Loving the Canebrake

  Back when I was a kid just about every home place had a canebrake.  Since most places around here were small farms, the canes were of high value to the owners.  Not only were the canes used as fishing poles, the wood was strong enough and limber enough to be used for many different purposes on the farm.  In the springtime, hundreds of canes were cut to be used as tomato stakes.  The stakes would last one season and then could be tossed next to the fence line to rot.  There was no need to retrieve the stakes for future use.  An easy fence could be constructed using the readily available canes.  Canes were cut to length and laid along the fence site.  Two wires were attached to a stable post then each cane was wrapped (top and bottom) to create a fence row.  This was a dense fence that kept even the smallest animals contained.   The canes were also split and used as slats in gates, temporary roofs and floors.  There is a fine canebrake on our property that I was able to start from a single cane years ago.  I find many uses for the canes from gardening aids to crafts. The canebrake is well tended so it can supply many strong canes.

  I remember two distinct uses of the bamboo on our farm.  One of the funnest uses (for the kids anyway) was to use the canes as bean poles.  Posts were erected about every ten feet between two rows of beans and a strong wire attached about eight feet from the ground.  Then canes were wrapped with heavy cording along the wire.  This gave a sort of teepee look to the bean rows and allowed for great imaginary play once the beans covered the "tent".  Cowboys and Indians was a favorite playtime event and the bean rows were the perfect teepees.  Besides!  For those of you who do not know, bean leaves stick nicely to clothing!  A leaf badge was chosen for the "sheriff and his deputies".  No fancy store bought stuff for us!  We did not need it...we had imaginations.  (Something that is lacking today with all of the current toys that simply numb the brain.)  Hours of fun could be found romping in the fields.

  Another interesting use for the canes was carving.  Each year, Pop would carve a netting needle out of a prime piece of cane.  Again, for those who do not know, cast nets are knitted with strange looking needles.  These needles used to be carved from wood. Pop either use bamboo or cedar.  I remember that Pop's shuttles would be a good ten inches in length, as flat as a coin and were tapered at the top to a point. Along about half way up from the bottom, an "eye" was carved into the slat.  This eye had a inner sharp point that held the line.  The bottom of the needle had a U shaped groove for the cord to be held in place.  After the needle was carved, it was sanded to silky smoothness then oiled. Pop made all of his own nets and some for the neighbors so a good needle was in constant demand.  The trick to carving that needle was not so much the outside but cutting the inside of the eye so the thin shaft was not cracked.  If that broke, the shuttle had to be discarded and carving began again on a new slice of cane.

  These days, when you mention a canebrake to folks, they stare at you with confusion in their eyes. Most have never heard of such and surely did not realize that the bamboo was a useful tool.  Of course, nowadays, folks rush down to the nearest store to purchase everything instead of using their brains to create.  Gone are the days when folks actually worked.  It seems now that people sit around trying to tell everyone else what they should do instead of actually doing something themselves.