McCarthy: cane was thirty feet high
Marius Hancu
Is guess "cane" here is the plant on the edge of the river. Is this
"thirty feet high" an exaggeration/hyperbole?
---
[Getting out of the river]
When he came out of the cane on the far side he stopped to look back
but the cane was thirty feet high and the couldn't see anything.
Downriver was a broad bench of land and a stand of cottonwoods.
Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, p. 34
---
--
Thanks.
Marius Hancu
Cheryl P.
I think it's an exaggeration. My first thought was that they meant sugar
cane, but that apparently grows to 12 feet. There are lots of other
plants that are described as having canes.
I did find out that there is a native NA bamboo that grows to about 20
ft - Arundinaria gigantea - and the website of one commercial grower
says it will grow to 20-30 ft.
I think you'd need a very big yard to want to plant 20 ft bamboo plants.
--
Cheryl
tony cooper
wrote:
River cane (Arundinaria gigantea) grows in thickets - "cane breaks" -
and could be as described by McCarthy.
--
Tony Cooper - Orlando, Florida
Marius Hancu
> >> Is guess "cane" here is the plant on the edge of the river. Is this
> >> "thirty feet high" an exaggeration/hyperbole?
>
> >> ---
> >> [Getting out of the river]
>
> >> When he came out of the cane on the far side he stopped to look back
> >> but the cane was thirty feet high and the couldn't see anything.
> >> Downriver was a broad bench of land and a stand of cottonwoods.
>
> >> Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, p. 34
> >> ---
> >> --
> >> Thanks.
> >> Marius Hancu
>
> >I think it's an exaggeration. My first thought was that they meant sugar
> >cane, but that apparently grows to 12 feet. There are lots of other
> >plants that are described as having canes.
>
> >I did find out that there is a native NA bamboo that grows to about 20
> >ft - Arundinaria gigantea - and the website of one commercial grower
> >says it will grow to 20-30 ft.
>
> >I think you'd need a very big yard to want to plant 20 ft bamboo plants.
>
> River cane (Arundinaria gigantea) grows in thickets - "cane breaks" -
> and could be as described by McCarthy.
Its other name is giant cane.
That height might be OK.
Thank you both.
Marius Hancu
J. J. Lodder
Websources say that river cane used to grow to 30',
but rarely to more than 20' nowadays.
(perhaps it needs time, or the best places are gone
Not extremely high for a bamboo though.
I have seen bamboo growing to 20 metres in France, [1]
Jan
[1] that is, it seems very high.
The information ext to it says 20 m
CDB
> "Cheryl P." <cper...@mun.ca> wrote:
>> Marius Hancu wrote:
>>>
>>> Is guess "cane" here is the plant on the edge of the river. Is
>>> this "thirty feet high" an exaggeration/hyperbole?
>>>
>>> ---
>>> [Getting out of the river]
>>>
>>> When he came out of the cane on the far side he stopped to look
>>> back but the cane was thirty feet high and the couldn't see
>>> anything. Downriver was a broad bench of land and a stand of
>>> cottonwoods.
>>>
>>> Cormac McCarthy, No Country for Old Men, p. 34
>>> ---
>>
>> sugar cane, but that apparently grows to 12 feet. There are lots
>> of other plants that are described as having canes.
>>
>> I did find out that there is a native NA bamboo that grows to
>> about 20 ft - Arundinaria gigantea - and the website of one
>> commercial grower says it will grow to 20-30 ft.
>>
>> I think you'd need a very big yard to want to plant 20 ft bamboo
>> plants.
>
> River cane (Arundinaria gigantea) grows in thickets - "cane breaks"
> - and could be as described by McCarthy.
>
"cane brakes"?
Wood Avens
wrote:
>tony cooper wrote:
>> River cane (Arundinaria gigantea) grows in thickets - "cane breaks"
>> - and could be as described by McCarthy.
>>
>Whoa. Since "break" comes up in another thread: shouldn't that be
>"cane brakes"?
>
I thought that, and I Googled it. Seems there are a lot more breaks
than brakes.
--
Katy Jennison
spamtrap: remove the first two letters after the @
Cheryl P.
> On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:31:34 -0400, "CDB" <belle...@sympatico.ca>
> wrote:
>
>> tony cooper wrote:
>
>>> River cane (Arundinaria gigantea) grows in thickets - "cane breaks"
>>> - and could be as described by McCarthy.
>>>
>> Whoa. Since "break" comes up in another thread: shouldn't that be
>> "cane brakes"?
>>
>
> I thought that, and I Googled it. Seems there are a lot more breaks
> than brakes.
>
person uses both 'canebrake' and 'canebreak'
http://www.lewisbamboo.com/gigantea.html
I wonder if the 'USDA Climate Zone 5' is the same as the Canadian Zone
5? If it is, I should be able to grow that stuff, which would certainly
attract attention. A much smaller 'bamboo' (I don't know the proper
name) was allegedly brought in by Americans at the bases in WW II as a
garden ornamental and can make a bit of a nuisance of itself - only if
you want to dig it up and plant something else, though.
According to the web, the US 5 is actually colder than our climate. I
suppose I'd be hounded by people upset about invasive plant species if I
actually succeeded in growing some.
