In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

| I used to buy beer at 1/- a pint.
|
| But it didn't kill weeds. (Boom-boom!)

Some of it (e.g. Watney's Gaslight) didn't make you drunk before
your belly filled up, either.

Never heard of that one, but then, I have never considered Watney's even
remotely drinkable.

Watney's called it Starlight, but its nickname described it better.
It wasn't unpleasant, just rather flavourless and gassy - much like
a weaker USA beer.

I heard rumours that a couple of brands were as cheap as they were
because the brewery wasn't taxed on them.

Do you mean the brewery didn't have to pay booze levy because the
content was less than (IIRC) about 2° Proof?

Yes.

Red Barrel died because Which? Magazine said that if it had been half a
degree less it 'could have been sold over sweetshop counters to
children'.

That wasn't the main reason - it was stronger than Gaslight :-)

It didn't taste particularly nice, either, though it was a hell of
a lot more drinkable than Grotney's Red - one of the most loathely
brews I have ever encountered.

But that's not really a criterion of quality - I make a very pleasant
beer (boys' beer) which is even weaker than that: two pounds of malt and
four ounces of hops to five gallons of brew.

Quite. I am very sad that I can't buy dry cider at 4%, as I used
to be able to - the point is that I LIKE cider, and am not intending
to get plastered as fast and cheaply as possible :-(



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

| I used to buy beer at 1/- a pint.
|
| But it didn't kill weeds. (Boom-boom!)

Some of it (e.g. Watney's Gaslight) didn't make you drunk before
your belly filled up, either.

Never heard of that one, but then, I have never considered Watney's even
remotely drinkable.

Watney's called it Starlight, but its nickname described it better.
It wasn't unpleasant, just rather flavourless and gassy - much like
a weaker USA beer.

I heard rumours that a couple of brands were as cheap as they were
because the brewery wasn't taxed on them.

Do you mean the brewery didn't have to pay booze levy because the
content was less than (IIRC) about 2° Proof?

Yes.

Red Barrel died because Which? Magazine said that if it had been half a
degree less it 'could have been sold over sweetshop counters to
children'.

That wasn't the main reason - it was stronger than Gaslight :-)

It didn't taste particularly nice, either, though it was a hell of
a lot more drinkable than Grotney's Red - one of the most loathely
brews I have ever encountered.

But that's not really a criterion of quality - I make a very pleasant
beer (boys' beer) which is even weaker than that: two pounds of malt and
four ounces of hops to five gallons of brew.

Quite. I am very sad that I can't buy dry cider at 4%, as I used
to be able to - the point is that I LIKE cider, and am not intending
to get plastered as fast and cheaply as possible :-(



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

| I used to buy beer at 1/- a pint.
|
| But it didn't kill weeds. (Boom-boom!)

Some of it (e.g. Watney's Gaslight) didn't make you drunk before
your belly filled up, either.

Never heard of that one, but then, I have never considered Watney's even
remotely drinkable.

Watney's called it Starlight, but its nickname described it better.
It wasn't unpleasant, just rather flavourless and gassy - much like
a weaker USA beer.

I heard rumours that a couple of brands were as cheap as they were
because the brewery wasn't taxed on them.

Do you mean the brewery didn't have to pay booze levy because the
content was less than (IIRC) about 2° Proof?

Yes.

Red Barrel died because Which? Magazine said that if it had been half a
degree less it 'could have been sold over sweetshop counters to
children'.

That wasn't the main reason - it was stronger than Gaslight :-)

It didn't taste particularly nice, either, though it was a hell of
a lot more drinkable than Grotney's Red - one of the most loathely
brews I have ever encountered.

But that's not really a criterion of quality - I make a very pleasant
beer (boys' beer) which is even weaker than that: two pounds of malt and
four ounces of hops to five gallons of brew.

Quite. I am very sad that I can't buy dry cider at 4%, as I used
to be able to - the point is that I LIKE cider, and am not intending
to get plastered as fast and cheaply as possible :-(



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 3 Mar 2004 21:32:59 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:


I used to buy horticultural sodium chlorate (dirty pink, it was) for
1/6d a pound.

I used to buy beer at 1/- a pint.
--

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit;
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

As a student in Cape Town, we drank Castle Special at 10p per quart. It was
not sold in smaller quantities.

