While browsing through early issues of your magazine I came across an article in the April or May 2018 edition by Dale Jarvis about birch brooms. This got me thinking about the birch brooms that I used to make in my younger years and were common throughout the Island and the Labrador coast. They were not the ones described in the article, though, but the broom of choice for our fishermen and farmers. I have first hand descriptions of this broom from the Labrador Coast, Baie Vert Peninsula, Fogo Island, Trinity Bay, and of course my area of Bonavista Bay. The following is from the Dictionary of Newfoundland English: "A birch broom was made by cutting small alder 'gads,' binding them together by interweaving other alder gads, trimming off the bottom and driving a handle into this bundle.” I have made a number of those brooms and they are what Newfoundland fishermen and farmers used to keep their workspace neat and tidy. I remember many times in my younger years using it to sweep our barn floor. They were easily made not only with alder twigs but birch twigs as well, hence the name. In some areas another shrub that I do not know the name of was used. This broom and its construction is certainly part of our heritage that should be preserved. This is a picture of the typical Newfoundland birch broom as described in the Dictionary of Newfoundland English. I'm wondering how many of your readers remember making and using this broom.   Norman Bull St. John's, NL