No, its not an old wive's tale - wild cherry pits are more likely to germinate and grow if passed through a bird's digestive system first. That doesn't mean, though, that you can't grow a cherry tree from a pip, you can, you just have to use certain techniques. Not a great idea to grow them from pips anyway, unless its just for fun, they don't come true from seed, and most cherry trees are grafted onto a different root stock, mostly to stop them being 50 foot giants. Link below to a site about seed dispersal, just for confirmation - you'll need to scroll down to the penultimate paragraph to find it.

http://treesforlife.org.uk/forest/forest-ecology/seed-dispersal/

The gizzard of a bird contains stones and strong acids which thin out the hard coating of a cherry pit making it easier to germinate. This ensures that most cherries (I will include other seeds which birds ingest too) which drop directly from the tree do not germinate close to it causing an overcrowded condition. Only those picked up, eaten and later dispersed farther away will germinate with enough room for successful noncompetative growth. Nature thinks of everything, isn't it wonderful?

Grind them gizzards up with chicken livers, turkey hearts, celery and a loaf of soaked stale bread, throw in some raisins, mush it all in with your hands, stuff that mush into a turkey, sew it in with twine, shove it into an oven, roast and baste it till the meat is white, the skin is golden brown and the smell coming from the oven is making you drool....you will see what Ma Clampet was so devilish about Snoop.

Sounds interesting, Loosestrife - given the complete lack of flavour in turkeys these days (unless you take out a mortgage to buy a fancy, organic breed), I suppose having a flavoursome stuffing might mean you don't notice the bland meat too much... I gave up on turkey about 5 years ago, all I was doing was cooking it so I could make stock from the bones - and then you can taste turkey alright, that's how turkey meat used to taste.

Your right Bamboo. Both the white and dark meat is rather bland and does need "help" with flavor. Stuffing is part of it the other part is pouring gravy (turkey or beef) over the meat and stuffing to add flavor and to moisten it. As a meal I like it with cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes and succotash.

I've no idea what succotash is - but if you make your own cranberry sauce, love that - I make my own around Christmas, in batches and freeze - but only after an American relative made it here once years ago, up till then I'd always bought the jars, but they're not a patch on proper cranberry sauce...nothing like the same experience.

Right, looked up succotash - the word is familiar because there was a pop song some years back with the word 'succotash' as a repeating refrain in between lyrics, so now I know what it is... lima beans, yuk, but that's just me, I hate beans, can't bear the texture and taste.

I find it fasinating that old or even ancient cultures where nothing was known about the "essentials" and proper nutrition were able to concoct meals which provided much if not all the proper nutrition to not only keep them alive but thrive. Succotash is one of these meals and was a staple of the Native Americans aka Indians. As a kid this was served all the time to help the main meal be filling and though some may never want to look at it again, I still like it. Your right about the homemade cranberry sauce but since my wife passed away I get it off the shelf.

Oh no, but its so easy to make Loosestrife! If you want the recipe/method I'll give it to you, but honestly, its marginally easier than boiling an egg... and the stuff in the jars is like eating jam, its far too sweet and not enough fruit...

Succotash, I'm aware, would be very healthy, as most pulses are. I just wish I could stand them, but although I keep trying, I can't... I like chickpeas whole, but not ground up, so I do eat those.