"Malcolm" wrote in message
...

In article , Kay
writes
In article ,
p.k.
writes
ned wrote:
"Stephen Howard" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 12 Jul 2005 12:29:23 +0000, kate7
wrote:


Hello,
In the depths of my local nature reserve, there is a
blackberry bush
that produces abnormally large, sweet blackberries. None of
it's
neighbours have similar atributes and for the last three years
I've
been harvesting this one bush for the best freezer jam you've
ever
tasted.

Does anyone know the best way to propagate from this bush?

Propagating anything from your 'local nature reserve' is likely
to be
severely frowned upon.
It is a *reserve*. A *reserved area*, not to be pillaged at
everyone's
whim.
.......... :-) Unless, of course, it is truly *your* nature
reserve.

Nonsense!

Removing flowers/seeds from a rare plant in a nature reserve is
one thing.
keeping a few blackberries from the jam pot and propagating is
quite
another.

Speaking as someone on the management committee of a local nature
reserve, you could always try asking!

Well done, Kay! While I can relate to both Ned's and Nick's
responses,
the fact that it is a nature reserve (though whether local society,
local authority or national hasn't been specified) surely requires
at
the least the courtesy of enquiring from whoever is responsible for
it
whether they mind what you are wanting to do. And while Nick's
trenchant
views on wildlife law and lawmakers are very well known, I hope that
even he accepts that some actions on nature reserves can be damaging
(which what you are proposing wouldn't be, in my view) and so there
may
be regulations governing what can and cannot be done on this
particular
one.

ROFL. Well, that put the cat among the pigeons!
Of course nature reserves require managing - by those who know what
the management plan is.
Most reserves rely on volunteer help to assist with said management -
under supervision.
What no reserve needs are individual self appointed 'helpers' acting
with no thought for the consequences of their actions.
I know of one case where 'well meaning thoughtless' birders set up
numerous bird boxes on a reserve being managed for its unique insect
population.
Once a precedent has been set about taking a cutting here and 'a few'
seeds there, it is but a short step to becoming the local garden
centre.
I'm sure, well I hope, that the 'help yourself attitude' would be
frowned upon in a 'Botanical Garden''.
Is it the case that nature reserves are simply perceived as no more
than waste patches of scrub, of no ecological value and obviously not
managed because nothing is labelled?

--
ned

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk
last update 12.07.2005

In article ,
Malcolm wrote:


Well done, Kay! While I can relate to both Ned's and Nick's responses,
the fact that it is a nature reserve (though whether local society,
local authority or national hasn't been specified) surely requires at
the least the courtesy of enquiring from whoever is responsible for it
whether they mind what you are wanting to do. And while Nick's trenchant
views on wildlife law and lawmakers are very well known, I hope that
even he accepts that some actions on nature reserves can be damaging
(which what you are proposing wouldn't be, in my view) and so there may
be regulations governing what can and cannot be done on this particular
one.

I was posting about damaging actions to various ecologies 25 years
ago! But I am glad that you agree that this action would not be
damaging, despite its illegality - though I am not asking you to
agree publicly that that demonstrates the stupidity of the law.

I never denied that it would be courteous to ask, but the problem
with that is when you get a response from a dogmatist or bureaucrat.
Do you then ignore the idiot or not?


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

The message
from kate7 contains these words:

/snip/

Another word about the plentitude of this finefruit. When my mum was
little EVERY child in the village was sent out picking berries for
jam.And she says there was still never a shortage. I believe the
environment was much better off when communities engaged with it in a
sustainable and appreciative way.

When I was little I was sent out with a pudding basin to collect
blackberries, and I went out with a carrier bag (They were strong brown
paper with string handles in those days...) on my own account and picked
rose hips, which I took to the local MoF (Ministry of Food) office,
where I sold them for lots of money. (I can't remember how much, but I
think it was either a penny or tuppence a pound: but when your
pocket-money was threppence a week a carrier bag of rose hips was a
king's ransom.)

--
Rusty
Emus to: horrid dot squeak snailything zetnet point co full-stop uk
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...

snip
I never denied that it would be courteous to ask, but the problem
with that is when you get a response from a dogmatist or bureaucrat.

........... even if they agree with you?
;-)

--
ned

http://www.bugsandweeds.co.uk
last update 12.07.2005