Monday, January 21, 2019

Stone Yam Planters

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ph_ORewpE0

2 comments :

Curtiss Hoffman said...

Obvious differences between this and what we see in the Northeast abound:

1) yams do not grow in this climate. While there was no indication as to where in the world the video was shot, the sound of tropical birds and the way the planter was dressed suggest it is somewhere in the tropics, where yams are indigenous.

2) The arrangement of piles is much more regular than we ordinarily find, even in Peter's "grids".

3) In order for this to work to grow tubers (potatoes are also not native here) you would need the hole in the top, which we do not see in our structures. It's true, as Peter has pointed out, that large "mounds" tend to have depressions at the top, but the depressions don't go down to ground level, so whatever they are for, they wouldn't work for this.

4) All the rocks in these piles are of a similar size, shape, and mineral composition. This is not typical of many of the stone structures.

I conclude that this is a superficial comparison!

pwax said...

The photo is shown for comparison with our rock piles. Any use of rock piles needs to be considered within our "vocabulary". I do not think they were used for planters up here in New England (except for maybe some piles near the Estabrook cellar hole) but it is worth seeing the example.