[lit-ideas] Re: Eliot (and Oregon as Suburb)
- From: Robert Paul <robert.paul@xxxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 04 Jun 2005 20:27:39 -0700
David Ritchie wrote:
> I fear Robert has been getting at Mutton College's Faculty Claret ("Ol'
> Sheep Dip" to the cognoscenti).
>
> I quote from my trusty thirteenth Britannica:
>
> The common hazel, Corylus Avellana, occurs throughout Europe, in North
> Africa and in central and Russian Asia...[snip]...
> The filbert, among the numerous varieties of Corylus Avellana, is
> extensively cultivated, especially in Kent, for the sake of its nuts, which
> are readily distinguished from cob-nuts by their ample involucre and greater
> length.
David Ritchie would rebut the charge that 'hazelnut' is an effete
Eastern affectation by referring to an ever effeter source, The
Encyclopedia Britannica, and to the infamous ('Dante was a Saxon poet,
who lived near what is now Swindon, around 550 CE')13th edition, at that.
Here is what the Official Oregon Guide to Edible Nuts and Fungi, has
to say:
'The first hazelnut tree planted in 1858 in Oregon's Umpqua Valley by an
English sailor, Sam Strictland. The tree grew and thrived.
'About twenty years later, a Frenchman, David Gernot, sent to France for
seeds of the thin-shell variety. Fifty trees produced from these seeds
were planted in the Willamette Valley along a fence row, as was the
practice in the Old Country. There they thrived with little attention,
providing food for the family and surrounding wildlife.
'Around 1885 Felix Gillet, a French horticulturist, introduced the
Barcelona variety. With a short growth time of only six years to
commercial production and a productive life of up to forty years,
hazelnuts became a viable crop in the Pacific Northwest. The first
tree planted in the Umpqua Valley of Oregon is still standing.
'Barcelona variety is extensively grown today in the United States.
Oregon produces between 98 and 99 percent of the total U.S. hazelnut
crop. The cool summers, gentle winters, rainfall, and rich soil produce
hazelnuts that are prized worldwide for their large size and quality.
'The shell is smooth and round, like a Roman helmet. Each shell holds
a plump, sweet kernel. It is related to the Filbert. "Filbert" is
thought by some historians to have originated from the Old English name,
"full beard," because of the long husk that entirely covers the nut in
some varieties. Others thought the name was derived from St. Philibert;
August 22, the day dedicated to him, corresponds to the time, in
England, of the ripening of the earliest filberts. The bushes grow
wild. They sometimes form fence rows and produced tiny nuts - hazelnuts.
'At different times, this nut has been called the Cobb, the Cobb Nut,
the Spanish Nut, the Pontic Nut, and the Lombard.
'Oregon growers refer to their crop as the hazelnut for marketing reasons…'
I grant that this last sentence is mysterious, given what has gone
before, but from 30,000 feet, all nuts look pretty much the same.
David also says, "Oregon has a population of three hundred thousand
people in a state the size of France. It must be the U.K.'s least
populous suburb."
I am puzzled by this figure, for it would appear to be off by some
3,259, 596 souls, on any given day (although a definite count is nearly
impossible because of the activity of the 'Hoppers,' who stand on the
southern and eastern borders and jump back and forth continually).
Robert Paul
counting sheep
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