Another kind of 'yard'

Cynthia Mueller cynthiasbulbs@hotmail.com
Sat, 08 Feb 2014 10:17:07 PST
Another kind of 'yard' that has almost gone extinct in America is the 'drying yard.' It certainly appeared in household diagrams and writings of, let's say, pre-WWII. These were often narrow side-yards with plenty of shrubs in them on which to drape lace tablecloths, etc. or, there might be stout posts with lengths of strong wire for hanging clothes. I believe the umbrella-shaped clothes dryers on a pole are truly extinct. Here in rural Texas, only the most lowly households draped their washing on the nearby barbed wire fences...although that must have been quite a temptation...I wonder if the English laid out washing on box shrubs...would the dried laundry later smell of cats? It's possibly only their Buxus suffructicosa or sempervirens that have that odor. In Texas box is usually the Korean or Japanese variety, with little smell. -Cynthia Mueller

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