Linda Derry wrote:
>
> I really appreciate all the great information about vermin control through
> glass in the walls etc.  but Antonia Malan, would you please explain further
> the following part of your Wed, 29 Apr 1998 message:
>  >>in the latter contexts there were
> >> many animal bones (especially sheep) lying around on the dusty ground
> >> surface, some complete and surprisingly large, so the rats themselves
> >> don't seem to have interpreted the broken glass as a deterrant.
>
> I'm not understanding your meaning here.  Are you saying the rats brought in
> the bones?  (Spring allergies & antihistimines are making me a bit dense I
> guess).  Years ago, when I worked at Colonial Williamsburg, the Peyton
> Randolph site, we found a series of what we thought were planting beds.
> Some of them were lined with broken bottle glass, others were lined with big
> flat animal bones - like shoulder pieces).  Like I said, I'm probably
> missing the point here, but, for what its worth, I'd thought I mention it -
> in case there is a connection.
>
> Linda Derry ([log in to unmask])
> Old Cahawba Archaeological Park
> Alabama Historical Commission
 
 
For those who were asking about my source for the term "crocking," it
might have been a diary or garden book of Peytton Randolph. The bedds
Linda remembers--I didn't help dig themm, but I saw them--were thought
to be Randolph's asparagus beds, which he described, including the
laying of glass for drainage. BTW, my glass-and-pottery-lined garden
beds were at Curles Plantation which was owned by a first cousin of
Peyton.
 
Have you forgiven me yet, Linda?<G>
 
Dan