle onthe walk back. For eleven trips, atwhich attendance was noted, therewas an average of 17 people. Again,I want to thank all the leaders fortheir time and help.

However, despite a successfulindoor and outdoor programme, theExecutive Committee still felt therewas something missing and this wasillustrated in a way by the responseto the Halifax City tree survey wherethe returns of a simple questionnaireon the health of the trees in astreet was a mere nine out of wellover 250 leaflets distributed. Inprevious years the much moreambitious and technically moredifficult project to map the fernsof Nova Scotia had a similarresponse. We realised that by providing experts in certain subjects

we were attracting audiences, butthat this was not generating expertsamong the audience or even gettingthem sufficiently interested in asubject to start their own project.We were - to put it bluntly — actingas a substitute for T.V. The problemis to get our members activelyinvolved in some work which is withintheir capabilities and which willproduce some rewarding result withina reasonable time span.

Threats to force members to relyentirely on our own resourcesbrought the cogent response that oneof the real attractions of the societywas that speakers were brought in whocould talk knowledgeably about specialtopics and that there was no otherlocal source of this type of information. In this sense we provide aunique service in the Metropolitanarea, made easy for us by the presence

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of an unusually rich concentrationof .goyernment and university Institutions just bursting with peoplewilling to talk about their own,often unique, insight into a particulartopic.

But the complaint that we providetoo much passiye entertainment stillstands. We need people who are activein collecting and identi-fying particular groups of insects qr plants’ orstudying a particular :regiohl in somedetail, people who ~can,.ex,change know-ledge and enthusiasm with othe~s.Maybe our meetings are too formal-.. -

Certainly there is plenty of scope formiscellaneous. notes. to go into~~theNewsletter, things su~h as fieldobservations, questions, notes on’useful field’ guides, accOunts’ ofinteresting locaclities which ‘it wouldbe interesting to visit, historicalnotes, etc. At the moment, articleshave to be extracted from people, withdental forcep {‘tMs one for instance’)and members should be more aware thatshort, informal articles are verywelcome and’ ‘greatly .apprecia•ted.

Fot~ 1980- we propose to coQti nuetalks and walks as in previou’s yearsbut we want to add to this anotherlevel of activity; a seri,es of thingswhich depend on the volunteer effort~of our ordina’ry rnembers~. We are.

proposing to set up small groups ofmembers, each group to undertake adetailed examination of a park orpopular locality with a view to two

things. First a series of detailedstudies of the geology, history,plants and animals to be publishedfrom time-to-time in the Newsletter.We need this type of survey 1as ‘abase data for future reference.With one tir two exceptions due to ‘lackof staff’~atE th& Nova Sc’otia Museum,no local area has”been studied indetail yiC’-’This may ‘surp’ri’se somepeople but ‘w& are “far behind- in thistype of study in Nova ‘Scotia. S’€c’ondly,to distil ‘the infoi’mation- gatheredduring the firs’t’~ear into a leafletwhich can- be printed and distributedfor the benefit’ of members and possiblythe general pub~ic.

It’reinains to thank themany peoplewho helped in the’ running of HFN” over

a the past yéär; to the tea and codkiemakers, those ‘who Wrote articlè~, •nt

stapled’ the Newletter, prodtfce addresslists, Ticked stamØ’s and did all th’e•sundry jobs ci’f- running around andhelping things work ‘—many thanks.Another debt i~’ owed to the’- NOva SctotiaMuseum for the provision of the au’ditorium and’for printing the ‘HFN Newsletterso thanks aft due to the Ditector~a’ndhis staff.

• I hand.~over to the incoming President -

Anne Gre&ne, and wish her and the newExecutive the best, of success for 1980

M. J. Harvey.

7L ,~_€. ~ c’3i e,.a~)9kg. Jo t 7s.aohnrtrwv.

_____ _____ a

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editorial a a aTHE ICEBERGS FROM CALIFORNIA -

Some friends of mine told me theyhad joined the current popular pastimeof growing vegetables in their garden.We got to discussing mutual gardeningproblems, it turned out that theirbeans had done well but the lettuce.turned bitter, “We just ~couidn’t eat it,never again lettuce”, they sadd.

This exchange worried me and gdtme to thinking where soàiety haS’comefrom, and where it was going to, allin terms of lettuce genetics. After allI had grown the same variety of lettuceas they had,~ Great L_akes, and, sur.e itgot a bit bitter in the late summer;but I always enjoyed it and tome beinga bit bitter was np real. .~disadv~n~age,at least I didn’t haye to buy, it fromthe store. Maybe this just1rfits mycoarse :pa’l:ate ~as an~ of you who havesampl ed. the. red wine I• brew ~wi 11appreciate. Anyway, here we go, thehistory of Western Civilisation fromthe point of view of lettuce.