--
Cheryl
CDB
> "CDB" belle...@sympatico.ca wrote:
>> tony cooper wrote:
>
>>> River cane (Arundinaria gigantea) grows in thickets - "cane
>>> breaks" - and could be as described by McCarthy.
>>>
>> Whoa. Since "break" comes up in another thread: shouldn't that be
>> "cane brakes"?
>
> I thought that, and I Googled it. Seems there are a lot more breaks
> than brakes.
>
that seem to refute Google. But perhaps they, and I, are frightfully
old-fashioned.
Peter Moylan
> I think you'd need a very big yard to want to plant 20 ft bamboo plants.
>
I used to have a big yard, and it did indeed have tall bamboo planted by
a previous owner. It took me years to get rid of it. The roots spread
underground, and even after you think you've dug it all out it will pop
up somewhere else. Bamboo is a noxious weed, in my opinion.
--
Peter Moylan, Newcastle, NSW, Australia. http://www.pmoylan.org
For an e-mail address, see my web page.
Eric Walker
[...]
> I thought that, and I Googled it. Seems there are a lot more breaks
> than brakes.
brake: an area overgrown with dense brushwood, briers, and undergrowth; a
thicket. ME, from Low Middle German. [AHD]
--
Cordially,
Eric Walker, Owlcroft House
http://owlcroft.com/english/
J. J. Lodder
> Cheryl P. wrote:
>
> > I think you'd need a very big yard to want to plant 20 ft bamboo plants.
> >
> I used to have a big yard, and it did indeed have tall bamboo planted by
> a previous owner. It took me years to get rid of it. The roots spread
> underground, and even after you think you've dug it all out it will pop
> up somewhere else. Bamboo is a noxious weed, in my opinion.
Depends. Some species do spread, others don't.
The spreading ones are very hard to contain.
It takes a dug in concrete wall to a metre depth
or something equally massive,
Jan
mm
wrote:
>Wood Avens wrote:
>> On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 11:31:34 -0400, "CDB" <belle...@sympatico.ca>
>> wrote:
>>
>>> tony cooper wrote:
>>
>>>> River cane (Arundinaria gigantea) grows in thickets - "cane breaks"
>>>> - and could be as described by McCarthy.
>>>>
>>> Whoa. Since "break" comes up in another thread: shouldn't that be
>>> "cane brakes"?
>>>
>>
>> I thought that, and I Googled it. Seems there are a lot more breaks
>> than brakes.
>>
>And if you look at the following link, you will notice that the same
>person uses both 'canebrake' and 'canebreak'
>
>http://www.lewisbamboo.com/gigantea.html
>
>I wonder if the 'USDA Climate Zone 5' is the same as the Canadian Zone
>5?
Yes the zones are the same, but iirc, most of zone 5 is south of
Canada, OTOH, I don't remember if zone 1 is in the south or the north,
so don't go by me.
If it is, I should be able to grow that stuff, which would certainly
>attract attention. A much smaller 'bamboo' (I don't know the proper
>name) was allegedly brought in by Americans at the bases in WW II as a
>garden ornamental and can make a bit of a nuisance of itself - only if
>you want to dig it up and plant something else, though.
Bamboo is definitely a nuisance. I wouldn't plant any in my yard
unless I had several acres.
R H Draney
>>5?
>
>Yes the zones are the same, but iirc, most of zone 5 is south of
>Canada, OTOH, I don't remember if zone 1 is in the south or the north,
>so don't go by me.
Probably in the north...I'm in zone 9....r
--
"Oy! A cat made of lead cannot fly."
- Mark Brader declaims a basic scientific principle
mm
wrote:
>mm filted:
>>
>>On Fri, 26 Mar 2010 13:39:23 -0230, "Cheryl P." <cper...@mun.ca>
>>wrote:
>>>
>>>I wonder if the 'USDA Climate Zone 5' is the same as the Canadian Zone
>>>5?
>>
>>Yes the zones are the same, but iirc, most of zone 5 is south of
>>Canada, OTOH, I don't remember if zone 1 is in the south or the north,
>>so don't go by me.
>
>Probably in the north...I'm in zone 9....r
This is harder than I thought.
First I coudn't quickly find a map that included Canada.
Second, the maps I did find were of more than one design and had
different boundries.
Third, neither matched the map I used last time I mail-ordered plants,
which had the boundary less than 20 miles north of me (in Baltimore)
Fourth, not all use numbers, but the one I found that uses numbers
http://www.raintreenursery.com/images/zones/2006_zones.gif OR
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.raintreenursery.com/images/zones/2006_zones.gif&imgrefurl=http://www.raintreenursery.com/map_usdaHardiness.html&h=421&w=525&sz=37&tbnid=GvM8Qdq2yt032M:&tbnh=106&tbnw=132&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dclimate%2Bzone%2Bmap&hl=en&usg=__ctiS4gIhP1VH8Qrwd_wyc937JCQ=&ei=YoKuS4jyL4SBlAfPpojUDQ&sa=X&oi=image_result&resnum=7&ct=image&ved=0CBcQ9QEwBg
has 10 at the tip of Florida. The one that doesn't use numbers is
http://www.fs.fed.us/psw/programs/cufr/images/ncz_map.jpg
Enough for now.