Criss crossing rows of seedlings with black cotton is an old way of protecting seedlings, especially peas. But having seen several birds with thread wrapped around their legs which had subsequently atrophied or become deformed and also having seen the damage discarded fishing line can do to waterfowl I would not want to use it. Even nets need to be carefully secured. I once found a blackbird dead in my garden having actually struggled so hard after getting caught in a net that it pulled off its own leg. A sturdy fruit cage is the best solution for bush fruits although it's expensive.

In the late 90's, there was a poultry PHd who started a poultry operation raising roosters for their hackles. The business was near Olathe CO I believe. He would regularly harvest a rather large number of birds (over 100 I vaguely recall), get the hackles and compost the carcasses with the saved rooster manure. He would lay down a layer of manure, then birds, then manure, birds and so on. In short order the pile was done and there was only the occasional speck of bone. BTW, the rooster manure analyzed at 8% TKN-N. His explanation for the high N was that roosters don't produce urea (volatile) in their poop while hens do. Boy do I wish I had a rooster operation near me!!! Michael

There are different types of Leukemia. So far I haven't found which type was supposedly linked to power lines. I lost my dad to Leukemia in 2006. During the time he was diagnosed I learned a lot about his type which was AML and related to Benzene. He was a mechanic; it was in products we used at the gas station. I worked there 20 years; chances are I will eventually show symptoms :( After my dad died, there were more then 10 people I knew that died from some form of cancer. All of these years I didn't know one person, now there are so many. Except for my dad, I don't recall anyone else that had a type of cancer that was linked to a known cause. If any of you know anyone that worked with Benzene, please have them read up on AML and let them know they need to get their blood tested regularly. People that work/ed in the service station / gasoline field; or a painter are the 2 main professions this affects. I hope that one day cancer will be a thing of the past. My children do not need to lose any more people to this horrible disease. Here is a link that might be useful: Leukemia causes

Electric and Magnetic Fields (EMF) Radiation from Power Lines http://www.epa.gov/radtown/power-lines.html Being a radiation worker, your exposure to harmful radiation is inversely proportional to the distance. If you are twice the distance from the source, your exposure is decreased by four. One significant hazard is children playing outside. The laws of Bergone and Tribondeau (radiobiologists) is basically rapidly growing or producing cells (children, growing fetus,etc.) are more sensitive to radiation. This is why leukemia may be more common to children playing outside near the source than those adults who may be inside with some protection). One reason that studies by the government do not fully state warnings to human health caused by electromagnetic radiation is conflict of interest. Many times chairpersons on committees are connected to power plants/companies. This is legal as long as the person discloses the "conflict of interest". The EPA states: The general scientific consensus is that, thus far, the evidence available is weak and is not sufficient to establish a definitive cause-effect relationship. No surprise there. One study in California: STATEMENT TO THE PUBLIC The reviewers expressed their judgments using two distinct sets of guidelines to evaluate the evidence: · Using the traditional guidelines of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) for childhood leukemia, their classifications for EMFs ranged from “human carcinogen” to “probable human carcinogen” to “possible human carcinogen” (IARC’s Groups 1, 2A, 2B). Panels convened by IARC and the National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences classified EMFs as a “possible human carcinogen” for childhood leukemia. · Using the traditional guidelines of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) for adult leukemia, their classifications for EMFs ranged from “human carcinogen” to “possible human carcinogen” (IARC’s Group 1 and 2B). The IARC Working Group classified the EMF evidence on adult leukemia as “inadequate.” The National Institutes for Environmental Health Sciences classified it as “possible.” · Using the Guidelines developed especially for the California EMF program, one of the reviewers “strongly believes” that high residential EMFs cause some degree of increased risk of childhood leukemia, another was “prone to believe” that they do, and another was “close to the dividing line between believing or not believing.” · Using the Guidelines developed especially for the California EMF program, one of the reviewers was “ prone to believe” that high residential or occupational EMFs cause some degree of increased risk of adult leukemia, while the other two were “close to the dividing line between believing or not believing. In 2005 Draper et al. found a 70% increase in childhood leukemia for those living within 200 metres (656 ft) of an overhead transmission line, and a 23% increase for those living between 200 and 600 metres (656 and 1,969 ft). The authors concluded that "the relation may be due to chance or confounding." The authors considered it unlikely that the increase from 200 m to 600 m is related to magnetic fields as they are well below 0.4 µT at this distance.[39] Bristol University (UK) has published work on a theory that could account for this increase, and would also provide a potential mechanism, being that the electric fields around power lines attract aerosol pollutants.[15] IMO, no way would I buy a house near those power lines.