Where did the lettuce come from?Our cultivated forms came from Europeand the Europeans either domesticatedit in pre-history or got it from theorient. Asia Minor is the favobredregion if only because scholars aretaught in nursery school that all gdodthings European are deri.ved from Asia.Minor or the Fertile Crescent. Odd,isn’t it that a region with so muchdesert got called the Fertile Crescent.

The earliest written reference tolettuce is probably that of the GreekTheophrastus (c 300 B.C.) who mentionedthat there were three varieties. Eventoday there is some~Greek memory inour lettuce varieties since the islandof Kosgi.~es* its name’ to a group oflong—leaved strains. Cos~lettuce is no~longer grown commercially but is sEillavailable as seed. The older varieties

had to have a tie of string ‘put arbiihdthem to ~reve~ñt the long leaves fromflopping down but mo’d’ern varietieshave stout midribs which hold the leaveserect and keep tile light off the innerones thus’ keepin~ them’ pale andexquisitely cris’ji, they ‘are said to beself—blanching.

The buttercrunch.series is’opposite in ‘many ways to, the Cos varieties. The leaves tend to be thicker,about as long as broad and to spreadout flat on the gr’bund. They have amore chewy texture when eaten, with aflavour of their own. Bibb is onesuch variety. The ren~aining varietiesform a continuous series starting atone end with the loose, quick—growingleaf lettuces of which Great Lakesis the example which started thistrain of thoughts,, and ending at theother extreme with the big, tigi4tcabbage forms.. Despite this greatrange of shapes and sizes all these arevarieties of a single species Lactucasativa (lak-too—ka sat—ee—va) sincethey not only intergrade morphologically

.but interbreed freely with each other.Like the, dog, lettuce breeds aregen’etically distinctt varieties produced by human selection under conditionsof domestication. There is even a red—leaved variety [‘Prize—head’, wellworth .growing).

The late Edgar Anderson had theimagination and knowledge to writeseveral books on plants* which vividlyportrayed their history and evolutionHe pointed out that in changing fromgatherer to cultivator man domesticatedplants via several distinct routes.For instance the lesser cereals, rye,barley and oats, probably originatedas weeds in wheat crops when.wheatwas grown away from the region wherethe climate was optimal for wheat.The small grained wild ‘oats, rye,

barley mixed with the wheat would havebeen subjected to unconscious selectionby man as he winnowed the grain toblow away the chaff and weeds. Inthis way the lar~e seeded forms ofthe weedy cereals wUUid have selectively survivedt9eventually.,givtngusefuf crops in their owh right:

Even some poisonous weeds developedlarge-seeded forms by this method and

‘corn cockle (Agrostemma githago)was a.beautifulcbut. deadly weed of grainctops in Europe into this century, bywhich time mechanically cleaned seedsand later, selective weedkillersgradpally eliminated it. We nowgrow it ~as a decorative annual inthe, flower g~rden’.

But lettüte’is not in this groupof plants. For thes~e Anderson ha~ atèrm whrch has stuck in my niind’sin~ebhl~ike htsmore acadeniic colleagueshe did no~ inVent ‘sdind felicitousterm of latinised—greek origin, hecame. Zrioht out and called them whatthey were,~ ‘.dunghill plants’ I. -

Remember..the- term next time you havesalad of1 lettucei~tornatoes, radishesand cucumber; they.all originated asdunghill.plants. --

The reason this qroup of plantsoi’igin~ated is be(ause ‘the~ Nedlothiccultivators who settled down to growcrops di.d not have their garbage pickedup @ach weèk,by the~.garbage truck-cThe latter had to wait for’ the ,inventionof wheels. Any. junk was &yst droppedon.the floor,~on, if.they. fetreal.iyhygienic, they hurled it out the-.door.(I could~make comments.about our ‘modern’Western soci~ty at this Roipt but Iwon’t).-

The ~e≤ultwãs that e&ch dwellingwas sUr~ouhdéd by a hãlo~of gàrbägeeventually- prãdubing the ‘te1s’~ th’~ citymounds so beloved of archaeologists.Now bones, plant-waste, excrement andurine together produce a rich sojl onwhich certain~p~ants can grow rapidly.Not only .coul.d they grow rapidly butwith,the unstable nature of-the habitataround houses there would have, been aselective advantage in producing seedsrapidly. We have many examples of.cultivated plants which, are annuals

but whose closest wild relations arelong—lived perennials. There seemslittle doubt that the annual growthhabit has been produced as a result ofdomestication. The unstable habitathas been nrotiuced as a result ofdàmestication. The unstable habitatoroduced by animals grazing, kids~frlaying, garbage being added, allgive a premium to those strainsof.perennial plants.which ‘cangrow faster, flower sooner

and produce seeds in a shorter timethan their ancestors. Hence theorigin of many of our annual crop plantsand, no coincidence,- some of our worstweeds. This is where the lettuce cameinto the picture.

