I grew up on a dairy farm and learned early in my life that cow manure is useful. That usefulness may have been born out of necessity, though. After all, the manure from a herd of 50 cows has to go somewhere right? Thats how I learned that cow manure makes a great fertilizer. But we never had...

Under Edward I the mediaeval prosperity of the English may be said to have culminated. It declined under the weak or warlike reigns of his successors, until during the Wars of the Roses much that civilization had gained seemed to have been lost. The Tudor accession brought the Wars of the Roses...

If you live in the average Ontario home, about 25 per cent of your heating bills goes out the window – or door, or attic, or chimney. Sealing those leaks now is the most cost-effective way to cut down on your heating bills this winter.

“Every year we remind homeowners about...

Home remodeling is a very common event that the home owners undertake. This is in fact true for I know that all of us want our homes to look better and be more comfortable to live in. So for those who are thinking about home remodeling, here are some of the essential guides to help you in your...

For over 100 years hunting plantations have been planting fruit trees for wildlife food and shelter. Like the old English hunting plantations, todays hunters are realizing that big deer, strong bucks and graceful does, hardy turkey, fat quail, and dove come from supplementing what would...

The first historical accounts of walnut trees growing under civilized cultivation was in ancient Babylon (Iraq) about 2000 B.C.; however, walnuts have evidently been attached to mankind much earlier by excavations from cave fossils as suggested by archeologists. There is a reference point in the...

Pecan trees, Carya illinoinensis, grow in natural groves in bottom lands near rivers or lakes with nearby periodic overflowing water. Archeological remains and fossil evidence reveals that pecans were collected and stored by Indians, the original settlers and inhabitants of America, and the...

Pawpaw trees were discovered in 1541 by the Spanish explorer, Hernando Desoto, on an excursion into the Mississippi Valley, and he sent samples of this plant back to Europe.

William Bartram in 1776 stated in his botanical book, Travels, that he found pawpaw trees growing on the Alatamaha...

Very little information can be found in the historical docket on the native American fruit, the mayhaw, Crataegus aestivalis. This is true because of several factors, one being the size of the mayhaw and the bland taste of the fruit found growing in the wild state. These factors did not excite...

Loquats, Eriobotrya japonica, are documented to have been grown in Japan around 1100 AD. Some botanists have suggested that the first plantings of the loquat trees may have come from China originally and later were introduced into Japan. The loquat tree was widely distributed in Europe after...

Chinese poets spoke about the wonderful jujube in 600 BC. The fruit of the jujube has been used in ancient Chinese medicine for many nutritional remedies for 2500 years. Jujubes were used by Gerard in Europe as a medicinal herb in the 1600s to treat ailments of the kidneys, lungs, and...

The early Spanish explorers of the 1500s found Strawberry Guava, Acca sellowiana O., growing as a native tree in America, where they were firmly established from Mexico southward to Peru. History records that Seminole Indians were growing guava trees in Northern Florida in...