Franz

(Keith Dancey) wrote in message ...
In article , Jane Ransom writes:
In article , Keith Dancey
writes

Has anyone any experience of
using sodium chlorate against horsetail? It would help if we could get
some "hands-on" feedback... I have never dared use it.

No, but a few years back someone posted here that he had eradicated his
by continually cutting it back over a period of about 5 years. He was
pretty vicious with it, never letting the foliage see the light of day.


Hmmmm... been cutting mine for over ten years. The thing is, you cannot
cut what you cannot see, and if you cannot see it, it cannot have seen the
light of day.

Judging from the other comments, the patio is more in danger than the
horsetail:-(

Has the OP ever thought of moving:-}

I'm dealing with the same problem in Ontario Canada. The undeveloped
area behind my yard is full of the stuff and last year it pretty much
infested the first meter and a half into my lawn. Every so often i'd
go out there and manually pick all the shoots that i could see through
the grass. There's also a flowerbed back there and i could usually
get a good foot of root out from the deep mulch/soil before it would
break off.

So now that it's taken a foothold into my yard am i completely doomed?
Or is there anything i can do to keep it from spreading further and
further into my yard every year. In another 3 meters it will reach
the veggie garden which i don't want to happen.

Kevin

In article ,
Jaques d'Alltrades wrote:
The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

| I used to buy beer at 1/- a pint.
|
| But it didn't kill weeds. (Boom-boom!)

Some of it (e.g. Watney's Gaslight) didn't make you drunk before
your belly filled up, either.

Never heard of that one, but then, I have never considered Watney's even
remotely drinkable.

Watney's called it Starlight, but its nickname described it better.
It wasn't unpleasant, just rather flavourless and gassy - much like
a weaker USA beer.

I heard rumours that a couple of brands were as cheap as they were
because the brewery wasn't taxed on them.

Do you mean the brewery didn't have to pay booze levy because the
content was less than (IIRC) about 2° Proof?

Yes.

Red Barrel died because Which? Magazine said that if it had been half a
degree less it 'could have been sold over sweetshop counters to
children'.

That wasn't the main reason - it was stronger than Gaslight :-)

It didn't taste particularly nice, either, though it was a hell of
a lot more drinkable than Grotney's Red - one of the most loathely
brews I have ever encountered.

But that's not really a criterion of quality - I make a very pleasant
beer (boys' beer) which is even weaker than that: two pounds of malt and
four ounces of hops to five gallons of brew.

Quite. I am very sad that I can't buy dry cider at 4%, as I used
to be able to - the point is that I LIKE cider, and am not intending
to get plastered as fast and cheaply as possible :-(



Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

wrote in message
om...
(Keith Dancey) wrote in message
...
In article , Jane Ransom
writes:
In article , Keith Dancey
writes

[snip]

So now that it's taken a foothold into my yard am i completely doomed?

Actually, yes.
{:-((

Or is there anything i can do to keep it from spreading further and
further into my yard every year.

Whatever the optimists might say, there is nothing which will eradicate it
except Sodium Chlorate.
In my youth, I tried for 10 years without success, until I took the bull by
the horns and declared the section of garden which was infested as
temporarily non-gardenable and killed off everything in sight with Sodium
Chlorate.

In another 3 meters it will reach
the veggie garden which i don't want to happen.

Franz

"martin" wrote in message
...
On Wed, 3 Mar 2004 21:32:59 GMT, Jaques d'Alltrades
wrote:


I used to buy horticultural sodium chlorate (dirty pink, it was) for
1/6d a pound.

I used to buy beer at 1/- a pint.
--

Knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit;
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad

As a student in Cape Town, we drank Castle Special at 10p per quart. It was
not sold in smaller quantities.

Franz

(Keith Dancey) wrote in message ...
In article , Jane Ransom writes:
In article , Keith Dancey
writes

Has anyone any experience of
using sodium chlorate against horsetail? It would help if we could get
some "hands-on" feedback... I have never dared use it.

No, but a few years back someone posted here that he had eradicated his
by continually cutting it back over a period of about 5 years. He was
pretty vicious with it, never letting the foliage see the light of day.


Hmmmm... been cutting mine for over ten years. The thing is, you cannot
cut what you cannot see, and if you cannot see it, it cannot have seen the
light of day.