All round the northern hemispherethere are species of Lactuca. We havethree species of wild lettuce in NovaSàoti& for instanèe. Some wild speciesare perennial, that is their rootstockpersists for .a number of years sendingup shoots each -yeart-i kSome are”biennialthe seed germinates in the spring, pro—

a duces a rosette of leaves during thesummer from which arises a full flowering~ spike in the- seconcEyear at the’endof which the plant dies. A few wildspecies are annuals.

The wild species are a tough,stringy group of herbs. Anyone braveenough to chew a mouthful will discovertwo things; one, something akin todental floss between their teeth, andtwo, a very bitter taste. So domestication of lettuce probably involved threechanges: a shortening -of the lifecycle, a loss of fibre and a lesseningof the bitter taste.

The’bitter taste is, interesting,it is due tochemicals~, alkaloids, inthe white milky sap, latex, whichexudes when the plant is damaged.Many ‘o’th’ét rhembers of the Conipàsitae(dandelion family) also have latex.One dandelion from Russia~ (Taraxacumkok—saghyz, was cultivated ‘during theSecond World War for its latex -in orderto make rubber. The very names lettuceand Lactua refer to this! milky sap, theAmerican’ Heritage Dictionary gives“Middle.English’ letus(e), from OldFrench laituës plural of laituë, from

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Latin lactuca from lac (lact—) milk.

The latex is not only bfttertasting but is somewhat poisonous. Itis repellent’ to slugs, caterpillarsand vertebrate grazing animals. Tothose gardeners who bitterly ask mewhy their vegetables are chewed by allthe animals under the sun while theirdandelions have nary a bite out of them,here is your answer. What has ‘happenedto lettuce is that man has ≤elected thenice—tasting plants from the wild ~pop—ulation resulting in’ our present day,almost’ latex-free cultivated .vatleties.Some varieties have more latex thanothers and the amount of latex increaseswith age. So young lettuce plants canreally be slaughtered by slugs but thelate summer, old plants that are starting to flower (bolt) will not attractslugs and will be uhchewed but, asmyfriends noted, somewhat bitter.

I mentioned that the btttersubstance’was~a poisonous alkaloid butdon’t let that bother you, the amountin even old lettuce is so~ small thatyou would have to eat a bushelful at onesitting to achieve even a mild poisoningcase.

Not only has the alkaloid ‘contentof modern lettuce been reduced but thefibre content is also extremely low.The extreme case of the’reduction offibre and aikaloYd is achieved in alarge cabbage variety called “Iceberg”.If anyone of British extraction isreadin~ this, Iceberg is very closelyrelated to”Webb’s Wonderful’.. Thesevarieties have no fibre and the latexvessels are very few and cohfinecPto thebase of the, central stalk, which ofcourse is not eaten. The results of~this are iiio’re per~asi.ve than youmight initially think. Let us consid& the consequences one by one.

First, iceberg is~rather Wa~-d tocultivate in an. urban.garden ‘with anormal, insect’ and slug population;’I tried it once and friends tell methey met slugs crawling across. thebridge from Dartmouth solely to eatthe lettuce in my Halifax gèrden.Iceberg is a completely helplessplant, it lacks any natural pf’otection against grazing animals.

Second, to grow Iceberg you haveto spray it with several sprays todefeat the various phyla of invertebrates which would otherwise multiplyon it. So Iceberg was one of the firstcrops. requiring intensive chemicaltreatment to grow t successfuli.y.

nI’

third, despite the above, Ièèbergis the conimercial’lettuce of choicebecause (a) it will grow in hot climates(Florida and California) and (b) itforms compact crush resistant headswhich ship well. ,Here in Nova Scot~iawe normally eat Iceberg grown aroundSalinas, California, over 8000 km.away.

Fourth, we now have a generationof adults who have never eaten anylettuce but Iceberg. Naturally whenthey try a more ‘normal ‘ variety, theydo not like either the colour or thetexture or the flavour (presence offlavour I should say). Furthermore,they expect lettuce every week of theyear.

Fifth, the lack of latex inIceberg and hence the lack of natural

‘flavour (I have heard Iceberg called‘“solidified water”) has given rise toa secondary food industry whose solepurpose i~ to su~ply flavour.“Would’you like~Italian, French, Roquefort•or Thousan’W Islahds, sir? “ Theturnover of the sauce section of thefood industry would,.be enough, I amsure,.so fund the governments ofseveral smaller countries.

