Interesting that I recall the bands as yellow and Dan recalls them as black
Actually, I think they started yellow and then darkened to black as bark
grew back. I definitely remember both, and the transitional. But perhaps my
memory is playing tricks, as it is inclined to do these days.


----- Original Message -----
From: "Daniel H. Weiskotten" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, June 06, 2002 9:06 PM
Subject: Re: Saving Elm trees


> Ah, the majestic elm trees of Cazenovia ... (and all the wild ones that
> grew [and still grow] in back corners and fence lines!)
>
> I recall the last days of the big elms, black stripes around them, plastic
> tubing pumping whatever kind of noxious agent into them, kids like me (and
> Lester Hendrix) sitting among the roots watching the parades ... They
> dumped them by the ton in the gully of the Michigan Road Landfill where it
> all ran down into beloved Chittenango Creek (which was also then the sewer
> outfall).  The disease was said to be spread by burning so it all just sat
> there and rotted.
>
> Some elms scattered about the Village survived well into the 1980s.  One
> massive elm near the foot of Cazenovia Lake, below Lorenzo, was as healthy
> as any elm tree ever was and as far as I could tell had never been
> treated.  It was 4 or 5 feet in diameter when it was struck by a car in
the
> late 1980s.  DOT took it down for safety and there was not a spot of rot
or
> disease in it.  Several others across the highway were even larger but
died
> all at once.  They stood dead for a couple more years until we took them
> down in about 1985.  They were massive, and made excellent firewood, with
> the smoothest, cleanest grain I have ever seen.  (Long-dead elm cleaves
> beautifully, like cherry; the fresh wood is worse than a Gordian Knot.)
>
> About this same time the restoration crews were doing work on the windows
> at Lorenzo and discovered that the sills were made of walnut or
> butternut.  I also recall that the original bills for carving of the
> mantles in 1807 called for a lot of elm wood.  Otis Ormsbee was the carver
> and he went on to carve some of the most beautiful woodwork in all of
> Central NY in a number of other houses in Cazenovia.  Late-19th and
> early-20th Century historians forgot all about Ormsbee, or disbelieved
that
> some backwoods Yankee could carve such beautiful things, and the written
> histories attribute all of the exquisite mantles, stairs, and doors as
> having been carved by "imported Italians."
>
> The elm is hanging on a bit, but I'm hoping the American Chestnut can be
> brought back.
> http://www.acf.org/
>
> I'm all for planting native-to-New York trees along our highways and
> byways, if only for the historicity of it all.
>
>          Dan W.
>
>
>
> >Lester Hendrix <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> >
> > >Dan Weiskotten, in discussing turnpikes, mentions elm trees in
Cazenovia.
> > >For what it's worth, I recall efforts to save Cazenovia's elm trees. In
late
> > >1940s and the 1950s bands about two to three inches wide were carved
> > >(shallow) into the bark of the elms, and something which I recall was
> > >yellowish was put there. I never saw the bands being carved, only they
bands
> > >themselves and was told they were to help prevent Dutch elm disease. I
think
> > >(and I believe that years ago I thought) that the yellow looked a lot
like a
> > >band of fly paper (remember that stuff?). The tree bands were perhaps 4
feet
> > >above ground.
> > >Each summer for several years, a tank truck would appear in the village
and
> > >pump a liquid high into the trees, the stream of liquid looking much
like
> > >water from a firefighter's hose only whiter. This also was an effort to
> > >prevent the spread of Dutch elm disease.
> > >I do not know who was responsible for the efforts but suspect the
village
> > >since the bands, and pump trucks, were everywhere in the village and I
never
> > >was aware of any outside the village.
> > >Perhaps someone can shed some light on the bands about the trees, and
> > >chemicals sprayed high into the trees only to rain down on the little
> > >children playing beneath.
> > >
> >
> >
> >--
> >Cindy Amrhein
> >Town of Alabama Historian
> >in Genesee Co., NY
> >Experience the Town of Alabama in Genesee County, NY.
> >http://www2.pcom.net/cinjod/historian/
> >APHNYS (Association of Public Historians of New York State)
> >http://www.tier.net/aphnys
> >
> >
> >
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