Note from Brother Joe

In looking for something on my computer this morning, I ran across this note from Joe from last August.  It is interesting:

"TURNBO NUTS

Read an article in Missouri Conservationist about a couple of near extinct trees in MO and it brought back memories of the two trees mentioned below:

BUTTERNUT TREE – Some of the readers may remember the one just up hill and toward the barn from our tomato canning factory.     A canker has killed practically all the trees in MO but a stand has been located near Cape Girardeau, MO.  The MO Dep’t of Conversation is attempting to start seedlings from these trees as they are believed to be immune from the canker. 

 OZARK CHINQUAPIN OAK – There was a huge tree along Turnbo Creek just north of the bridge location, in the Merrifield Turnbo Bottom.  Pete spotted a power line pole with light meter in that vicinity on our last tour. You also need to Google it and get a picture of the acorn, which was covered with a tough skin. I don’t remember the details but Sam Andreatta and our grandfather grew up together in Austria and both ended up neighbors in MO.  The Andreatta boys and the Felin boys were goofing off near this tree, (probably swimming) and our granddad sent the Andreatta boys home.  Turned out that did not upset Sam at all as he was needing his boys to work back at his farm! This tree is also nearly extinct, in MO.

There was also large hickory nut tree about ½ way between the butternut tree and our barn.       Seems like we usually favored the hickory nuts and cracked many  of them under the hickory nut tree.  Nothing mentioned in the article about hickory nuts so my guess is they are still around?"