What conclusions or morals can wedra~i from the foregoihg? Withoutreally trying ~è have restricted ourchoice of .food to a sin~gle variety.Oh yes, I kn’o~, it is possible to getother varieties if you’ keep your eyesopen and pay’a little more but’ for mostordina~’y’ people lettuce is Iceberg.We have a generation which knows -

nothing of •the crisp texture and

a

7distinct flavour of Cos nor the verydifferent texture but equally delightful flavour of the butterheads. Byopting for a “higher” standard ofliving, i.e. lettuce year round, wehave achieved a lower standard ofliving, i.e. a lack of choice ofvarieties. I am sure Murphy’s Lawhas some corollary ‘about this.

Iceberg of course is not merelysolidified water but, represents .aconsiderable fradtio’n of its weightas petroleum; oil to produce thefert-iliser,. oil for the pesticides,.oil ;to till the field, oil to pump thewater to irrigate it, oil to truck itto the ends of the continent.

,~What ‘1 sugge~t~we should, do is toeat”locaily grown je~tuce in seasonor .grow. your own if ybu have a gardenand depend on alternatives during theWinter. Would thjs really’ represent‘a ~lowerihg of our standard ~óf living?Son’ie ~eopl’e would. so argue, I am notconyinced that this i.s seriously theca~e,, it w’duld represent an indreãsein the div&rsity of the diet for mostpeople.‘‘~ One pr65.l~m in suggesting that

We buy ldcal ly-grown 1 et±ucè’,inseason i’~ ~that the supe’rmarket’s gene~—ally refuse tb deal wi,th local giower~.The local farmers have’ a short, &eàson

r~11d cannot offer .reiiflle supplies.What tile supermarkets Want is guaranteed weekJy sufrplies throughout theyear aM lông—term contract~ with the•Cal fforni a and’ El 01-i da~ growers do justthat. Hence my disappointment atseeing only 69cCàlifornia Icebergsin my local store in July and ~~at onlybc or 20c a head less than theno’rmabwinter price..

P WF~at areS the al ternati yes, inwinter? Well, I don’t ~ant to turn~thi~ into ~ cookery article but coleslaw variously ~livened. up with.onionorca,rrot is the old standby. Nowaday~, sfrrouted seeds provide a ~reatvariety; Aiung beans are.) Oinch’ tosprout once you get the ‘ñioi’sture andtemperature right and they mix in withall sorts of things raw as well as

minimally cooked; alfalfa .seedsalso sprout well and my~old fa~ourite is mustard and crgss b~tno oneseems to sell mustard seed any more.Just sprinkle the see ds on wet papertowelling in a dish and let it growon a window ledge. Then there arethe pickles: red cabbage is theeasiest of all the Øickles to make athome - it isn’t even cooked; beetrootis similar but you boil the -rootsfirst. These variously combined witheach other make excellent salad’dishes, e.g. beansprouts and redcabbage. Apples and raw mushtoomsalso makeexcellent additions. Onlyyour imagination ‘and a lifetime ofconditioning to “solidified water”holds you. back. . -

M.J. HarVey.* Anderson, E. : Plants, Man and

Life, 1954.Anderson, E.: Introgressive

‘Hybridization, 1949.Postscri pt.

After writing theábove artiêleI chanced to visit Sherbrooke Restoration Village jUst befôré it closedforthe 1979 season. This is runasa living museum by the Nciva ScotiaMuseum. Arriving on Friday eveningwe sought out somewhere to eat andchose the nearbyBright House wherewe enjoyed a reai19 high class mealwhich would do ci’edit to some of thehigh—pHced restaurants in downtdwnHalifax. The thing which transfixedme was the salad which included Oakleaf lettuce, a variety’ which I hadnot seen for yeth’s. This is a leaflettuce in which the individualleaves have .wavy edges.. Demands tosee the p.roRrietor flushed Mrs. -WynnethTurnbull out,of the kitchen .and ~t -

turned out ,that the Turnbulls growmuch of theii~;lettuce. and other vegetable requirements -in the qardenof Bright House.. Mr. TurnbulF we weretold, ran the restaurant in therestoration area for. the ‘Museumwhere we met, him the next’ day and’enjoyed his;;meal’.. tGordon Turnbull,dressed in:cbothes of’the period, reallycut a striking.figure in the restor—ation area.

reportsspi~vIkc -

~On~r24 March 1980 Halifax CityCounci:t held-a public meeting atQueen Elizabeth High School to hearopinions from all sides on the subjectof the spraying .of the city treeswith insecticide-; In addition to theMayor~ and aldermen, :two tree expertshad been invited from the ForestryInstitute at ‘Frederi:cton, and membersof the ~City field staff were present.Public attendance was very limited,only four people, turned up, therewere iii fact - more reporters thanpublict

