Mystery of rotten radishes causes a stir
LANCASTER -- In the past month, firefighters from Greenfield and Bloom Township have been called out to the intersection of Carroll Northern and Pleasantville roads five times after receiving calls about a propane leak.
It turns out, there was a rather unlikely culprit, and it had nothing to do with the flammable gas: It was rotten radishes.
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Luckily for both fire departments, Nunley was familiar with the area and remembered a field near the intersection had been planted with radishes.
"I thought I remembered reading something about how they smell when they rot," Nunley said. "I got on the Internet and found an OSU Extension fact sheet about the radish and articles about it causing other fire departments to be called out."
The oilseed radish is used as a cover crop for fields that farmers are using to improve the soil quality of the fields for the planting of better-selling economic crops, according to the OSU fact sheet.
http://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com/article/20110104/NEWS01/101040313