No doubt some will enquire after the odd shape of the fence posts that are featured in this posted image: The fact is that these posts were specially cultivated to produce this shape by a method long ago abandoned for general use, having been a feature of Indian tribes who lived in the area north of Niagara Falls prior to the coming of the French to Canada. In other words, the posts were grown that way. These Indians were associated with the Neutral Indians who did not fight other tribes, but traded with them. Their traded goods came, surprisingly, from far offshore places. Their method of growing the fence posts is not entirely understood however, these shown in the photograph above were an experiment by a resident farmer in Quebec who claims to have had modest success. Interviewd, this farmer reluctantly gave a brief descrption as to how he produced this unusual fence post . Poplar trees are selected when they are about as thick as a big man's thumb and as straight as possible. The sapling is topped at a height of a tall man's knee. Immediately after cutting, and then on a daily basis, urine from a donkey is painted onto the surface exposed by the cut. Nothing but donkey urine will do. After 5 weeks or 35 days exactly, rope is wound tightly around the trunk, small as it is at this point, to within the width of a tall man's hand from the top. This causes the tree to grow wider at the top than at the bottom producing the horn like shape. Every one hundred and sixty-five days, the rope is renewed using a thicker diameter. Meanwhile the daily treatment of donkey urine is continued faithfully as the top of it becomes steadily wider than the trunk, almost to resemble what we would call a Trombone shape or even a Tuba. The fence post is ready after about 5 years, not all soils and climates are the same, so the growth is affected by these elements. The Neutral Indians were eventually eliminated by the Onondaga Indians, the latter being part of the famous five nation Iroquois Confederacy; for this reason the secret of fence post growing is subject to a great deal of speculation having been lost at the disappearance of the trading aboriginals. The experimental posts shown in the photograph though, do indicate the rather dashing style that was possible by this highly labor intensive production method. The Indians no doubt had the great patience required to be successful, along with, of course, many Indians. It is surprising though that they must have had many donkeys! How sad that such beneficial agricultural sciences have been lost because of the turmoil of social changes effected as history was made. Surely the question will be raised: 'why such trouble to produce these unusual fence posts? Well, as the tribe in question have long since been eradicated, it can only be assumed that (1) Those Indians used that design for something completely lost as a fact of history , (2) they had very little art to distinguish themselves from other tribes that did have such capacities, so these posts would certainly stand out (pun intended) as a mark or their artistic side and finally (3) they had little else to do except buy and sell and perhaps these remarkable items were hot sellers north and south for them.
Very nice picture Alan, I love the composition, the different posts pointing to different directions, the details in the posts. I do agree with the abovementioned comment that you may have used a slightly less long exposure, to give more details in the snow, which is a bit burnt out now.
If this was a few days ago, try again. Things are improving day by day. When I last uploaded two or three days ago, you still HAD to choose one of the pull-down menu options for stop and shutter speed, but you could type in unanticipated cameras, lenses and films already. Eventually the system will remember what you typed in last time and let you click on that. The place you type in stuff is a sort of "sub" menu just below and to the right of the pull-downs.
Hi roger, I am having trouble uploading my images onto Usefilm: the only way I could do the last one was to falsefy the info concerning the camera and lens and then tell the truth in the comments. whenever i put in the actual info in the appropriate slots I would be asked for the information again when it would not uplad. have you found trouble with this?
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john amore{K:14015} 3/25/2004
well done a very well composed photo high interest level good job John
Fascinating story, Alan. Why were curved posts so valuable, though? That's the only thing I didn't get from your account... I think the exposure might have been slightly less, just enough to get a little more detail into the snow area. Like the sepia toning though.
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{K:86139} 3/27/2004