The meeting started off with anintroduction by’the Maj’or, and thehistory of tree’ sp~’ayin~ in Halifaxwas reviewed by Mr, Calda and Mr.Scallion. It appears ..that. sprayinghas.been practi~ed since at least 1948and pno~I~ly before thap. ~1r. riarksof Eredéricton reported on his sur~vey’of the city trees and emphasised thatthe elm tçees were in a~criticalstate due to defoliation by the elmleaf .miner. !here~were then variouspresentations from the public includ—ing~Dr.zD._Patriqutn_Mrs;’.NinaPatriquin-1, and -Dr. M.J. iHarvey onbehalf Ofr the .H.FThN. Prior to themeeting Council had been provided withcopies of the .HFN ~pw~1etter dealingwith the City Tree Survey.. - - -

Deflite the low ‘public turnouttheretwas a’ vigorous’and’fair e~ch’ángeQf vieWs and i’nformatio’n:’ Thet-itiField and Fredéricto ‘1’peopl v~ere ofthe opihion that ther&had been’ a mirkeddeterioi-ãti’on in the h’eáith of ‘àitytrees since the cessafThn ~f ~prayingin 1977) and~that despite a sanitationprogramme to trim and.ferti.lise treeswhich was started to replate the spray,the amount-of dead wood - ‘esjieciall•yon the’ elm trees had increased noticeably. ‘in the past couple of~years. - -

They recommended a resumptiowof a - -

spray programme to halt the further

deterioration of the treesand toprevent the easy access of elm barkbeetle, which tran~mtts dutch elmdise~se to’Weakened,elms. -

Counterarguments of -the ipublic -

heal-th danger from low levels of ‘exposureto sprays; especially in’children;thatthe decline in heal th- of the tree ssince spraying .stopped was exaggerated;that it was foolish to spray all treesin the ci~y including’ per~€ctlg ‘healthymaples,wére rebutEed’with gr’eàter orlesser streng~h~ - Questioning elicitedthe hitherto Unpublished quantities oftnsectidide wh’iëh were used during -thelast spring ‘spraying which was permitted.Over the five days of the sp~ay period10 :gallons of Malathion sprayable’ concefitrateand 96 lbs. of Sevin’ weieused. -

The aldermen had come to the meeting for. ~irpo.sés ofseek’ing i1nfonnatipnand no ~bte was .take,p.’ That ~‘ould b:edo~b~t a later Council meeting Jhelo~)ubltc turnou’t ha~ al ready beenmeh±io’ned; it was at le~ast partly dueto the mechanism of publicity since thiswas b~ means’ of, a pOb~li c notice placedin,. the advertising secti on~ ahiong 1 êgalnOtices ‘and contract. tende~’&.. The~media seem t~ h&ve kept a low profileunti] therneèting, after whiàh thelocal i-adib, ‘stations broadcast shortrëports~ ,

On Wednesday, 7 May,.~the Councilmeeting in Committee debated the, issueand voted4 far and 4 against spraying.The Mayor,- ~ho, has always expres~édgreat, concern over, the health-of thetrees’, broke the tie and, votéd,in, favourof spfaying. As of writing the matterwill,èome~ before Council in regular’ -

session nekt week when a final deèisionwjll be taken

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HEMLOCK RAVINE -

The question of access points toHemlock Ravine has come up recently.At the moment there are three main waysof access — (1) along ‘Sea King Motel’by Bedford Highway; (2) along the trackcalled Lodge Crescent leading off LodgeDrive; (3) from the top of Lodge Drive.It is also possible to walk along theBicentennial Highway from Kearney Lakeintersection and climb over the barrierrail into the head of the ravine,although we cannot recommend this latterroute.

At the moment Mrs. Thibeault claimsthat she owns the property at the mouthof the ravine at the Bedford Highway endand according to reports has been shouting at people entering the ravineaccusing them of trespass. Since thelength of the ravine is traversed by anold track called the Old North Roadthere-is an obvious need of a legaldeciston as to whether a right—of—wayexists at that point. Canadian law onpublic right-of-way is much less definitethan say British law, and the position isundertain. In any case, •the BedfordHighway access point is not suitable asa major entPy. It really only serves asa minor pedestrian access.

Lodge Crescent, which is a streetwhich was proposed in a subdivision P.lanof the .1950’s but Was never bujlt on.aft~r being bulldozed free of trees, iscurrently a public right of way. Mr.Donald Ho~an, son of the Mr. Hogan whoorjginally owned the ravine•, has overthree’ acresof property on the edge ofthe ravine nature area. He now wishesto build a single family dwelling.on hisproperty and to help in doing so isrequesting to buy Lodge Qrescent fromthe City. In addition, the zoningrestriçtion~ on the land would have tobe modified by being changed from Ri toRl schedule E which will permit theuse

- of well, Water and septic tank.’ City‘Hall àriginally advised against theapplication but said that if Councilthought it worth considering then apublic hearing should be called. A

-public hearing is due to be held as ofthe time of wrifing on 21 May, 1980. Ifthis application to ‘purchase Lodge Crescent is approved then public access bythis route will be extinguished.

