New Subscriber in Beltsville, Maryland, USA

Harry Dewey (harryd@CapAccess.org)
Mon, 30 Jan 1995 08:38:16 -0500 (EST)

I first became interested in carnivorous plants when living (1962-1966) in
New Gretna, New Jersey, which is in the well-known pine barrens of
southern New Jersey. I kept a sailboat at nearby Tuckerton, to which I
commuted from 1957 until moving to the area (from Brooklyn NY). During
those ten years I did a lot of canoeing (several times a week from spring
to fall) and about once a week in the winter. The charms of that area and
that activity are detailed in The Little Rivers of New Jersey, a book I
practically wore out. The bogs adjoining those rivers abound in droseras
and sarracenias.

One of my fondest recollections of those days is a canoeing trip on the
Oswego with my dear friend Marian Hanscom and her two children, then about
ten and eight. Both children were fascinated with the idea of carnivorous
plants, and, warning that it should be the only plant that we might damage,
I allowed Carol to pick the main stem of one of the sundews when I stopped
the canoe along an area that teemed with them. We continued downstream,
and as I explained about the sticky substance that attracted and then
trapped insects, she suddenly screamed with delight, "Oh! It's caught a
fly!" And sure enough, it had.

Carol, where are you? Do you still go canoeing? Do you still remember
the first fly you ever caught with a sundew, so long ago? I do.

I'm delighted to be here.

Harry Dewey