Judging from the other comments, the patio is more in danger than the
horsetail:-(

Has the OP ever thought of moving:-}

I'm dealing with the same problem in Ontario Canada. The undeveloped
area behind my yard is full of the stuff and last year it pretty much
infested the first meter and a half into my lawn. Every so often i'd
go out there and manually pick all the shoots that i could see through
the grass. There's also a flowerbed back there and i could usually
get a good foot of root out from the deep mulch/soil before it would
break off.

So now that it's taken a foothold into my yard am i completely doomed?
Or is there anything i can do to keep it from spreading further and
further into my yard every year. In another 3 meters it will reach
the veggie garden which i don't want to happen.

Kevin

wrote in message
om...
(Keith Dancey) wrote in message
...
In article , Jane Ransom
writes:
In article , Keith Dancey
writes

[snip]

So now that it's taken a foothold into my yard am i completely doomed?

Actually, yes.
{:-((

Or is there anything i can do to keep it from spreading further and
further into my yard every year.

Whatever the optimists might say, there is nothing which will eradicate it
except Sodium Chlorate.
In my youth, I tried for 10 years without success, until I took the bull by
the horns and declared the section of garden which was infested as
temporarily non-gardenable and killed off everything in sight with Sodium
Chlorate.

In another 3 meters it will reach
the veggie garden which i don't want to happen.

Franz

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

Quite. I am very sad that I can't buy dry cider at 4%, as I used
to be able to - the point is that I LIKE cider, and am not intending
to get plastered as fast and cheaply as possible :-(

The Cider Shed, Banham, Norfolk sells (proper) cider at 5% -
www.cidershed.com or www.cidershed.co.uk - one of the two. I'm sure Ryan
would send some by carrier.

He usually has some quite interesting ones for sale by the litre
(carry-oots), but the bulk of it is either sweet or dry, and you can opt
(even at the bar) for half and half, dry and a dribble, sweet and a
dribble, 75/25, 25/75 etc.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

Quite. I am very sad that I can't buy dry cider at 4%, as I used
to be able to - the point is that I LIKE cider, and am not intending
to get plastered as fast and cheaply as possible :-(

The Cider Shed, Banham, Norfolk sells (proper) cider at 5% -
www.cidershed.com or www.cidershed.co.uk - one of the two. I'm sure Ryan
would send some by carrier.

He usually has some quite interesting ones for sale by the litre
(carry-oots), but the bulk of it is either sweet or dry, and you can opt
(even at the bar) for half and half, dry and a dribble, sweet and a
dribble, 75/25, 25/75 etc.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from (Nick Maclaren) contains these words:

Quite. I am very sad that I can't buy dry cider at 4%, as I used
to be able to - the point is that I LIKE cider, and am not intending
to get plastered as fast and cheaply as possible :-(

The Cider Shed, Banham, Norfolk sells (proper) cider at 5% -
www.cidershed.com or www.cidershed.co.uk - one of the two. I'm sure Ryan
would send some by carrier.

He usually has some quite interesting ones for sale by the litre
(carry-oots), but the bulk of it is either sweet or dry, and you can opt
(even at the bar) for half and half, dry and a dribble, sweet and a
dribble, 75/25, 25/75 etc.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from contains these words:

So now that it's taken a foothold into my yard am i completely doomed?
Or is there anything i can do to keep it from spreading further and
further into my yard every year. In another 3 meters it will reach
the veggie garden which i don't want to happen.

Beat the stuff with a bundle of thin twigs to break it, then spray with
glyphosate and a small amount of detergent. You'll have to be more
persistent than the weed though, as the European horsetail has a root
system which can go down eight feet or more. Yours is probably similar.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/

The message
from contains these words:

So now that it's taken a foothold into my yard am i completely doomed?
Or is there anything i can do to keep it from spreading further and
further into my yard every year. In another 3 meters it will reach
the veggie garden which i don't want to happen.

Beat the stuff with a bundle of thin twigs to break it, then spray with
glyphosate and a small amount of detergent. You'll have to be more
persistent than the weed though, as the European horsetail has a root
system which can go down eight feet or more. Yours is probably similar.

--
Rusty
Open the creaking gate to make a horrid.squeak, then lower the foobar.
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/hi-fi/