Lodge Drive is a part of the 1950’ssubdivision which was built,at the headof the Drive the roadway turns into agravel track and finally disappears intobushes. Mr. Hogan owns a strip of theland across the gravel portion of LodgeDrive and claims that he can legally baraccess across his property. Again alegal ruling is needed. Lodge Drivehas been used freely by the local residents including schoolchildren going toand from school since the subdivisionwas built. It seems dubious that Mr.Hogan could now bar access. However,what Mr. Hogan may have in mind is anexchange of the Lodge Crescent right-ofway for his (dubious) ownership of theLodge Drive access. As he points out,if the City sells him the Lodge Crescentright-of—way there will be no publicaccess to Hemlock Ravine.

We all thought when the publicitycame out about the Nature Conservancy ofCanada organising the purchase of theRavine with the assistance of severalcorporations and Provincial and Municipalbodies, that the question of access hadbeen dealt with. How wrong we were~The definition of the boundaries of theRavine Natural Area was handed to a realestate agent who was apparently not giventhe mandate of looking into publicaccess or omitted to do so. We now havepeople claiming that the public has tocross their private property to getinto the ravine and are indignant aboutit.

By the time this report is printed,the Public Inquiry will have been heldand there will be either no legal wayinto the Ravine or various swaps and!or legal decisions will have been made.One principal does seem to be obviousthough, and that is there should be asmany access points as possible to minimise foot traffic pressure at any onepoint. I should add that from thepoint of view of providing a good carpark the access at the top of LodgeDrive is the site of choice.

M.J. Harvey.

AREA STUDIES PRELIMINARY TRIP:PEGGY’S COVEBARRENS -

The Halifax Field Naturalistsvisited,a Peggy/s Cove bog as th’efirst in a number of trips associatedwFth~our Area-Studies pfDogräm. .Thetrip took plate on 22 March and wasled by Anne and Erick :Greepe.

Heãvenêleariy’ approvds of ourArea Studies pi-ojeótfor it gave ‘usa glorious day .-for .our~trial run, eventhough •Rei.d Dexter had forecast rain.We splashed-through the bogs.andclambered over the rocks’, finding a

:~ surprising number of interestingthings usefuL.to list in the’..forth—coming area leaflet, and many morebesides: The ‘moonscape” terrairu~abounds in mosses, lichens and liver—

.worts to draw to the attention of thecasu& yisitor; also higher plants

,which he.willa notice and Wish to~have identified’;.

The afeawe visited has several’different habitats, and in each thereare plant species which are superblyadapted-for life there’.

The most obvious habitat is thatof thê°bdg its~lf. This de~ression inthe”gráhite rock, which Underlies theentire~ärea, Wa~ at onetime ‘a lake.The pond in the centre of. the bog isall’~that is left of the lake’ now.-The pond is the habitat for’manyaquaticplants, suchas w&ter,lili’es, bladder—worts an’d aqdat’ic-liverworts, whichhave ñiany adaptations for life,parti’álly Sr completdlytsubmerged ir~water.

Plant succession folloWed as thelake’s edges filled with .organicdebris;.- Sphagnum moss slowly grew -

inward, encroaching on the lake anddepositing a deep layer of peat. Thisis the bog habitat. The sphagnummoss plays an important role in determining the nature of the bog.Sphagnum mossessare able to absorbtrace metallic ions such as K+ (pot—

.assium), Ca++ (calcium) ~and Mg++ .‘~

(magnesium) from the water in exchangefor ‘hydrogen ions (H+). As a result,bogs are highly acidic and extremely.

defjcient in mineral’ nutrients. Often~in habitats such as these,~~the wateris too acidic for some plants to use,so although the plants afe growing,-ina moist ènvironment, they have manyadaDtati’bhs for conserving what waterthey ãan get. The shrub~’ Labrador Téäis a good example. The le~v?s~ havebrown ~Ool covering the unde’rsurfhçeand the leaf margins are t~o1led, un&r.Common Juniper is another shrub’whichhas curled its leaves, forming a. marginon one side that can be seen as a”prOniinent white stripeJ 89th these pl~nd,and many others f&und in the bog(Bayberty-, Sweet ‘Gale, Brdàin,:Crowbirryand Laurel) have adapted to ‘nutrient—poor conditions in the b6’g b remainihgevergreen. By doing sO they don’t

“waste” scarce nutrient~ b,~ shedd~ng theirleaves and growin~ a new crop each year.

