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Thursday 15 July 2010

Allotment Anecdotes at Snails Pace

Approaching the silly season, I am reminded of anecdotes which abound in and around the allotments:
A distinguished surgeon explains that were I to drop a snail in caustic soda, it would dissolve with the exception of the tongue which would remain intact - a serrated sword set to cut through our carefully grown leaves. I haven't put it to the test.
But at an event at the Garden Museum, I did find myself repeating this alleged fact to a representative from the Chelsea Physic Garden. He looked pensive and told me of a recent bereavement. For 8 years he had kept a pet Giant African Land Snail called He-She Humungus. H-S H had recently died and lay buried in a specific spot. My new friend plans to dig H-S up in six months in the anticipation of retrieving and keeping the shell. But will the tongue lie intact or have rotted?

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