Nature Moncton Nature News: August 30 2017

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Edited by: Nelson Poirier nelson@nb.sympatico.ca
Info Line # 506-384-6397 (384-NEWS)

Since Winston Jones got the report back that the tree pitch pine was used in his barn built in 1865, house built in the 1825, and Lower Coverdale Church in 1865 that was harvested in the local area with the tree no longer known here, his curiosity is growing as to what happened to the species in New Brunswick. Am attaching a quote of some of Winston’s thoughts and he can be reached via email at jwinston1225@gmail.com or telephone Winston at 387-5808 if anyone would like to follow up on this historical information.

Some further thoughts on pitch pine.

It sees unlikely to me that there would be only one isolated stand of pitch pine in

NB when the barn and house were built here, about 1865 and 1825 respectively.

So where did the Pitch Pine go?

The settlers that built the first remaining buildings in the Moncton area came from New England and points south where Pitch Pine is common. They would know of its merits as a building material. Consider that many old houses down there are a century older than the oldest buildings here! So if they saw the same trees here, they logically would use them. How possible, maybe even probable, that the Trites House and the Free Meeting House are framed with the same timber. The Coverdale United Church, also built in 1865 with timber from this farm , should also be on the list. Could someone interest the Mount A dendrochronology lab in testing the wood in these buildings?

Pitch Pine, according to Wikipedia, grows on acidic, nutrient poor soils such as we have around Moncton, except for the marshes where the Acadians first settled. It also establishes easily and abundantly. So again, where did it go, if indeed, it was here? Again, from Wikipedia, pitch was used to waterproof wooden ships, Moncton built wooden ships, and white men being what we are, we probably cut down every last tree and pulled up every last seedling and sapling to get pitch for shipbuilding. Makes sense to me.

I couldn't find out how you get pitch for waterproofing from trees; my googling skills are limited. But it would be interesting to me to know. If any of your readers are interested in this subject, I would be happy to hear from them to discuss my ideas.

Cheers, Winston Jones

Choke berries are ripe at the moment. Lisa Morris got a photo of the now ripe berries plus a photo of them in flower in mid-June. The choke berry favours coastal areas. They are not toxic but not flavorful.

On the Taylor Road Nature Moncton Field trip on Monday, a few Atlantis Fritillary butterflies were noted and photographed. They all seemed small for this species. Jim Edsall comments the grey eyes are a giveaway for the species in Eastern Canada.

I recently noticed concentrated colonies of yellow aphids on our yard patch of swamp milkweed. Bugguide guide has identified them as oleander aphids that tend to favour milkweed in North America and are bright yellow and easily seen to advertise the fact they contain toxic cardiac glycosides from milkweed just as the monarch butterfly does. They don’t seem to be doing significant harm to the plants at least at this point.

nelson@nb.sympatico.ca

Nelson Poirier