Other plants, such.as the PitcherPlant and the Sundew have supplementedthe small, supply of nutrients by becom—i ng Dcarni vorous. The ~Pi tcher Planttraps jnsects in the “pitcher”-which

- 9..~ ~

-:

r

11

contains water and digestive enzymesand absorbs mineral nutrients fromdigested insects. Some insects, suchas mosquito larvae can resist the digestive enzymes within the pitcher, and wesaw them happily swimming around insidethe plants.

Glaciation played an importantpart in sculpting the Peggy’s Coveregion. The higher areas surroundingthe bog are largely exposed granite withglacial till and glacial erratics leftbehind, but with little or no soillants found on this rocky, wind-swept

habitat are well-adapted to withstandsevere dehydration stresses. Andromeda,Broom Crowberry, Black Spruce and avariety of lichens such as Rough andSmooth Rock Tripe, Reindeer Lichen andBritish Soldier Lichen are found there.Lichens are important colonisers of barerock. They are made up of both fungaland algal components, and are able towithstand severe dehydration whilethey are dormant, and then resume metabolism once water becomes available.

They manufacture organic componentswhich initiate the gradual breakdownof bare rock into soil.

On the rocky shore which forms theseaward boundary of the area, brownalgae, predominantly Fucus andAscophyllum can be found on the rocksas well as several species of snailsof the genus Littorina. Seabirds canbe seen in the water just off theshore. The day we were there, Cormor—ants, Black Guillemots and a PurpleSandpiper were seen.

All in all, Peggy’s Cove presentsa harsh environment to any coloniser,and provides the visitor with numerousfascinating examples of how organismshave resolved the problems of livingthere.

Anne GreeneErick GreeneMaud Godfrey.

(t~~ orntJsvt.c&wnn)of V &). 5k,~ct’~

12

PARTIAL FLORAL LIST FOR PEGGY’S COVE BARRENS.

Shrubs—

I

‘H.

Andromeda glaucophyllaCorema conradliEmpetrum EamesiiEmpetrum nigrumLedum groenlandicumMyrica galeJuniperus communisKalmia angustifoliaKalmia polifoliaCharmaedaphne calyculata

Bog. Rosemary,.Brooi~ñ Crowberr5’.Pink Crowberry

• Black Crowberry• Labraddr Tea’

— a

• BayberryCothmon’JuniØer

-Laflkillao~ Láñibki if.

• •

Leatherleaf.

Trees -

Picea marriana

r C!

C.

Smaller Plants -

Lycopodium sp.Sarracenia purpureaVaccinium macrocarponCoptis groenlandicaRubus Charmaemorus

61ubmossPitcher plantLarge CranberryGoldthreadBakeappi e

Mosses -

Dicranum sp.Sphagnum spp. Sphagnum moss.

Lichens —

Cladonia cristatella British Soldier Lichen

Ochrolechia frigidaUmbilicaria populosaUmbi ii carl a muhl enbergi I

Rough Rock TriØeSmooth Rock TripeMap Lichen

‘‘4

Black Spruce

Rhizocarpon sppParmelia spp.

Area Studies Groups

The idea of carrying out natural history studies at several selectedareas around Halifax—Dartmouth (see insert, HFN Newsletter #22) hasbeen received with a great deal of enthusiasm by HFN members. Sixareas are to be investigated this summer. Below is the list ofvolunteers who will be participating in the study of each area (thepeople whose names are underlined are responsible for the organisationof each group). If you are interested in participating, contact usdo the N. S. Museum, 1747 Summer Street, Halifax, B3H 3A6.

1. Hemlock Ravine Study: Cohn Stewart (423—1927)Murray CunninghamPat CunninghamJulie SwartzConstance GillisAndrew Paton

2. Peggy’s Cove Barrens Study: John Robinson (429—6664)Magi NietfeldGreg HenryMichael DowningLorne VaasjoHelen PainterElizabeth SurrettDorothy Morris

3. South End Railway Cutting Study:Joe Harvey (422—3773)Doris ButtersMaud GodfreyBernice Moores

4. Dingle Park Study: Roger Cousens (424-2143)

John van der MeerMarjorie DunbarHugh Kindred

5. Cole Harbor Heritage Farm Parkland Study:Anne Greene (423-8919)Ne lie LeidemerJudy Van HoutonSusan MurphySuzanne LewisLi ndgrens

14

6. Conrad’s Beach Study: Susan Murphy (463-1450)Rosemary and Peter AndersonSuzanne LewisTim Randall . - -‘

Edna Todd.71

Joe Harvey has drafted a series of basic insti’Uctioh~1(shown below) for preparing the leaflets whichWil1 bè~ritteii~on the natural history of each area.

