Stalking the Wild Sweetgrass: Domestication and Horticulture of the Grass Used in African-American Coiled Basketry

ISBN-13: 9781461459026 / Angielski / Miękka / 2012 / 119 str.

Robert J. Dufault

Opis

Stalking the Wild Sweetgrass: Domestication and Horticulture of the Grass Used in African-American Coiled Basketry is concerned with the historical domestication of sweetgrass, the main construction/structural grass used in the three century old African-American tradition of coiled basketry in South Carolina. During the plantation era in southern agriculture, sweetgrass baskets were made for post-harvest processing and storage of rice by enslaved Africans from Lower Cape Fear, North Carolina to northern Florida. Enslaved Africans from the Rice Kingdom in Africa were prized for the basketry and rice agronomic skills and were specially sought by slavery traders. Today, this ancient craft still thrives in the community of Mt. Pleasant, South Carolina. Authored by one of the most renowned experts in the field and filled with illuminating color photographs, this volume provides knowledge of the horticulture of an extremely important wild plant and an example of the perils of plant- and people-based research and experimentation. As one of the few authoritative texts on the subject, Stalking the Wild Sweetgrass: Domestication and Horticulture of the Grass Used in African-American Coiled Basketry is a resourceful volume on wild sweetgrass, suitable for researchers and students alike.

Spis treści

1. Introduction
            
2. The beginnings of change         
  Sweetgrass Conference, 1988 The findings of the Conference       

3. My time to get involved         
 What were the sweetgrass basket community needs?     

4. Getting to the grass roots of cultivation       
 First site of large scale sweetgrass plantings – Palm Key Resort, Ridgeland, SC 

5. Getting more involved          
 Low Country Sweetgrass Preservation Society      

6. Sweetgrass Utopia in the Southeast – Little St. Simon’s Island     
 Little St. Simon’s Island history       
 An amazing sweetgrass habitat        

7. Getting to know the basketmakers        
 Mt. Pleasant Basketmakers’ Association interaction     
 Perceived horticultural challenges       

8. Sweetgrass Culture Workshop Oct. 24, 1992       

9. The concept of large scale sweetgrass plantations       
 Grand scale experiments and perceived problems 
    
10. 2nd Site of large scale sweetgrass plantings – McLeod Plantation, James Island   
 McLeod Plantation history        
 Objectives of the grand experiment - people and science based   
 Results of people based experiment        
 Results of science based experiment   
    
11. 3rd Site of large scale sweetgrass plantings – Dill Sanctuary, James Island   
 Dill Sanctuary history         
 Results of field experiment        
 Re-evaluation of large scale sweetgrass plantations     

12. Alternative ways to access sweetgrass        
 Dependence on private beachfront communities to allow access to sweetgrass 
 Municipal/ commercial plantings       
 Restoring natural habitats along SC beaches      
 Army Corps Engineers Dune Vegetation Shore Protection Project  
 Sweetgrass planting logistics at Folly Beach, SC    
 Folly Beach sweetgrass planting locations       
 Folly Beach sweetgrass development over the years    
 Grand Strand sweetgrass project      
 Grand Strand sweetgrass planting locations     
 The happy ending to a long struggle      

13. Sweetgrass biology          
 Sweetgrass botany…what’s in a name?       

14. Sweetgrass horticulture -environmental considerations       
 Distribution in the US and habitats        
 Plant longevity           
 Soils           
 Heat/drought tolerance        
 Pest pressures          
 Fertility responses         

15. Seedling cultural practices         
 Clump separation to produce sweetgrass plugs      
 Seed germination and seedling culture       
  When to seed         
  Containers         
  Seeding the media        
  Seedling fertilization        
  Seedling watering        
  Seedling hardening        
  What is a “quality” sweetgrass transplant?     
  What are the problems in growing sweetgrass transplants?   
  Fertility         
  Low light        
   Seeding only a few seeds per container     
   Over seeding        
   Too short a greenhouse growth period               
   Excessively long leaf production 
    
16. Field production practices         
 Timing of spring planting in the field       
 Soil conditions          
 Fertilizer additions in the field        
 Watering                       
 “Benign Neglect”         
 Weed control          
 Light, shade and competition        
 Plant spacing in field planted for basketmakers’ use     
 Timing of fall planting in the field       
 Growth practices in the first year after planting     
 Growth practices in the second year after planting and beyond   
 Changing sweetgrass into “Frankengrass”      
 Harvesting          
 Yearly renovation         
 Longevity and decline of sweetgrass in cultivation     

17.  Concluding thoughts          
  What mysteries are left to unravel?      

18. Afterthoughts 

O autorze

Robert J. Dufault
Clemson University, Department of Horticulture, Charleston, SC, USA