We have the full support of the Nova Scotia Museum andgroups returning from a field trip to their area ‘rñay go tHerewith specimens~which need identification, and make use of themuseum’s expertise and resource material. Phone DeborahBurleson (429—4610)at the Museum to reserve a room about aweek in advance~and ask about the use of their field guides.

Also, if you are stuck ion the identification of a certainrock type... or bird... or plant, we have a group of willingexperts who may be able to help.

Geology - Bob Grantham. N.S. Museum(429-4610)

Plants - Joe Harvey home(422—3773)

.Birds — An~é Greene. home-I - (422-8919)

Small Mammals — Fred Scott N.S. Museum(429—4610)Mon., Wed. AM, Fri.

Algae — Roger Cousens Daihousie U.(424—2143)

) 0

15

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARING GUIDES TONATURAL AREAS.

During 1980 and subsequent years, the Halifax Field Naturalistshope to have available a series of leaflets on the natural history ofa variety of Nova Scotian localities. Each leaflet will be the workof a small group of volunteers. We hope to start with a few popularareas within easy reach of the Metropolitan region and, if these initialleaflets prove successful, extend to localities further afield in subsequent years. The aim of these leaflets is to make available in aneasily understood manner details of the geology, the plants, the animalsand the land use history so that anyone would be able to use a leafletas a guide and be able to appreciate a variety of subtleties about eachlandscape. If the idea proves successful and we generate enoughenthusiasm, there is the eventual possibility of publishing the leafletsin the form of a booklet. Such a booklet would fill a real void in theinformation on local natural history available at present to the public.

The initial aim is to divide each locality into habitats, tocomment on the nature of each habitat, and list the common plants, birdsand other animals to be seen. Rarities can certainly be pointed out whenthey are interesting, particularly where the species needs protecting andthis should be mentioned as most people are appreciative of such detailsand cooperate in conservation. At the same time we are not only concernedwith listing species but in viewing the landscape as a whole in terms ofits geological and human history.

We hope that each group of volunteers will visit their areaseveral times throughout the season eventually getting to know all thenooks and crannies and discovering most of the plants and animals in thearea. However, once you get into naming every moss, lichen, rare bird,rodent, insect and fungus (with the help of the appropriate expert, wehasten to reassure you) there could be a list several hundred species long.Obviously this would not be appropriate information to put into an introductory guide and it should be emphasised that the comon or obviousorganisms are all that are required for the leaflet. That is not to saythat we want to discourage study in depth, and hopefully some people willwant to continue to refine and add to their work after the first versionof their leaflet is printed. In that case it would be appropriate topublish the more extended lists and observations in the HFN Newsletter sothat the comments would be, as it were, on file and available for laterreference.

In order not to leave people floundering with difficulties inidentifying things, which is always one of the biggest problems, we hopeto make available:

a) facilities at the N.S. Museum where handbooks and namedspecimens will be available;

b) a number of ‘experts’ who will be available to advise onparticular groups of plants, animals or rocks.

16

As appropriate, the experts can either be invited to visitthe locality or specimens may be collected and suitably preserved foridentification later.

While we do not need to be absolutely rigid about it thereshould be a reasonably uniform format adopted so that the leaflets coveressentially the same sort of detail in the same sequence. Following isthe suggested outline for the guides.

ITEMS TO BE INCLUDED IN THE GUIDES TO NATURAL AREAS -

1. Name of the locality, with brief instructions of how to get there,e.g. Route number, distance from nearest city, etc.

2. General statement of what the area shows. An appreciation of thewhole landscape expressing enthusiasm if anything is particularlywell shown.

3. Map of the area. The map should be copies from a 1:50,000 or 1:25,000survey map. To this base the habitats, footpaths and itemsof particular interest may be added.

4. The habitats of the area should be described in some detail. Foreach habitat there should be one or more paragraphs givingthe essential features which are most obvious to the initialvisitor. Other paragraphs could deal with interesting butspecialised or less obvious facts of observation or historyor unusual species. There should be a sequence of treatmentfrom the obvious and immediately apparent features, to theless apparent or specialised items.

5. Species lists. For large or complex areas there could be a plantspecies list for each habitat. The obvious or especiallyinteresting species should be identified and listed alphabetically by their scientific name with the common name, ifany, in parenthesis. In addition, some indication of howcommon a species is is useful and the letters, d, f, o, and rafter the name can be used to indicate whether they aredominant, frequent, occasion or rare. Bird lists areprobably best sub-divided into several parts separating migrantsfrom residents. It is more important to discover which birdsare nesting than to see every migrant which flies over the area.Species lists are of course things which accumulate over aperiod of years. Initially we need only the common speciesfor the purpose of the guides and in fact too much detail canbe offputting. The really detailed work which some of you willprobably do can be published in the HFN Newsletter from whichit can be duplicated if the occasion arises where a moredetailed description is needed.

March, 1980